don of the peroneus longus muscle
out of the hollow in which it lies, alongside of the ankle. After some
effort I was able to accomplish both feats quite readily, and could
occasion a remarkable variety of sounds, according to the power which I
employed or the positions which I occupied at the time. As to all other
matters, I trusted to the suggestions of my own ingenuity, which, as a
rule, has rarely failed me.

The largest success attended the novel plan which my lucky genius had
devised, so that soon we actually began to divide large profits and to
lay by a portion of our savings. It is, of course, not to be supposed
that this desirable result was attained without many annoyances and some
positive danger. My spiritual revelations, medical and other, were, as
may be supposed, only more or less happy guesses; but in this, as in
predictions as to the weather and other events, the rare successes
always get more prominence in the minds of men than the numerous
failures. Moreover, whenever a person has been fool enough to resort to
folks like myself, he is always glad to be able to defend his conduct by
bringing forward every possible proof of skill on the part of the men he
has consulted. These considerations, and a certain love of mysterious or
unusual means, I have commonly found sufficient to secure an ample share
of gullible individuals. I may add, too, that those who would be
shrewd enough to understand and expose us are wise enough to keep away
altogether. Such as did come were, as a rule, easy enough to manage, but
now and then we hit upon some utterly exceptional patient who was
both foolish enough to consult us and sharp enough to know he had been
swindled. When such a fellow made a fuss, it was occasionally necessary
to return his money if it was found impossible to bully him into
silence. In one or two instances, where I had promised a cure upon
prepayment of two or three hundred dollars, I was either sued or
threatened with suit, and had to refund a part or the whole of the
amount; but most people preferred to hold their tongues rather than
expose to the world the extent of their own folly.

In one most disastrous case I suffered personally to a degree which I
never can recall without a distinct sense of annoyance, both at my own
want of care and at the disgusting consequences which it brought upon
me.

Early one morning an old gentleman called, in a state of the utmost
agitation, and explained that he desi