Here is an instance of a cure for hypochondriasis in Switzerland:--A
wealthy and hypochondriacal farmer, who believed himself to be
possessed by seven devils, applied to the Swiss doctor, Michael
Schuppach, to rout the demoniac occupants of his distressed mind.
"Friend," said Schuppach gravely, "you believe there are but seven
devils in you; in reality there are eight, and the eighth is the
captain of the band." To expel the eight unclean spirits the physician
had recourse to an electrical apparatus, with which contrivance the
farmer was of course utterly ignorant. For eight successive days the
patient visited the doctor and underwent an electrical shock. At each
of the first seven shocks the operator said, "There goes one of your
devils." On the eighth day Schuppach said, "Now, we must relieve you
of the chief of the evil spirits--it'll be a tough job!" As these
words were uttered, a violent shock sent the patient fairly to the
floor. "And now," cried the benevolent impostor, "you are free of your
devils--that last stroke was a settler!" The cure was complete.
[Illustration]
_STRANGE SIGHTS and SPORTING SCENES._
"The Wonder of all the Wonders that the World ever Wondered at."
Under the title of "_Horæ Subsecivæ_," in the _Dublin University
Review_, in 1833, vol. i., p. 482, by the late Dr. West, of Dublin,
appeared the following amusing trifle:--
"Among Swift's works, we find a _jeu d'esprit_, entitled 'The Wonder
of all the Wonders that the World ever Wondered at,' and purporting
to be an advertisement of a conjurer. There is an amusing one of
the same kind by a very humorous German writer, George Christopher
Lichtenberg, which, as his works are not much known here, is perhaps
worth translating. The occasion on which it was written was the
following. In the year 1777, a celebrated conjurer of those days
arrived at Göttingen. Lichtenberg, for some reason or other, did not
wish him to exhibit there; and, accordingly, before the other had time
even to announce his arrival, he wrote this advertisement, in his name,
and had it printed and posted over the town. The whole was the work
of one night. The result was, that the real Simon Pure decamped next
morning without beat of drum, and never appeared in Göttingen again.
Lichtenberg had spent some time in England, and understood the language
perfectly, so that he may have seen Swift's paper. Still, even granting
that he took the hint from him, it must be allowed he has improved on
it not a little, and displayed not only more delicacy, which, indeed,
was easy enough, but more wit also.
"'Notice.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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