Doctor: “You called for me? Tell me what you’re feeling.”
Merchant’s wife: “Thank God I’m healthy for now, but I’m taking ill immediately, because I had a bad dream today. An acquaintance of mine, Pulkheria Ivanovna, also had a terrible dream before she took ill with typhus…”
Doctor: “In that case it was premature to summon me.”
Merchant’s wife: “Oh, doctor, you’ll anticipate this sickness and start to cure me now, while I haven’t taken ill, otherwise I’ll die of fright!”
(Strekoza, St. Petersburg, 1878)
Sic Transit Pestilentia 