Ill: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Senior, was a physian. As such he was very interested in the use of ether. (Ether was used to put people to sleep in the 19th century.) In order to know how his patients felt under its influence, he once had a dose administered to himself.
-As he was going under, in a dreamy state, a profound thought came to him. He believed that he had suddenly grasped the key to all the mysteries of the universe. When he regained consciousness, however, he was unable to remember what the insight was.
-Because of the great importance this thought would be to mankind, Holmes arranged to have himself given either again. This time he had a stenographer present to take down the great thought. The either was administered, and sure enough, just before passing out the insight reappeared. He mumbled the words, the stenographer took them down, and he went to
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