In “Collecting Symptoms” by Jerome K. Jerome, a man is brought into the story and without even introducing himself immediately explains that his liver is broken and out of order. Confident in his statements, he then begins to describe how he came to this crazy conclusion. He explains that after researching several diagnosis and many case studies, all of his findings seemed to relate to himself. He then goes through all the symptoms with the reader; Typhoid fever, St. Vitus Dance, Brights disease, diphtheria, and Cholera. However he stops at just one, housemaids knee. He was astounded to find that he did not have this symptom. Why hadn’t he had it? Every other case study experienced this symptom. Why not him? He pondered how interesting this made him. How doctors would find him ever so fascinating.
He then began to wonder how long he had to live. Surely, he thought it couldn’t be long because his case was so unusual. He performed a series of tests on himself to ensure he was right. After taking his pulse and sticking out his tongue, he was more confident than ever that he had scarlet fever.
After detecting a diagnosis on himself, he decides to go see the doctor. The doctor checks him out, takes his pulse and asks, “Well what’s the matter with you?” The man responds with, “I will not take up your time…Life is brief and you might pass away before I had finished. But what I will tell you what is not the matter with me. I have not got housemaid’s knee. Everything else I have got.”
The doctor didn’t respond to this too well. He hit him over the chest when least expected and slapped his on the side of the head. He then wrote a prescription for the man and he took it and left the office. The prescription read:
1 lb. beefsteak, with
1 pt. bitter beer every six hours
1 ten mile walk every morning
1 bed at eleven sharp every night and don’t stuff your head with things you don’t understand.
He then followed the directions, only to find a happy living result.
Jerome K. Jerome wrote this article in 1889, recently after marrying his long time sweetheart Georgina Stanley Marris. Growing up Jerome had a very difficult childhood. His parents were falling into a financial ruin and it left marks on himself. I think Jerome wrote this article because he wanted to show people to be thankful and embrace the life that they have because not everyone is as fortunate as others. He demonstrates this through his works. I believe Jerome is speaking to the people such like the man in this story that is ungrateful to show others to try not to behave like this.
Collecting Symptoms.” Photograph. Lapham’s Quarterly.
Jerome K. Jerome. London: Medicine, 1889. Web. 6 Sep 2011.
http://www.laphamsquarterly.org/voices-in-time/collecting-symptoms.php.
Do you think that the man is "ungrateful" or is just oblivious to what may really be wrong?
ReplyDeleteI think this is interesting how we can see a medical "recipe" for treatment. Having access to this type of information is what provides the foundation for current observations, studies, and experiments. With out documentation of outcomes, even if they were caused by a mistake, the advancement of understanding health and wellness would be much more tedious. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThis concept of self diagnosis is interesting and still a part of our culture. With website like webmd.com anyone with access to internet can input their symptoms and be given a list of possible ailments. This kind of powerful when used appropriately can be very helpful, but it can also be harmful and has the potential to create a society of hypochondriacs.
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