MEDICATED FABLES FOR MICE AND MEN

Illustrated by Kenneth Mahood of Punch fame, this is a slim volume of medicated fables about medical foibles. Doctors and patients are metamorphosed to point a tale and a great many of them do -- parrots, mice, turkeys, kangaroos, llamas, crows, jackals, et al. There's one about an oracle named Diak Nosis and the trouble he causes a simply hungry pigeon; another about a genius llama called Oscar whose specialty is worked through a screen and the parabolic appendage reads: ""MORAL: Whether you are a llama or a radiolologist, never place your complete trust in shadows"". Other funnier morals? ""The function of a voluntary health agency is to raise money, not cure disease"". ""It is just as uplifting to practise on Park Avenue as in the slums, and more nourishing, besides"". ""Eager beavers build good dams; eager monkeys build damned good practices"". Dr. Wassersug's jabs at the arm of the Welfare State should make the AMA very happy indeed. Clever, but labored.