{"id":"01KG8AKB7PVQ4P28WX7VT65P00","cid":"bafkreicjn7y3jqkz2jgqc3fehraanvxuoz7n5xwb3ehuv4rt7tntynxfli","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":3479,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:57.722Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1JMR8XVKPA0G8ADAPC4","start_line":3412,"text":"CHAPTER XVI.\r\n\r\nA SICK MAN, AFTER SOME IMPATIENCE, IS INDUCED TO BECOME A PATIENT\r\n\r\n\r\nThe sky slides into blue, the bluffs into bloom; the rapid Mississippi\r\nexpands; runs sparkling and gurgling, all over in eddies; one magnified\r\nwake of a seventy-four. The sun comes out, a golden huzzar, from his\r\ntent, flashing his helm on the world. All things, warmed in the\r\nlandscape, leap. Speeds the dædal boat as a dream.\r\n\r\nBut, withdrawn in a corner, wrapped about in a shawl, sits an\r\nunparticipating man, visited, but not warmed, by the sun--a plant whose\r\nhour seems over, while buds are blowing and seeds are astir. On a stool\r\nat his left sits a stranger in a snuff-colored surtout, the collar\r\nthrown back; his hand waving in persuasive gesture, his eye beaming with\r\nhope. But not easily may hope be awakened in one long tranced into\r\nhopelessness by a chronic complaint.\r\n\r\nTo some remark the sick man, by word or look, seemed to have just made\r\nan impatiently querulous answer, when, with a deprecatory air, the other\r\nresumed:\r\n\r\n\"Nay, think not I seek to cry up my treatment by crying down that of\r\nothers. And yet, when one is confident he has truth on his side, and\r\nthat is not on the other, it is no very easy thing to be charitable; not\r\nthat temper is the bar, but conscience; for charity would beget\r\ntoleration, you know, which is a kind of implied permitting, and in\r\neffect a kind of countenancing; and that which is countenanced is so far\r\nfurthered. But should untruth be furthered? Still, while for the world's\r\ngood I refuse to further the cause of these mineral doctors, I would\r\nfain regard them, not as willful wrong-doers, but good Samaritans\r\nerring. And is this--I put it to you, sir--is this the view of an\r\narrogant rival and pretender?\"\r\n\r\nHis physical power all dribbled and gone, the sick man replied not by\r\nvoice or by gesture; but, with feeble dumb-show of his face, seemed to\r\nbe saying \"Pray leave me; who was ever cured by talk?\"\r\n\r\nBut the other, as if not unused to make allowances for such despondency,\r\nproceeded; and kindly, yet firmly:\r\n\r\n\"You tell me, that by advice of an eminent physiologist in Louisville,\r\nyou took tincture of iron. For what? To restore your lost energy. And\r\nhow? Why, in healthy subjects iron is naturally found in the blood, and\r\niron in the bar is strong; ergo, iron is the source of animal\r\ninvigoration. But you being deficient in vigor, it follows that the\r\ncause is deficiency of iron. Iron, then, must be put into you; and so\r\nyour tincture. Now as to the theory here, I am mute. But in modesty\r\nassuming its truth, and then, as a plain man viewing that theory in\r\npractice, I would respectfully question your eminent physiologist:\r\n'Sir,' I would say, 'though by natural processes, lifeless natures taken\r\nas nutriment become vitalized, yet is a lifeless nature, under any\r\ncircumstances, capable of a living transmission, with all its qualities\r\nas a lifeless nature unchanged? If, sir, nothing can be incorporated\r\nwith the living body but by assimilation, and if that implies the\r\nconversion of one thing to a different thing (as, in a lamp, oil is\r\nassimilated into flame), is it, in this view, likely, that by banqueting\r\non fat, Calvin Edson will fatten? That is, will what is fat on the board\r\nprove fat on the bones? If it will, then, sir, what is iron in the vial\r\nwill prove iron in the vein.' Seems that conclusion too confident?\"\r\n\r\nBut the sick man again turned his dumb-show look, as much as to say,\r\n\"Pray leave me. Why, with painful words, hint the vanity of that which\r\nthe pains of this body have too painfully proved?\"\r\n\r\nBut the other, as if unobservant of that querulous look, went on:\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJKFNSEMZR9R73KH4K4N9","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JMR8XVKPA0G8ADAPC4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKB8ESDT9JF01878X6WJ0","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:01.270Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:08.363Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}