Whatever You
Prescribe Must Be Solid And Material, And If You Accompany It With
Something Painful, Such As Rubbing To Scarification With A Horse-Brush,
So Much The Better.
Easterns, like our peasants in Europe, wish the
doctor to "give them the value of their money." Besides which, rough
measures act beneficially upon their imagination.
So the Hakim of the
King of Persia cured fevers by the bastinado; patients are beneficially
baked in a bread-oven at Baghdad; and an Egyptian at Alexandria, whose
quartan resisted the strongest appliances of European physic, was
effectually healed by the actual cautery, which a certain Arab Shaykh
applied to the crown of his head. When you administer with your own
hand the remedy-half-a-dozen huge bread pills, dipped in a solution of
aloes or cinnamon water, flavoured with assafoetida, which in the case
of the dyspeptic rich often suffice, if they will but
[p.55]diet themselves-you are careful to say, "In the name of Allah,
the Compassionate, the Merciful." And after the patient has been dosed,
"Praise be to Allah, the Curer, the Healer;" you then call for pen,
ink, and paper, and write some such prescription as this:
"A.[FN#11]
"In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful, and blessings
and peace be upon our Lord the Apostle, and his family, and his
companions one and all! But afterwards let him take bees-honey and
cinnamon and album graecum, of each half a part, and of ginger a whole
part, which let him pound and mix with the honey, and form boluses,
each bolus the weight of a Miskal, and of it let him use every day a
Miskal on the saliva.[FN#12] Verily its effects are wonderful. And let
him abstain from flesh, fish, vegetables, sweetmeats, flatulent food,
acids of all descriptions, as well as the major ablution, and live in
perfect quiet. So shall he be cured by the help of the King, the
Healer.[FN#13] And The Peace.[FN#14]"
The diet, I need scarcely say, should be rigorous; nothing has tended
more to bring the European system of medicine into contempt among
Orientals than our inattention to this branch of the therapeutic art.
When an Hindi or a Hindu "takes medicine," he prepares himself for it
by diet and rest two or three days before adhibition, and as gradually,
after the dose, he relapses into his usual habits; if he break through
the regime it is concluded that fatal results must ensue. The ancient
Egyptians we learn from Herodotus devoted a certain number of days in
each month to the use of alteratives, and the
[p.56]period was consecutive, doubtless in order to graduate the
strength of the medicine. The Persians, when under salivation, shut
themselves up in a warm room, never undress, and so carefully guard
against cold that they even drink tepid water. When the Afghan princes
find it necessary to employ Chob-Chini, (the Jin-seng,
[FN#15] or China
[p.57]root so celebrated as a purifier, tonic, and aphrodisiac) they
choose the spring season; they remove to a garden, where flowers and
trees and bubbling streams soothe their senses; they carefully avoid
fatigue and trouble of all kinds, and will not even hear a letter read,
lest it should contain bad news.
When the prescription is written out, you affix an impression of your
ring seal to the beginning and to the end of it, that no one may be
able to add to or take from its contents. And when you send medicine to
a patient of rank, who is sure to have enemies, you adopt some similar
precaution against the box or the bottle being opened. One of the
Pashas whom I attended,-a brave soldier who had been a favourite with
Mohammed Ali, and therefore was degraded by his successor,-kept an
impression of my ring in wax, to compare with that upon the phials. Men
have not forgotten how frequently, in former times, those who became
obnoxious to the State were seized with sudden and fatal cramps in the
stomach. In the case of the doctor it is common prudence to adopt these
precautions, as all evil consequences would be charged upon him, and he
would be exposed to the family's revenge.
Cairo, though abounding in medical practitioners, can still support
more; but to thrive they must be Indians, Chinese, or Maghrabis. The
Egyptians are thoroughly disgusted with European treatment, which is
here about as efficacious as in India-that is to say, not at all. But
they are ignorant of the medicine of Hind, and therefore great is its
name; deservedly perhaps, for skill in simples and dietetics. Besides
which the Indian
[p.58]may deal in charms and spells,-things to which the latitude gives
such force that even Europeans learn to put faith in them. The
traveller who, on the banks of the Seine, scoffs at Sights and Sounds,
Table-turning and Spirit-rapping, sees in the wilds of Tartary and
Thibet a something supernatural and diabolical in the bungling Sie-fa
of the Bokte.[FN#16] Some sensible men, who pass for philosophers among
their friends, have been caught by the incantations of the turbanded
and bearded Cairo magician. In our West African colonies the phrase
"growing black" was applied to colonists, who, after a term of
residence, became thoroughly imbued with the superstitions of the land.
And there are not wanting old Anglo-Indians, intelligent men, that
place firm trust in tales and tenets too puerile even for the Hindus to
believe. As a "Hindi" I could use animal magnetism, taking care,
however, to give the science a specious supernatural appearance. Haji
Wali, who, professing positive scepticism, showed the greatest interest
in the subject as a curiosity, advised me not to practise pure
mesmerism; otherwise, that I should infallibly become a "Companion of
Devils." "You must call this an Indian secret," said my friend, "for it
is clear that you are no Mashaikh,[FN#17] and people will ask, where
are your drugs, and what business have you with charms?" It is useless
to say that I followed his counsel; yet patients would consider
themselves my
[p.59]Murids (disciples), and delighted in kissing the hand of the
Sahib Nafas[FN#18] or minor saint.
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