1. How did Jerome K. Jerome come to know that his liver was out of order?

r? What were the diseases

he thought he was suffering from on reading a book on the treatment of diseases?
Ans. One day, Jerome K. Jerome was reading a liver-pill circular. Various symptoms of that disease were
given and from these he fancied that his liver was out of order. When he read a book on diseases, he
found that all the diseases which were described in the book were present in him except housemaids
knee.
2. What was the disease he discovered he didnt have?
Housemaids knee was the disease which he didnt have.
3. Was he pleased to find he didnt have it?
No, he was annoyed to find that he did not have housemaids knee. He called it unjust and an invidious
reservation.
4. What was his first reaction?
He sat and pondered over his case. He thought of himself that he was an asset for a medical student.
5. Why should he be an acquisition to the medical class?
He should be an acquisition for the medical students because all they needed is practice. They should
not waste their time in hospital wards. Instead, they should come to him, study his case and take their
diploma.
6. Describe his visit to the medical man.
He went straight to his medical man who was an old chum of him and told him that he had every known
malady in pharmacology except housemaids knee. He found this a shortcut way to tell his present
condition.
7. He thought he was doing a good turn by going to him. Why?
Before that, whenever the writer fancied that he was ill, the doctor always treated him casually. That time,
he thought that he had a plethora of diseases and now he would do a good turn to the doctor because he
would get more practice out of him than many an ordinary patient.
8. What was the prescription given to him by the doctor?
The prescription ran:
1 lb. beefsteak every six hours,
ten-mile walk every morning,
bed at 11 sharp every night,
and dont stuff your head with things you dont understand.
9. Describe his visit to chemist.
He got the prescription and took it to the nearest chemist. He thrust it upon the chemist without reading it.
The chemist read it and handed it back to the author and said that he did not keep it. The prescription
contained items available with a general store and family hotel not with a chemist.
10. What is significance of the doctors advice: dont stuff your head with things you dont
understand?
This advice is the most important component of the doctors prescription. The author has a poor
knowledge about diseases and fancies every disease about which he reads present in himself. So, the
doctor advises him not to stuff his head with things he doesnt understand. The writer acts upon it and
leads a happy healthy life.