The reference to Joel Chandler Harris is right on target.

In 1987, I wrote a paper for the American Journal of Medicine with the
title "Uncle Remus and the Cascade Effect in Clinical Medicine: Brer
Rabbit Kicks the Tar-Baby" to point out to physicians that there was a
risk in ordering too many tests or initiating too many treatments when
they don't know what is going on. Brer Rabbit's attack on the Tar-Baby
provided the model for how to get into trouble.

[The story starts when Brer Rabbit first greeted the Tar-Baby]

"Mawnin'!" sez Brer Rabbit, sezee - "nice wedder dis mawnin'," sezee.

[and, of course, Brer Rabbit did not get any response from the Tar-Baby]

Tar-Baby aint sayin' nothin'..."How duz yo' sym'toms see ter
segashuate?" sez Brer Rabbit, sezee.

[So, apparently, not only can corporsosity segasuate, but so can
symptoms.]

Patrick Ober
Wake Forest University School of Medicine