A PHYSICIAN calling one day on a gentleman who had been severely
afflicted with the gout, found, to his surprise, the disease gone, and
the patient rejoicing in his recovery over a bottle of wine. "Come
along, doctor," exclaimed the valetudinarian, "you are just in time to
taste this bottle of Madeira; it is the first of a pipe that has just
been broached." "Ah!" replied the doctor, "these pipes of Madeira will
never do; they are the cause of all your suffering." "Well, then,"
rejoined the gay incurable, "fill up your glass, for now that we have
found out the cause, the sooner we get rid of it the better."