He went with him accordingly, and when they stood by the
bedside, he offered his stethoscope to the old doctor. The old doctor
took it and put the wrong end to his ear and the other to the patient's
chest, and kept it there about two minutes, looking all the time as wise
as an old owl. Then he, Dr. Benjamin, took it and applied it properly,
and made out where the trouble was in no time at all. But what was the
use of a young man's pretending to know anything in the presence of an
old owl? I saw by their looks, he said, that they all thought I used
the stethoscope wrong end up, and was nothing but a 'prentice hand to
the old doctor.
--I am much pleased to say that since Dr. Benjamin has had charge of a
dispensary district, and been visiting forty or fifty patients a day, I
have reason to think he has grown a great deal more practical than when I
made my visit to his office. I think I was probably one of his first
patients, and that he naturally made the most of me. But my second trial
was much more satisfactory. I got an ugly cut from the carving-knife in
an affair with a goose of iron constitution in which I came off second
best. I at once adjourned with Dr. Benjamin to his small office, and put
myself in his hands. It was astonishing to see what a little experience
of miscellaneous practice had done for him.
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