Genre:

Short Fiction, Satire

Subjects:

Disease, Sanitation, Government, Expertise, Public Health, Politics

    Consists of three stories that seek to demonstrate the ill effects of self-government. The second story describes a patient who, against the advice of his doctor but following the suggestion of his nurse, 'an advocate for Self-Government', drank a bottle of port to control his fever and died shortly afterwards. The third story describes how 'wise men' tried to banish the ravaging cholera by draining and cleaning their filthy dwellings, but how, much to cholera's delight, 'wiseacres' urged that the best solution was to chant 'Self-Government'.