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The Autobiography of a Quack; And Other Stories
The Autobiography of a Quack And Other Stories Author:Silas Weir Mitchell General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1905 Original Publisher: The Century co. Subjects: Fiction / Anthologies Fiction / Classics Fiction / Literary Fiction / Short Stories Juvenile Fiction / Short Stories Literary Criticism / General Literary Criticism / American / General Notes: This is a black a... more »nd white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A QUACK. At this present moment of time I am what the doctors call an interesting case, and am to be found in bed No. 10, Ward u, Massachusetts General Hospital. I am told that I have what is called Addison's disease, and that it is this pleasing malady which causes me to be covered with large blotches of a dark mulatto tint. However, it is a rather grim subject to joke about, because, if I believed the doctor who comes around every day, and thumps me, and listens to my chest with as much pleasure as if I were music all through -- I say, if I really believed him, I should suppose I was going to die. The fact is, I don't believe him at all. Some of these days I shall take a turn and get about again; but meanwhile it is rather dull for a stirring, active person like me to have to lie still and watch myself getting big brown and yellow spots all over me, like a map that has taken to growing. The man on my right has consumption -- smells of cod-liver oil, and coughs all night. The man on my left is a down-Easter with a liver which has struck work; looks like a human pumpkin; and how he contrives to whittle jackstraws all day, and eat as he does, I can't understand. I have tried reading and tried whittling, but they don't either of them satisfy me, so that yesterday I concluded to ask the doctor if he could n't suggest some other amusement. I wai...« less