A robber of grave-worms. One who supplies the young physicians with that with which the old physicians have supplied the undertaker. The hyena. Grave, n. A place in which the dead are laid to await the coming of the medical student. —Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary Some thought that being last thrown over the [gallows] and first cut down, and in full vigour, and not much earth placed upon him, and lying uppermost [in the grave], and not so ready to smother, the fermentation of the blood and heat of the bodies under him might cause him to rebound and throw off the earth. —Lord Fountainhall, recounting the hanging and subsequent resurrection of a gypsy at Greyfriar’s Kirkyard in Edinburgh Chapter Eight They say that sex sells, but I think fear is an even greater motivator. What do you think convinces healthy adults with functioning taste buds to eat plain oatmeal for breakfast when doughnuts are readily available? I’m not saying that light doses of fear don’t have some good uses; it can keep us out of a lot trouble when temptation is whispering lo.
