Symptoms by Herbert Read - Short Summary

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 Symptoms 
Herbert Read 

In the beginning of the essay, the writer reads an advertisement. The advertisement was about the symptoms of Liver-pill disease. When he reads he thinks that he is affected by the liver pill disease. One day the writer visits to the British Museum (Library). At that time he was suffering from Hay Fever. He took the book named as Pharmacology and started to read the symptoms of Hay Fever, then he reads about the symptoms of Typhoid, turns up the pages and comes across another disease named St. Vitus Dance as he was reading about these diseases he thought that he was affected by all these diseases. Then the writer decides to read the book in alphabetical order. He starts reading from:

A – Ague,

B – Bright’s disease,

C – Cholera,

D - Diphtheria

H – Housemaid’s Knee – The writer is not affected

Z – Zymosis (Communicable Disease from birth)

He came to a conclusion that he was affected by all those disease except Housemaid’s Knee. He worried that Housemaid’s Knee disease had not affected him. Then he thought that he was an interesting case from the medical point of view.

The writer then wonders as how long he would live? He started to examine himself. He checks his pulse and he finds out that he his pulse rate was 147 per minute. Then he checks his tongue, as his tongue was red he thought that was scarlet disease.

The writer then decides to go to doctor as he wanted to know why Housemaid’s Knee disease was not affected. The doctor and the writer were classmates. The doctor checks him up and he asked what happened to the writer. The writer said all that happened. The doctor wrote the prescription and gave it to the writer. The writer went to the chemist, as the chemist read the prescription he gave it back to the writer. Then the writer read the prescription:

ü One pound of beef steak with one bitter beer every six hour

ü Ten miles walk every morning

ü Bed at 11 sharp every night,

ü And don’t stuff your head with things you don’t understand.

The writer follows the rules of the doctor, and led a happy live.      

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