A child had fallen seriously ill and its grandmother was asked to look after it. She was given a bottle of medicine which carried a label on which were inscribed the words “Shake before use” in bold letters. Reading those words she first shook the child briskly and then gave it a dose. In consequence, the child got a relapse of the fever from which it had been suffering. When the doctor came, he was surprised to find it so seriously ill. He began to enquire as to the details of the nursing and discovered the way in which the old lady had construed the words printed on the label. He told her that it was the medicine that was to be shaken and not the child.