Adventures in Neurasthenia Page: 217
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Adventures in Neurasthenia
SOME EXPERIENCES OF A NERVE-SICK MAN SEEKING HEALTH
By O. Henry. l : ,rl <r - "Thcl ur All i o ,"h " 771u,;.:./ /,ru'i," ".
1. / .lIZ
O I went to a doctor.
alloww long has it Ibeen since
tyou took y nyi alcohol into our
s\-ste?" he a tskld.
1 Turning my head sidewise, I
answered, "(h, quite a while."
Hle was a )oung doctor, some-
wx here ,etwccn twenty and fiortx.
=. Ilie wore heliotrope socks, but he
looked like Napoleon. I liked
z' him immensely.
xNow," said lihe, I am going to
Show you the effect of alcohol upon your cir-
culation." [ think it was "circulation" he
said; it may have leen '"advertising."
lie airedi m left arm to the elbow, brought
out a bottle of whiskeV, and gave me a drink.
Ile began to look more like Napoleon. 1 I e-
gan to like him better.
lihen he put a tight compress on my upper
arm, stopped my pulse with his fingers, and
squeezed a iTrubber ullb connected tw ith an
apparatus on a stand that looked like a ther-
mometer. The mercury jumped upti and down
without seeming to stop anywhere; but the
doctor said it registered t\vo hundred and
thirty-even or one hundred and sixtly-fiv e or
somlle Slliih n mllller.
"Now," said lie, "vou see what alcohol
does to the bloodl-pressure."
"It's marvelous," said I, "but do you
think it a sulTlcient test? [lave one on me,
and let's try the other arm." But, no
Then hle grasped my hand. I thought I
was doomed antl he was saying good-by.
liut all he wanted to doi was to jab a needle
into the end of a longer and compare the red
drop with a lot of lift -cent poker-chips that
he had faistenedl to a card.
"t's the hemoglobin test," he explained.
"The color of \our - blood is wrong."
"Well," said I, ."1 knowt it should be blue;
but this is a country of mixups. Some of my
ancestors were cav aliers; but they got thickwith some pmpleon ntuImlkct Island, so "
"1 mean," paih the doctor, "that the shade
of redl is too light."
"( h," said I i', a t's ( cse if matching
in>teai of matchess"
TIhe doctor then [poUned me 'vcre"ly in
the rcsion of the chest. \ hen he did that
I don't know whether h(t reminded me most
of Naole(on or bIattling or lord Nelson.
Then he looked grave anll mentionedl a string
uof grieances that the Is h is heir to motly
nditng in "itis." 1 immcii diatel pl id lhim
lftcen dollars oil account.
"i or are it or Sme or anl o(f them iletCs-
sarily fatal ?"I asked. I thought my cwnnec-
tion with the laittr justilicd my manifest-
ing a certain amliount ofi inter get.
"All of them," lie anwcired cheerfully.
" liut their progress net b e arrtd. W xith
care and ]proper con tin uous treatment you
may live to be eight'y-live or ninlc liv."
I began to think of the doctor's bill.
" Eighty-live would be sullcitnt, I am sure,'
was my comment. I paid him ten dollars
1more on accounllt.
"The lirst thin" to <ho," he said, with re-
newed animation, "is to indl a S:anitarium
where v{ou will get a complete rest for a while
ind allow- our ncrets to gct into a ]better
condition. I mn self will go with Voul1 and
select a suitable ione."
So be took me to a mnladlhouse in the ('ts-
kills. It was oni a Ibare mountain friclucentel
only 1)y infrequent fre(lucnttrs. Y(ou could
see nothing but Stones andl boI uldlcrs, some
patches (of snow anti scattercd pine-tres.
The young phvSician in charge was most
agreeable. lie gave me a stimulant without
applying a compress to the arm. It was
luncheon-time, aind we were invited t(o par-
take. There were about twenty inmates at
little tables in the dining-room. The young
physician in charge caine to our table and
Swidl: "It is a cuStom with oulr ,u ts not toiV
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Henry, O., 1862-1910. Adventures in Neurasthenia, prose (fiction), July 1910; New York. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth139420/m1/4/: accessed June 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Austin History Center, Austin Public Library.