The £1,000,000 bank-note, and other new storiesTwain, Mark
General
The £1,000,000 bank-note, and other new stories
Twain, Mark
American essays -- 19th century; American fiction -- 19th century; Humorous stories, American
I looked for ‘Arteriotomy’ in this same Dictionary, and found this
definition, ‘The opening of an Artery with a View of taking away Blood.’
Here was a person who was being bled in the arms, forehead, nostrils,
back, temples, and behind the ears, yet the celebrated Bonetus was not
satisfied, but wanted to open an artery, ‘with a View’ to inserting a
pump, probably. ‘Notwithstanding these Precautions’—he dy’d. No art of
speech could more quaintly convey this butcher’s innocent surprise. Now
that we know what the celebrated Bonetus did when he wanted to relieve a
Head-ach, it is no trouble to infer that if he wanted to comfort a man
that had a Stomach-ach he disembowelled him.
I have given one ‘Observation’—a single Head-ach case; but the
celebrated Bonetus follows it with eleven more. Without enlarging upon
the matter, I merely note this coincidence—they all ‘dy’d.’ Not one of
these people got well; yet this obtuse hyena sets down every little gory
detail of the several assassinations as complacently as if he imagined
he was doing a useful and meritorious work in perpetuating the methods
of his crimes. ‘Observations,’ indeed! They are confessions.
According to this book, ‘the Ashes of an Ass’s hoof mix’d with Woman’s
milk cures chilblains.’ Length of time required not stated. Another
item: ‘The constant Use of Milk is bad for the Teeth, and causes them to
rot, and loosens the Gums.’ Yet in our day babies use it constantly
without hurtful results. This author thinks you ought to wash out your
mouth with wine before venturing to drink milk. Presently, when we come
to notice what fiendish decoctions those people introduced into their
stomachs by way of medicine, we shall wonder that they could have been
afraid of milk.
It appears that they had false teeth in those days. They were made of
ivory sometimes, sometimes of bone, and were thrust into the natural
sockets, and lashed to each other and to the neighbouring teeth with
wires or with silk threads. They were not to eat with, nor to laugh
with, because they dropped out when not in repose. You could smile with
them, but you had to practise first, or you would overdo it. They were
not for business, but just decoration. They filled the bill according to
their lights.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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