Deep roots of hypochondriasis

The past couple of Covid years have been characterized by a manic authoritarianism seeking to overturn human rights in combination with hysterical hypochondriasis.  Authoritarianism has always been a flaw in the human condition.  The following poem, from 1919, highlights that hypochondriasis is also a semipermanent condition for some portion of the population.  

Strictly Germ-Proof

by Arthur Guiterman (1871-1943)

The Antiseptic Baby and the Prophylactic Pup

Were playing in the garden when the Bunny gambolled up;

They looked upon the creature with a loathing undisguised;

It wasn’t disinfected and it wasn’t sterilised.

They said it was microbic and a hotbed of disease;

They steamed it in a vapor of a thousand-odd degrees;

They froze it in a freezer that was cold as banished hope

And washed it in permanganate with carbolated soap.

In sulphurated hydrogen they steeped its wiggly ears;

They trimmed its frisky whiskers with a pair of hard-boiled shears;

They donned their rubber mittens and they took it by the hand

And ’lected it a member of the Fumigated Band.

There’s not a micrococcus in the garden where they play;

They bathe in pure iodoform a dozen times a day;

And each imbibes his rations from a hygienic cup —

The Bunny and The Baby and The Prophylactic Pup.