Section 108 Experience Is the Best Teacher1
A French student of (S. 3, N. 2) medicine lodged2 in the same house in London with a man in a fever. This poor man was constantly plagued by the nurse to drink, though3 he nauseated the insipid liquids that were presented to him. At last, when she4 grew more and more importunate, he whispered in her (S. 43, N. 9, B) ear:—“For5 God’s sake bring me a salt herring, and I will drink as much as you please6!”
The woman indulged7 him in his request; he devoured the herring, drank plentifully, underwent8 a copious perspiration, and recovered9.
The French student inserted this aphorism10 in his journal11:—“A salt herring cures12 an Englishman in a fever.”
On13 his return to (S. 72, N. 4) France he prescribed the same remedy to the first patient in a fever2 to whom he was called.
The patient died; on which14 the student inserted15 in his journal the following note:—“N.B. Though a salt herring cures an Englishman, it16 kills a Frenchman.”—W. C. Hazlitt, Anecdotes.
Notes
1 Lehrerin, to agree with ‘experience’, which is feminine in German.
2 Here place the words ‘in London — fever’; a man in a fever, ein Fieberkranker.
3 Construe the sentence ‘though — him’ after the following model: Die mir gereichten geschmacklosen Getränke widern mich an.
4 Here place the adv. ‘at last’; more and more importunate, immer zudringlicher.
5 Um Gotteswillen.
6 wollen.
7 to indulge a request, einer Bitte willfahren.
8 to undergo a copious perspiration, in tüchtigen Schweiß geraten (str. v.).
9 genesen, str. v.
10 Lehrsatz.
11 Form a comp. n. of ‘day’ and ‘book’ according to S. 76, N. 22, C.
12 kurieren; in a, vom.
13 Say ‘When he had returned to France’.
14 on which = whereupon.
15 schreiben, after which place ‘following note’.
16 so stirbt ein Franzose daran.