te powders labeled concisely
"Lac.," "Led.," "Onis.," "Op.," "Puls.," etc., while behind him were
shelves filled with bottles of what looked like minute white shot.

"I want some homeopathic medicine," said I.

"Vat kindt?" said my friend. "Vat you vants to cure!"

I explained at random that I wished to treat diseases in general.

"Vell, ve gifs you a case, mit a pook," and thereon produced a large box
containing bottles of small pills and powders, labeled variously with
the names of the diseases, so that all you required was to use the
headache or colic bottle in order to meet the needs of those particular
maladies.

I was struck at first with the exquisite simplicity of this arrangement;
but before purchasing, I happened luckily to turn over the leaves of a
book, in two volumes, which lay on the counter; it was called "Jahr's
Manual." Opening at page 310, vol. i, I lit upon "Lachesis," which
proved to my amazement to be snake-venom. This Mr. Jahr stated to be
indicated for use in upward of a hundred symptoms. At once it occurred
to me that "Lach." was the medicine for my money, and that it was quite
needless to waste cash on the box. I therefore bought a small jar of
"Lach." and a lot of little pills, and started for home.

My old woman proved a fast friend; and as she sent me numerous patients,
I by and by altered my sign to "Homeopathic Physician and Surgeon,"
whatever that may mean, and was regarded by my medical brothers as a
lost sheep, and by the little-pill doctors as one who had seen the error
of his ways.

In point of fact, my new practice had decided advantages. All pills
looked and tasted alike, and the same might be said of the powders, so
that I was never troubled by those absurd investigations into the nature
of remedies which some patients are prone to make. Of course I desired
to get business, and it was therefore obviously unwise to give little
pills of "Lac.," or "Puls.," or "Sep.," when a man needed a dose of
oil, or a white-faced girl iron, or the like. I soon made the useful
discovery that it was only necessary to prescribe cod-liver oil, for
instance, as a diet, in order to make use of it where required. When
a man got impatient over an ancient ague, I usually found, too, that I
could persuade him to let me try a good dose of quinine; while, on the
other hand, there was a distinct pecuniary advantage in those cases
of the shakes which could be made to believe that it "was best not
to inte