It is reported that a Dr. Sax, of France, has discovered in all forms of
beverages containing alcohol a “bacillus potumaniæ;” and it is claimed
that this bacillus multiplies in the system of the drinker and
circulates in his blood, and that when he gets delirium tremens he is
not the subject of hallucinations but sees the reptilian forms that are
inhabiting his own brain and optic apparatus.
While the microscopists and various ologists are discussing this, we
will tell a story of a certain worthy practitioner of our acquaintance.
The doctor's hobby was malaria. If a person came in with a headache it
was “malarial headache;” backache, “malarial backache;” legs ache,
“malaria.” One day a man came in with his arm hanging helpless. Our
friend promptly began about malaria. The man said he had heard of
break-bone fever, but that he had fallen off a street car and didn't
think this was a malarial fracture.
Some of the best fellows we know ride hobbies, but let those who now
bestride the bacillus beware where the creature carries them.