The play was published by Duranty in his edition of the Théâtre de marionnettes du Jardin des Tuileries (1862). The farcical theme of the false doctor is treated following the pattern of Molière's Tartuffe: the intrusion "like a cataclysm" (Duranty) into a family of an "impostor" who seeks to ruin it but is finally unmasked.

Catalysterium, a fake doctor, breaks into the Niflanguille's house and diagnoses the couple and their servant with a supposedly fatal disease. He asks them to stay in bed, eats their food and prescribes very expensive medicines (in fact water) to rob them. Mr. Niflanguille finds out about the scam and gets his money back. Cataclysterium is beaten by the Niflanguille and their servant and forced to take an oath to give up medicine forever.