But In The Old Days Of Idolatry, The Hygienic And
Prophylactic Practices Alluded To By Herodotus, The Greater Cleanliness
Of The People, And The Attention Paid To The Canals And Drainage,
Probably Prevented This Malarious Disease Becoming The Scourge Which It
Is Now.
The similarity of the soil and the climate of Egypt to those of
Upper Sind, and the prevalence of the complaint in both countries,
assist us in investigating the predisposing causes.
These are, the
nitrous and pungent nature of the soil-what the old Greek calls "acrid
matter exuding from the earth,"-and the sudden transition from extreme
dryness to excessive damp checking the invisible perspiration of the
circumorbital parts, and flying to an organ which is already weakened
by the fierce glare of the sun, and the fine dust raised by the Khamsin
or the Chaliho. Glare and dust alone, seldom cause eye disease.
Everyone knows that ophthalmia is unknown in the Desert, and the people
of Al-Hijaz, who live in an atmosphere of blaze and sand, seldom lose
their sight. The Egyptian usually catches ophthalmia in his childhood.
It begins with simple conjunctivitis, caused by constitutional
predisposition, exposure, diet, and allowing the eye to be covered with
swarms of flies. He neglects the early symptoms, and cares the less for
being a Cyclops, as the infirmity will most probably exempt him from
military service. Presently the sane organ becomes affected
sympathetically. As before, simple disease of the conjunctiva passes
into purulent ophthalmia. The man, after waiting a while, will go to
the doctor and show a large cicatrix in each eye, the result of an
ulcerated cornea. Physic can do nothing for him; he remains blind for
life. He is now provided for, either by living with his friends, who
seldom refuse him a loaf of bread, or if industriously inclined, by
begging, by acting Mu'ezzin, or by engaging himself as "Yamaniyah," or
chaunter, at funerals. His children are thus predisposed to the
paternal complaint, and gradually the race becomes tender-eyed. Most
travellers have observed that imported African slaves seldom become
blind either in Egypt or in Sind. Few Englishmen settled in Egypt lose
their sight, except they be medical men, who cannot afford time to
nurse the early symptoms. The use of coffee and of water as beverages
has much to do with this. In the days of hard drinking our Egyptian
army suffered severely, and the Austrian army in Tuscany showed how
often blindness is caused by importing Northern habits into Southern
countries. Many Europeans in Egypt wash their eyes with cold water,
especially after walking, and some use once a day a mildly astringent
or cooling wash, as Goulard's lotion or vinegar and water. They avoid
letting flies settle upon their eyes, and are of opinion that the
evening dews are prejudicial, and that sleeping with open windows lays
the foundation of disease. Generally when leaving a hot room,
especially a Nile-boat cabin, for the cold damp night air, the more
prudent are careful to bathe and to wipe the eyes and forehead as a
preparation for change of atmosphere. During my short practice in Egypt
I found the greatest advantage from the employment of
counter-irritants,-blisters and Pommade Emetise,-applied to the temples
and behind the ears. Native practitioners greatly err by confining
their patients in dark rooms, thereby injuring the general health and
laying the foundation of chronic disease. They are ignorant that,
unless the optic nerve be affected, the stimulus of light is beneficial
to the eye. And the people by their dress favour the effects of glare
and dust. The Tarbush, no longer surrounded as of old by a huge
turband, is the least efficient of protectors, and the comparative
rarity of ophthalmic disease among the women, who wear veils, proves
that the exposure is one of its co-efficient causes.
[FN#18] This invention dates from the most ancient times, and both in
the East and in the West has been used by the weird brotherhood to
produce the appearances of the absent and the dead, to discover
treasure, to detect thieves, to cure disease, and to learn the secrets
of the unknown world. The Hindus called it Anjan, and formed it by
applying lamp-black, made of a certain root, and mixed with oil to the
palm of a footling child, male or female. The Greeks used oil poured
into a boy's hand. Cornelius Agrippa had a crystal mirror, which
material also served the Counts de Saint Germain and Cagliostro. Dr.
Dee's "show-stone" was a bit of cannel coal. The modern Sindians know
the art by the name of Gahno or Vinyano; there, as in Southern Persia,
ink is rubbed upon the seer's thumb-nail. The people of Northern Africa
are considered skilful in this science, and I have a Maghrabi magic
formula for inking the hand of a "boy, a black slave girl, a virgin, or
a pregnant woman," which differs materially from those generally known.
The modern Egyptians call it Zarb al-Mandal, and there is scarcely a
man in Cairo who does not know something about it. In selecting
subjects to hold the ink, they observe the right hand, and reject all
who have not what is called in palmistry the "linea media naturalis"
straight and deeply cut. Even the barbarous Finns look into a glass of
brandy, and the natives of Australia gaze at a kind of shining stone.
Lady Blessington's crystal ball is fresh in the memory of the present
generation, and most men have heard of Electro-Biology and the Cairo
magician. Upon this latter subject, a vexed one, I must venture a few
remarks. In the first account of the magician by Mr. Lane, we have a
fair and dispassionate recital of certain magical, mystical, or
mesmeric phenomena, which "excited considerable curiosity and interest
th[r]oughout the civilised world." As usual in such matters, the
civilised world was wholly ignorant of what was going on at home;
otherwise, in London, Paris, and New York, they might have found dozens
studying the science.
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