Re: Uncle Vivian revisited.
a distant cousin of uncle Vivian, uncle septimus had been a doctor all his life and had once complained about uncle Vivian excessive wayward habits - they hadn't spoken for years!
now retired who would be asked to lecture to the new med students and he and they enjoyed it immensely. one such lecture had him demonstrating the old technique of urine testing for diabetes. He would produce from beneath the desk a glass of urine and demonstrate to the students by saying watch carefully and you will be wise!
he swiftly dipped his forefinger into the urine and then just as swiftly placed it in his mouth and sucked! the students watched with awe - a slight sweet flavor he would declare - could be early onset diabetes.
he then requested all students to depart to the ablutions with their glass jars and provide a urine sample of their own. on return he would ask them to exchange jars with each other and then repeat his experiment.
hesitantly they all tried with looks of anguish and disgust on their faces - some gagged and spat out their small samples!
now said uncle septimus, if you had observed me carefully you would have noticed that I placed my forefinger in the urine but my middle finger in my mouth, just for this demonstration - we did have to do it as you did in fact
so one of the first rules of good medicine is close observation - most of you need to brush up on this!
uncle septimus used to tell this tale at family funeral and wedding gathering much to uncle Vivian disgust who used to walk off in a huff!