Punch, or the London Charivari, November 4th 1893

A tongue‑in‑cheek diary follows a hapless gentleman who, fed up with hefty medical bills, decides to treat himself using an absurdly limited medical dictionary sold in monthly installments. Each entry laments a new ailment—headaches, a stubborn corn, a relentless cough—while the alphabetic catalogue offers nothing beyond “Chilblain,” forcing him into a comedy of errors as he attempts to self‑diagnose and self‑prescribe.

The humor escalates as friends intervene, misreading the sparse entries and recommending increasingly dramatic remedies, only to prove the futility of the protagonist’s frugal plan. The piece skewers late‑Victorian self‑help fads and the blind faith placed in incomplete knowledge, all delivered in Punch’s signature wit and brisk, illustrated commentary. Listeners will enjoy the escalating absurdity and the subtle critique of both quack medicine and the pride of “self‑sufficiency.