Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 April 1884 — A Very High Fever. [ARTICLE]

A Very High Fever.

All physicians recognize the power of imagination in curing disease, and a new instance of it is given in the Medical Record by a doctor living in New Jersey. Being called to prescribe for a patient living in the hills above Keyport, who had long been afflicted with epilepsy, and whose mind was now somewhat impaired, I noticed, he says, a remarkable pallor of countenance, and that the surface of the body was very cold to the touch. So I produced a clinical thermometer to ascertain the temperature. Tl\e young man evidently looked upon it as a part of the treatment. So rapt wa3 he tli at when I went to withdraw the thermometer he gave a start like one rudely assailed. “How did it affect you?” queried I. “Very well indeed,” he replied; “I think it has made me feel much better.” And then, raising his hand with an air of benediction, be added: “It had such a quieting influence.” An hour afterward [I visited a young domestic in anolher family, who was convalescing from a mild attack of typhoid fever, where the temperature had ranged from 100 to 102 degrees for several days. While here I related the above incident to her employers, who laughed heartily, but the girl, with a look of scornful superiority, cried out: “Pooh! he mustn’t ever have seen one before! Why, I have had two at a time in my mouth, and thought nothing of it.” “Why was that ?” asked I. “When I was on Bandall’s Island.” “Yes, but why ? what were two used for?” “Because —because,” blurted she in confusion, “my fever was so high they couldn’t tell it all on one!” ' This girl belonged probably to a large class of people in country towns who seem to regard diseases as accomplishments, and to think that person the most entitled to honor who has suffered most. — Youth’s Companion.