ROUGH ON THE DOCTOR.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 129, 8 April 1879, Page 2

ROUGH ON THE DOCTOR.

Says "Atticus," in the Melbourne LeaderA practical joke lias lately been played upon a metropolitan doctor, the result of which has' been fraught, with serious consequences to the dupe. The A doctor, so the story goes, received a letter * from another colony, in which the writer • detailed the symptoms which were affecting his health. He also received a.phial of expectorated blood for examination, and was requested to name the fee required for restoring him to' healtli. "(Eaculapius" wrote back to say that thepatient was in a critical state, that the symptoms pointed to mental depression, and that while the impoverished quality of the blood told a talc of youthful excesses, it also pointed to the existence of acute tuberculosis. "While, conveying these dismal tidings, the doctor whispered.a tale of hope if Jus instruction's were '• carried out, intimating that for a sum of forty guineas ho would put the sick man man on his legs again. .A few weeks after the doctor received a notification fromtho supposed patient that the whole affair was a snare into which he had tumbled. The writer intimated that his ailment was suppositious, that lie was in rude health, that the " impoverished blood," pointing to tuberculosis was drawn from the nose of an urchin of twelve years by the tap of a cricket ball. Not content with selling the doctor, the malade imaginaire brought the matter before the Medical Society of Victoria, by forwarding to it the whole of the correspondence that had passed, The Society was about to investigate the unprofessional conduct of one of its members, when Esculapins put himself beyond its jurisdiction by voluntarily severing his' connection with the institution.