The Knickerbocker, Vol. 22, No. 1, July 1843Various
General
The Knickerbocker, Vol. 22, No. 1, July 1843
Various
Periodicals
so; exactly so; satanic symptoms, no doubt, Doctor;' coincided
in this opinion. He also added that he had discovered the witch,
and issued a warrant for her apprehension. Mr. Mather senior
now came forward, and with a sneering and sarcastic expression
of countenance, proposed, that as the Doctor understood the
symptoms so well, he should exert himself a little to relieve
them; at the same time insinuating that drugs and doctors were
mere flea-bites, when opposed to witchcraft. 'Certainly,'
replied the Doctor, in his deliberate tones, 'certainly, friend
Mather, I shall do to the utmost of my poor abilities to fulfil
the nineteen indications which offer. Of which the first is
phlebotomy; the second a cleansing emetic; the third a saline
cathartic; the fourth a potent anti-spasmodic; the fifth a
relaxing sodorifie; the sixth----' 'Now may Satan take both you
and your nineteen indications!' interrupted Mather senior, who
was much offended by this pedantic and conceited speech; and
whose indignation was vehemently aroused by his being called
'friend Mather,' which he considered a downright insult, he
having a most horrible antipathy to Quakerism. 'I tell you
what, Drybones,' continued he, 'you are a person of a shallow
wit, and small capacity for understanding these things; and
touching the wonders of the invisible world, I hold you to be
little better than an ass. Here Mather junior put in his oar,
saying that Drybones was a quack, and an ignoramus, and that he
would not trust him to bleed his cow. Drybones, however, who
possessed a happy share of equanimity, and who prided himself
upon his imperturbable countenance, paid no manner of regard to
these discourses; but pulling out an enormous fleam-lancet, and
turning to the Justice, exclaimed: 'Now by the blessing of God,
will I open the jugular of this damsel!' Then calling for three
small porringers, and setting the spring of his lancet, the edge
of which he tried upon his thumb-nail, he advanced boldly up to
the bed.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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