Treating A Case Actively

1 was once sent for in great hasto t attend a man of respectability whos( wife, a lady of intelligenoe and reiine ment, had discovered hini in his rooii lying senseless upon the floor. "What is the matter with Mr H P" I asked on meeting; Mi lady. "1'in afraid it is apoplexy," she replied. "I found hini lying on the flooi where ho had to all appearances fallen suddenly from his chair. His face ii purple, and though he breathes, it is 1 with great difficulty." I went up ta see my patiënt. Sure enough, his face was purple, but soraehow the symptoms did not indícate apoplexy. "Hadn't he better be bied, doctor?'1 asked the anxious wife. "I don't know that it is necessary," I replied. "I think if we let hini alone it will pass off in the course of a few hours. "A few hours! He may die in half an hour." "I don't think the case so dangerous, madam." "Apoplexy not dangerous?" "I hardly think it is apoplexy," I replied. "Pray what do you think it is, doctor!" Mrs. H looked anxiously into my boe. I deliberately hinted that he might possibly havo been drinking too much brandy; bilt this she indignantly objeeted to. "No. doctor I ought to know about that," he said. "Depend upon it, the case is more deeply seated. I am sure he had better bo bied. Won't you bleed him, doctor? A few ounces of blood taken from his arm may give life to the irculationof the blood in his veins." Thus urged, I relieved him of about eight ounces of bis circulating medium. But he still lay insensible u Sefore. "Something else must be done, doctor," she urged. "If my husband is not quickly relieved he must die." By this time several friends and relatives who had been sent for arrived. One proposed blisters all over the body; ind another a blister on the head: another imoiersion in hot water. I suggested that it might be well to use a stomach pump. "Why, doctor?" asked onc of his friends." "Perhaps he has taken some druff," I replied. "Impossible. doctor," said his wife. 'He has not been from home to-day, and there is no drug of any kind in the honse." 'No brandy?" 1 ventured the asssertion again. "No, doctor; no spirits of any kind, not even wine, in the house," returned Mrs. H. I was not the regular family physician. Feeling my position to be a difficultone, I sujigested that the family physician had better be called. 'But the delay, doctor," urged the fricnds. "No harm will result from it, be assured," I replied. When Dr. S carne, we conversed aside for a few moments, and I gave hirn my views of the case. "Don't yon tbink his head ought to be shaved and blistered?" 'asked the wife, anxiously. Doctor S thought a moment, and then said: "Yes, by all means. Send íor a barber; and also for a fresh flv blister, four inches by nine." I looked into the face of Dr. S with surprise. It was perfectlv grave and earnest. I hintedto him niy iioubt of the good that mode of treatrnent would do; but he spoke confidentlv of the result. and said that it would notonly cure the disease, but believed it would take away the predisposition thereto, with which Mr. H. was affected in a liigh degree, The head ot Mr. H- was shaved. and Dr. S applied the blister with his own hands, vrhich completely covered the scalp and forehead to occiput. '¦Let it remain on for two hours, and then make lis of theordinary dressing," said Dr. S . "If he should not recover during the action of the blister, don't feel uneasy. Sensibility will bo restored soon af ter." I did not cali again but heard from ut. s the result. For full tvvo houra the burning piaster parched the tender skin of Mr. H 's shorn head. and was thcn removed. It had done good seryice. Dressings were then aoplied; but still the sick man lay in adeepstupor. "It has done no good. Hadn't we belter send for the doctor?" suggested he wife. Just then the eyes of H opened, nnd he looked with half stupid surprise fronj face to face of the anxious group that surrounded the bed. "Whatin the mischief's the matter," he s.iid. At the same time feeling a strange sensation about his head, he placed his hand rather heavily thereon. "Heavens and earth! what ails niv I head?" "For nircy's sake, keep quiet," said said the wife. "You have bsen very ill. There, there, now; don't say a word, but lie very still." "But my head! What's the matter With my head? ltfeelsas if scalded. Where's my hair? Heavens and earth Sarah; I don't nnderstand this! What's my arm tied in this way for?" "Be quiet, my dear husband, and I'll explain it all. Öh, be very quiet. Your life depends upon it!" Mr. H sank b-vck upon his pillow. He put his hand to his head and feit it tenderly fiom temple to temple and from nape to forehcad. "Is it a blisterP" lie at length asked. "Yes, dear. You have been ven ill. We feared for your life, ' ' said Mrs H - . "There have been two physicians in attendanoe." H- - closed his eyos again. His lips niOTed. Those whispered words would have soundcd very strangc in a church. "Thrcatened with apoplexy, I suppose?" hc said, interrogatively. "Yes, dear." replied his wife. "I found you lying insensible on the floor on happening to come into your room. It was most providential that I discovered you as I did, or you would certaiuly have died." H simt lus eyes and muttered. "Sarah!" he saiiï, "why in heaven's name did you permit the doctors to butcher me in this way? I am laid up for a week or two, and all fornothing." "It was to save your life, clear " "Save !" "Hu-u-sh! There, do for heaven's sake be quiet; everything depends upon it." With agestureof impatience, Mr. turned his face to the wall, muttering in a low, petulant voiee: "Too bad! too bad! too bad!" I had not erred in my first and my last impression of H 'sdisease.neither had Dr. S . H ¦ had a weakness. He couldn't taste wine nor strong drink without being tempted into excess. Both himself and friends were mortified at this. But to see was to taste; to taste was to fall. At last his friends urged him to sbut himself up at home for a certain time. He got on pretty well for a few days, partiuularly so as his coachman kept a well-filled bottle for him in the carriage-house; but the too ardent devotion to this bottle brought on this supposed apoplexy. Or. S was right in his mode of treating the disease after all, and did not err in supposing that it would re:.ch the predisposition. The cure was effectual II kept quiet on the subject, and bore his shaved head on his shoulders with as niuch phüosopby as he could muster. A wig after the sores made the blister had disappeared, concealed the barbers work until his hair grew again. He never ventured upon wine or brandy again, for fear of apoplexy.