Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. VII, December 1850, Vol. IIVarious
General
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. VII, December 1850, Vol. II
Various
American literature -- Periodicals; Civilization -- Periodicals; Culture -- Periodicals
He hurried on to Philadelphia, to be in time for the packet, that was
about to sail from the Delaware. But he was too late; he was destined to
take passage in a different boat, and to a land far different from that
of his beloved England. It was Monday night when he reached the city,
and the storm was very high. His friends found him on the deck of the
steamboat, while Johnny was out hunting for a carriage. He was put into
a wretched hack, the glasses all broken, and was driven from hotel to
hotel in search of lodgings, and exposed all the time to the peltings of
the storm. He at length drove to the City Hotel, kept by Mr. Edmund
Badger. When Mr. Badger came out to meet him, he asked if he could have
accommodations. Mr. Badger replied that he was crowded, but would do the
best he could for him. On hearing this, he lifted up his hands, and
exclaimed, "Great God! I thank Thee; I shall be among friends, and be
taken care of!"
Mr. Randolph was very ill. Dr. Joseph Parish, a Quaker physician, was
sent for. As he entered the room, the patient said, "I am acquainted
with you, sir, by character. I know you through Giles." He then told the
doctor that he had attended several courses of lectures on anatomy, and
described his symptoms with medical accuracy, declaring he must die if
he could not discharge the puriform matter.
"How long have you been sick, Mr. Randolph?"
"Don't ask me that question; I have been sick all my life. I have been
affected with my present disease, however, for three years. It was
greatly aggravated by my voyage to Russia. That killed me, sir. This
Russian expedition has been a Pultowa, a Beresina to me."
The doctor now felt his pulse. "You can form no judgment by my pulse; it
is so peculiar."
"You have been so long an invalid, Mr. Randolph, you must have acquired
an accurate knowledge of the general course of practice adapted to your
case."
"Certainly, sir; at forty, a fool or a physician, you know."
"There are idiosyncracies," said the doctor, "in many constitutions. I
wish to ascertain what is peculiar about you."
"I have been an idiosyncracy all my life. All the preparations of
camphor invariably injure me. As to ether, it will blow me up. Not so
with opium; I can take opium like a Turk, and have been in the habitual
use of it, in one shape or another, for some time."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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