At this point I am reminded that one day while waiting near one of the appointment desks I overheard a spirited conversation between two patients who were trying to figure out why it was that for ten days they had both been taking the same identical examinations, one for a swelling in the ear, the other for a dislocated knee-cap. Finally one of them reached the conclusion that “in a laundry all shirts, whether dirty or clean, are run through the same process.” Although I fell somewhat short of the graduating point, I went far enough to discover that this great research-academy for bodily ailments is not devoid of interest for those of boundless patience and physical endurance, who have a penchant for scientific exploration. It is a tremendous human dissecting organization which runs with the precision of clockwork and is fed daily by hundreds of recruits from every state in the union and every civilized country on earth. It is the Mecca for thousands of people who enjoy searching their systems for the seat of some indefinite, unlocatable disorder, either real or imaginary, and for all such persons it must be a satisfying resort, since it provides every known mechanism and device for exploring, testing and tormenting the human anatomy. And those who survive the entire course have the recompense of knowing they have been thoroughly castor-oiled and overhauled. After much persuasion on my part, and many expressions of surprise and regret on the part of the diagnostician, I finally succeeded in arranging an appointment with the chief urologist for the next day. From the appointed time I waited two or three hours, expecting the while to get a reprimand for my stubbornness; but to my surprise the distinguished Doctor Braasch greeted me as cordially as if he were going to present me with a diploma of good health and a magna cum laude degree for good behavior. Though his geniality appeared to lack nothing in sincerity, I had a strange presentiment that he had something “up his sleeve”; and with some anxiety I inquired what my examinations and blood tests had disclosed. At this his countenance became grave. So did mine. THE SHOCKING DISCOVERY After going hurriedly through a collection of “reports” lying before him on the desk he rendered his opinion in this-wise: The summing up of all the reports--as far as my examinations had extended--led to the discovery that my trouble was located in my left kidney!