therefore inclined to doubt the truth
of the reason assigned by the unsuspecting invalid, for the scrupulous
delicacy of her husband's affection and solicitude. I pondered for a
moment, and soon perceived that the nature of her complaint, and the
kind of restoratives or medicines she might have been receiving, would,
in all likelihood, yield me more information on the subject of my
difficulty than I could procure from her broken sentences, which, at the
best, only expressed the sentiments of a mind clouded with the prejudice
of a devoted love and unbounded credulity. I proceeded, therefore, to
ascertain the nature of her complaint; and soon discovered that the seat
of it was, as she had said, in the region of the stomach, which not only
produced to her great pain internally, but felt sore on the application
of external pressure on the _praecordia_. Other symptoms of a disease in
this principal organ were present: such as fits of painful vomiting
after attempting to eat, her great emaciation, anxiety of countenance,
thirst, restlessness, and debility; and, in ordinary circumstances, I
would have been inclined to conclude that she laboured under some
species of what we denominate _gastritis_, or inflammation of the
stomach, though I could not account for such a disease not having been
resolved and ended in much shorter time than the period which embraced
her sufferings.

I next proceeded to ascertain what she had been taking in the form of
medicaments; and discovered that her husband, proceeding on the idea
that her stomach laboured under weakness and required some tonic
medicine, had administered to her, on several occasions, what we term
_limatura ferri_ (iron filings)--a remedy for cases of dyspepsia and bad
stomachs, but not suited to the inflammatory disorders of the kind under
which she was suffering. I asked her if she had any of the medicine
lying by her, and she replied, with simplicity, that her husband
generally took charge of it himself; but that he had that evening laid
a small paper, containing a portion of it, on the top of a side-table,
until he administered to her the dose she was in the habit of receiving,
and had gone away without laying it past, according to his custom. I
took up the paper, examined it, and found, according to the rapid
investigation I bestowed on it, without the aid of any tests, that it
possessed all the appearances of the genuine medicine. I, however, took
the precaution of emptying