eat difficulty in the way of recovery
was the constant habit of watching herself and attending to every
internal sensation. In other words, she was so completely wrapped up in
self, that I could see no reasonable prospect of getting her mind out of
the maze in which it had been so long involved.

But I found time, a few days afterward, as I was employed again in the
same neighborhood, to call and see her; and I ventured accordingly. She
was sitting up in the bed, well bolstered, with a huge mass of clothing
both on herself and on the bed. Then, at her right hand, was a stand
half covered with bowls, saucers and tumblers; and near it a little
closet or recess, in which were nearly an equal number of parcels of
medicine, wrapped in papers ready to be used, when they were supposed to
be necessary.

I had no sooner entered the room, than she began to give me an account
of her medicine, rather than of herself. So rapid was her enunciation,
and so eager was she to tell me what she knew--not about the symptoms of
her disease, but about the treatment--that it was a full quarter of an
hour before I could reach the inmost recesses of her condition. "That,"
said she, "is for canker in the mouth; that for sore throat; that is an
eye wash I sometimes use, and that is a kind of bitters Dr. R. left for
me, but which I have now nearly done taking--and they never did me any
good," etc.

When I found an opportunity, I endeavored to investigate, very fully and
freely, what had hitherto been supposed to be a very remarkable case. I
found, indeed, that the patient had a great many little troubles,
dependent mainly on the state of a mind greatly harassed by constant
reflex tendencies, not easily eradicable. But I did not find it easy to
prescribe for her. She was one of those very inquisitive people who wish
to know what every thing you give them is, and who have a very
conscientious objection to every thing. However, I at last settled down
on a course of treatment, and wrote it out in a fair hand, and left it
at the bedside. Not, however, I repeat, till I had foolishly fallen into
my former error, and told her all the whys and wherefores.

This familarity into which she had drawn me, had already extracted
one-half the virtue of my medicine; for that is no longer mysterious
which the medical man openly and freely discusses. The freedom of
thinking she had indulged in while I was present, had been extended to
freedom of action; and the ve