The 48 Laws Of Power

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her

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and

eurhmurnernwhich[I

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came

sailingup

the

rn-‘rr
Cydrms

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barge

wirha

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its

purple

sails

billowing

inthe

wind.

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brzauliful

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cameatthe

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ofthe

river

from

in

wrymouth,

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from

the

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370

LAW 3

7

OBSERVANCEOFTHELAW

I

Inthe

early

1780s.

word

spreadthrough

Berlinofthe

strange

and

spectacu-

larmedical

practice

ofaDr.Weisleder.

He

performed

hismiracles

inan

enormousconvertedbeer

hall,

outsidewhichBerliners

began

tonotice

ever

longer

linesof

people—-the

blind,

the

lame,

anyone

withanillnessin

curable

by

normalmedicine.

Whenitleakedoutthatthedoctorworked

by

exposing

the

patient

tothe

rays

ofthe

moon,

hesoonbecamedubbedThe

MoonDoctorofBerlin.

Sometimein

1783,

itwas

reported

thatDr.Weislederhadcuredawell»

to—do

woman

ofaterribleailment.He

suddenly

becamea

celebrity.

Previ~

ouslyonly

the

poorest

Berlinershadbeenseen

waiting

outside

thebeer

hallintheir

rags;

now

magnificentcarriages

were

parked

outside,

and

gen-

tlemeninfrock

coats,

andladieswithenormous

coiffures,

linedthestreet

assunsetdrewnear.Evenfolkwiththemildestofailments

came,

outof

sheer

curiosity,

As

they

waitedin

line,

the

poorer

clientswould

explain

to

the

gentlemen

andladiesthatthedoctor

onlypracticed

whenthemoon

wasinitsincrescent

phase.Many

wouldadd that

they

themselves

had

al

ready

been

exposed

tothe

healing

powers

hecalledforthfromthe

rays

of

themoon. Eventhosewhofeltcured

keptcoming

back,

drawn

by

this

powerfulexperience.

Insidethebeer

hall,

a

strange

and

stirringspectaclegreeted

thevisitor:

Packedintotheentrance

hallwas

acrowdof

all

classes

andethnicbar.k~

grounds,

averitableTowerofBabel.

Through

tallwindowsonthenorthern

sideofthe

hall,

silverymoonlightpoured

inatodd

angles.

Thedoctorand

his

wife,who,

it

seemed,

wasalsoabletoeffectthe

cure,

practiced

onthe

second

floor,

whichwasreached

by

at

stairway,

attheendofthehall.Asthe

line

edged

closertothe

stairs,

the

sickwould

hearshoutsand

cries

from

above,

andwordwould

spread

of,

perhaps,

ablind

gentlemansuddenly

abletosee.

Once

upstairs,

thelinewouldforkintwo

directions,

towardanorth-

ernroomforthe

doctor,

a

southernonefor

his

wife,

whoworked

only

on

theladies.

Finally,

afterhoursof

anticipation

and

waiting

in

line,

the

gen-

tlemen

patients

wouldbeledbeforethe

amazing

doctor

himself,

ancl‘

derly

manwithafewstalksofwild

gray

hairandanairofnervous

energy.

Hewouldtakethe

patient

(let

us

say

a

youngboy,brought

in

by

hisfa-

ther),

uncovertheafflicted

bodypart,

and

liftthe

boyup

tothe

window,

whichfacedthe

light

ofthemoon.Hewouldrubthesiteofthe

injury

or

illness,

mumble

somethingunintelligible,

look

knowingly

atthe

moon,

and

then,

after

collecting

his

fee,

sendthe

boy

andhisfatherontheir

way.

Meanwhile,

inthe

sout.h~faciug

room,

hiswifewouldbe

doing

thesame

with

the1adies~——which

was

odd,

really,

sincethemooncannot

appear

in

two

places

at

once;

itcannothavebeen

visible,

inother

words,

fromboth

windows.

Apparently

themere

thought,

idea,

and

symbol

ofthemoon

were

enough,

fortheladiesdidnot

complain,

andwouldlaterremark

confidently

thatthewifeoftheMoonDoctorhadthesame

healingpowers

ashe.