query from a colleague -- does this ring a bell?  is it TRAMP ABROAD?


 I’ve heard that Twain tells as story somewhere of being in a hot room,
being unable to sleep, throwing his boot at the window to break it and let
cool air in.  He hears the glass break, feels the cool air on his face, and
sleeps peacefully.  In the morning, he wakes and finds that his boot had
struck a mirror in his room—so that the cool air he felt (which allowed him
to sleep) was all in his imagination.  It’s a neat illustration of the
placebo effect, is why I’m interested in it—but I’ve just heard about it and
don’t know where it is.

-- 
Harold K. Bush, Ph.D
Professor of English
Saint Louis University
St. Louis, MO  63108
314-977-3616 (w); 314-771-6795 (h)
<www.slu.edu/x23809.xml>