A LADY WITH FROGS IN HER STOMACH.

Southland Times, Issue 1653, 25 October 1872, Page 3

A LADY WITH FROGS IN HER STOMACH.

Dr Cabarus, who died at Paris last year, waa one of those jovial physicians whose presence is equally sought in the sick-room as in society, and who effect more with humor and pleasantry than by medicine. Being a brother-in-law of Lepseps, the celebrated engineer, and nearly related to a princely family of his native land, he moved in aristocratic circles, which deeply felt his loss. One cure, by which, at the commencement of his career, he achieved a great reputation, is characteristic of the man. The Duchess of D., one of the most aristocratic ladies of the Faubourg St. Germain, had got possessed of the idea that she had swallowed a frog. She felt this said frog, she declared she did, and its presence robbed her of peace of mind, sleep, and even of health. The Parisian physicians had the rudeness to deny the existence of this animal, ignorant as they were that the poor lady suffered martyrdom. A fortunate chance made her acquainted with Dr Cabarus, and to him she told her tale of woe. He felt, with a seriousness worthy of Hippocrates himself, the pulse of the fair patient, inquired after various symptom*, and, when the charming aristocrat had exhausted all her store of arguments to prove her delusion, the youthful doctor said, after a well-feigned pause, " Madame, the frog is there, but I will remove it " He then prescribed an innocent emetic, and went to the nearest flower-shop, where he bought a small green frog. Armed with this confederate, he presented himself once more before the duchess, and placed a large basin of water in readiness. The emetic began to take effect, the duchess's eyes filled with tears, and our doctor took advantage of the opportunity to slip the. green frog into the basin. On seeing the frog, a load was removed from the duchess's heart, and for an instant all seemed well. - The next moment she turned pale, and, as Dr Cabarus supported her tottering frame, she cried in a despairing tone, " Ob, doctor, I am not yet cured, for the frog has l&ft little ones behind her." " Stop," cried Cabarus, without allowing a trace of embarrassment to be seen in his manner, " that we shall soon see." He then threw a searching glance upon the frog, which he had by this time taken in his baud, and uttered, with a certainty that settled the whole question, these words : " Madame, that is an impossibility, for the frog is a male." — Swiss Times.