The following anecdote, reprinted from the Philadelphia News, illustrates a not uncommon set of diseases. People fancy they have ailments which they have not; and when the imagination is cured, the patient is well.
Dr. Crawford, of Baltimore, advised a patient, who fancied he was dying of liver-disease, to travel. On returning, he appeared to be quite well; but upon receiving information of the death of a twin-brother, who had actually died of a scirrhous liver, he immediately staggered, and, falling down, cried out that he was dead, and had, as he always expected, died of a liver-complaint.
Dr. Crawford, on being informed of the notion which had seized the hypochondriac, exclaimed: "Oh, yes, the gentleman is certainly dead, and it is more than probable his liver was the death of him. However, to ascertain the fact, I will hasten to cut him open, before putrefaction takes place."
