LAUGHTER AS A MEDICINE.

Thames Star, Volume VI, Issue 1770, 4 September 1874, Page 2

LAUGHTER AS A MEDICINE.

A short time since, the Sanitarian reports, two individuals were lying in oneroom, very sick, one with brain fever, arid the other with an aggravated attack of mumps. They were so low that watches' were needed, every night,. and it -,was thought doubtful if the one'sick'of..fever could recover; -A gentleman wasengaged* to watch over night, his duty being to waken the nurse whenever it became necessary to administer medicme. In the course of the night, both watcher and nurse fell asleep. The man with the mumps lay watching the clock, and saw that it was time to give fever patient his potion.^ ;iie was unable to speak aloud, or; to !move~' any portion of his body except his arms, but seizing a pillow, he managed to ' strike the watcher in the face with it. Thus suddenly awakened, the watcher sprang from his seat, falling to the floor, and awakened both the nurse' and the fever patient. The incident struck the sick men as very ludicrous, and they laughed heartily at it for sortie 15 or 20 minutes. When the doctor came in the morning he found his patients vastly improved, and said he never knew so sudden a turn for the better. JSow both are up and well. Who says lauejhter is not the best of medicines ? says the London Medical Record. And, this re- • minds the"*writer; of another", ease. A gentleman was suffering -from an ulcera.tion jnvthe throat, which at length became so swollen that his life was despaired of. His household came to his bed side to bid him farewell. Each individual. shook hands witli thg dying man', and then went away weppirig; .frast x>£ alii came •a' pet ape, and shaking the man's hajid, went away also'with its hands over its eyes., It was 'so ludicrous a sight that the patient was forced to laugh, and laughedl so heartily: that the .ulcer (? abscess) ;broke, and his life w^ls^aved. ' '