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