ed spot is at once
apparent. Any owner of one of these stones who hires it out should be
prosecuted for getting money under false pretense, and then dealt with by
the humane societies for engendering morbid and groundless fears.

Scientific men are yet divided on the question as to whether or not
hydrophobia is a _bona fide_ disease, or whether it is only a functional
disturbance in which the element of fear predominates. No hydrophobia germ
has ever been isolated, and when the doctors these days can't find a germ
to fit a disease, it looks as if there was something wrong. It has many
times been demonstrated that persons of a susceptible nature can be scared
to death. But I don't care how much assurance I get from scientific
sources, I can't get over the habit of being a little exclusive in regard
to uncanny canines.

There is scarcely a disease or a symptom that I ever heard of that has not
at some time preyed upon my mind lest I become a victim of it. These fears
are hard to throw off or laugh out of existence when once they have become
a part of your very being. In order to avert untoward conditions which I
thought might overtake me, I have changed from one occupation to another
about as often as the man in the moon modifies his physiognomy. In making
these changes I have often found it about like dodging an automobile to
get hit by a street car.

CHAPTER IX.

GERMS AND HOW HE AVOIDED THEM. APPENDICITIS.

Morbid fears have been briefly mentioned. It may now be in order for me to
chronicle some of the hygienic measures that I have pursued with a view to
averting diseases to which I thought I might succumb. In a former chapter
I reported having subjected myself to many rigid conditions in the hope of
ridding myself of infirmities which I then had. Now I am looking to the
future with the idea that prevention is better than cure.

The germ theory gave me a great deal of worry. I learned a bit about it
and some of the habits of the ubiquitous bacillus. In this matter the
little learning was, as usual, a dangerous thing. Germs were constantly on
my mind, if not in my brain. It seemed that they were ever lying in wait
for me and there was no avenue of escape. Sometimes my scrupulous care in
trying to ignore the microbe caused me to be the subject of unfavorable
comment. Once, at communion service, I took pains to give the cup a
thorough rubbing before putting it to my chaste lips. It had just passed
an unkempt