I write on a label what the prescription
is, and make a sign which shows how much is to be
charged. The man comes along the passage and passes the
label through the pigeon hole. Hetty makes it up, passes
out the bottle, and takes the money. Now, come on and
clear some of these folk out of the house."
It is impossible for me to give you any idea of that
long line of patients, filing hour after hour through the
unfurnished room, and departing, some amused, and some
frightened, with their labels in their hands.
Cullingworth's antics are beyond belief. I laughed until
I thought the wooden chair under me would have come to
pieces. He roared, he raved, he swore, he pushed
them about, slapped them on the back, shoved them against
the wall, and occasionally rushed out to the head of the
stair to address them en masse. At the same time,
behind all this tomfoolery, I, watching his
prescriptions, could see a quickness of diagnosis, a
scientific insight, and a daring and unconventional use
of drugs, which satisfied me that he was right in saying
that, under all this charlatanism, there lay solid
reasons for his success. Indeed, "charlatanism" is a
misapplied word in this connection; for it would describe
the doctor who puts on an artificial and conventional
manner with his patients, rather than one who is
absolutely frank and true to his own extraordinary
nature.
To some of his patients he neither said one word nor
did he allow them to say one.
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