A distinguished surgeon, Dr. Abernethy by name, famed for his laconic speech as well as for his professional skill, met one day his equal in a woman of few words, who came to him with a hand badly swollen and inflamed.
“Burn?” asked the doctor.
“Bruise.”
“Poultice.”
The next day the patient returned and the dialogue was resumed.
“Better?”
“Worse.”
“More poultice.”