in its source, one among the few solaces with which human life is
sparingly diversified, which the heroism and the philanthropy, or
the ambition and the avarice, of Europeans have propagated wherever
the malign destiny of other nations has ordained that their dominion
should be established, does not appear in Egypt with all the terrors
that mark its course in other countries.
The temperature, the air, the mode of living, perhaps simply the
first, which maintains continued transpiration, render it much
milder in its effects than with us, or even in the islands of the
Archipelago.
The institutes of the Prophet, indeed, have tended to diminish
promiscuous concubinage, yet there is no such deficiency as to
impede the propagation of the disease, if it were as virulent as in
other places.
Ulcers of long duration, noseless faces, and all the disgusting
consequences of this malady are indeed occasionally visible. But
they are in very small number, and notoriously the result of extreme
negligence, and of repeated infection, where no means have been
employed to exterminate it.
It may truly be esteemed fortunate that this disease prevails
with no violence in Egypt, for its only certain remedy, mercury,
is there found much less efficacious than in the more temperate
latitudes. Administered even in smaller doses than in Europe, it is
said ptyalism is either produced very early, or it passes off with
the fæces, without any visible effect.
A Frank practitioner of Kahira, accustomed to the climate, ordered
two drams of Mercury in thirty pills, with Gum Arabic and Syrup of
Cichory, to be taken one a day. In this case, he declared, that the
pills having been administered during the first seven days, and then,
with the intermission of three days, two having been given each day
for five days more, had produced no visible effect on the disease,
but passed off by stool. In other cases he had known much smaller
doses, in the space of two days, had caused inflammation of the
salivary glands, and he was obliged to abandon the use of it, and
have recourse to other means of cure.
The natives, who are unacquainted with the use of mercury, and indeed
of minerals in general as employed internally, are yet provided, as
they say, with efficacious remedies for the venereal disease. They use
flax oil, fresh, as it is expressed, from the seed. A Greek, who was
in the service of Murad Bey as a mariner, (_galeongi_,) and who was
known to me in Kahira, had been infected, and on applying to a Frank
physician, was told that it would be necessary immediately to use
mercurials. The man was not inclined to confinement or to regimen, and
went to a Copt at Jizé, who professed to relieve the sick. This man
ordered him to take two coffee-cups of flax oil every morning fasting,
and directed no regimen, but that of keeping himself warm. The Greek
observed none, for he continued freely the use of _aqua vitæ_, and
even sacrificed to Venus, (for persons who have been once infected
and fully cured, are, it is said, in no fear of reinfection,) and
was often in the heat of the sun. He had continued this method for
two months, when a general eruption took place over his body, but
chiefly about the head and glands of the throat. In this condition I
saw him. His Esculapius ordered him to cover the pustules of his face
with a kind of red earth, found in some parts of Egypt. They gradually
became dry, and came off without leaving any mark. At the end of the
third month from the time he had applied to the Copt, and one month
after the appearance of the eruption, the man was in perfect health,
and the skin had completely recovered its tone and polish.
In the cure of the simple gonorrhea, a decoction of mallows is
commonly used, and they seem to place their chief confidence in
diuretics. I never heard of an injection, but from those who were
acquainted with European practice. Certain herbs and roots macerated,
are applied locally in case of inflammation and tension (chordee).
Shankers, &c. externally, are repeatedly washed with soap and water,
and then kept covered with the red earth above mentioned. I never
saw the effect, but the cure is said to be rapid.
In Dar-Fûr I have not observed the venereal disease more formidable
than in Egypt. I saw a few individuals who were mutilated in the
organs of generation by its effects.
The old women, who are physicians in ordinary, use a decoction of
certain roots, of which I never came at the knowlege, infused in
_bouza_, which appear to operate successfully. Gleets are frequent;
and continued indulgence produces early debility and impotence.
The great advantages of the _étuves_, or warm baths, is evident in
very many instances in Kahira. But it is difficult to admit Savary’s
assertion (vol. i. p. 108) in its full extent, viz. that they operate
as a radical cure of the venereal disease. They doubtless assuage
many of its graver symptoms.
In no country are pulmonary diseases more rare than in Egypt, which
could not happen if the baths had any tendency to cause them.
_Leprosy._
The leprosy is more frequent in Syria than in Egypt. It exists
however in the latter country, with all its concomitants of swelled
and distorted joints, a livid, spotted, parched, and cracked skin, &c.
I have seen it under all its forms of _Borras_, _Jiddâm_, &c. In
Kahira there is no provision for the unhappy sufferers, who are
allowed to beg about the streets, but forbidden by their religion from
the contact of others, and excluded from society by an inefficient
police. I have heard of a cure of the leprosy in its worst stage,
by the use of corrosive sublimate in small doses. The natives seem
not to know any specific.
In Dar-Fûr, the _Borras_, which is not uncommon, gives to the
blacks the appearance of being _pyebald_, changing to white both
the skin and hair. A case of, what I was convinced was _Jiddâm_,
beginning in the hands, was cured under my observation by a slave,
a native of the kingdom called _Baghermi_, but the means he had used
he could not be prevailed on to disclose.
_Bile._
Complaints proceeding from too copious secretion of bile are
extremely common both in Egypt and Dar-Fûr. _Murâr_, the bile,
or gall, is the generic name for all diseases of this kind, at
least in their nascent state; for they are not solicitous in the
choice of names, till distinct appearances teach them to seek a more
characteristic appellation. There seems to be no efficacious remedy
for these maladies, and therefore they take their course; and all
the inconveniences consequent upon them are common, and increased
by general inattention to diet.
The _tuhhâl_, or _tehhâl_, deriving its name from the spleen,
_morbus spleneticus_, is very frequent. One of its outward symptoms
is a tumor hard to the touch, but subject to increase and diminution,
in the neighbourhood of the spleen, and general inflation in the
supra-umbilical region.
In Egypt Christians and the less scrupulous Mohammedans use _aqua
vitæ_ to remove the present sensation. It operates as an anodyne,
which is all they seek. In Dar-Fûr the leaves of senna pulverised,
and, by admixture with honey, formed into balls, (the common
cathartic,) is the only medicine administered with any salutary
effect. I found James’s powder of great service to those with whom
it operated as an emetic. The distention of the spleen prevents the
stomach from receiving a proper quantity of food, yet the inclination
for food is undiminished.
The liver being rendered incapable of its functions, by repeated
extravasations of bile, the blood, which at all times circulates
slowly from the spleen through that gland, now much retarded,
occasions schirrosities of the spleen, and at length perfectly
stagnant in and distending it, it becomes corrupted by the fæces
contained in the colon near it, and begins to putrify. In this state
the disease frequently terminates in death. But these schirrosities
sometimes remain for years, without producing any very dangerous
symptoms.
The passage of the bile into the intestines being intercepted, having
passed from the gall bladder to the liver, it at length returns
to the blood, which occasions _the jaundice_, another disease not
uncommon among the Fûrians, termed by them _Saffafîr_, and, among
the blacks, first visible in the eyes.
To alleviate the effects of any unusual increase of the cystic bile,
the natrôn of the country is very efficacious.
_Tenia._
From the nature of their diet, which consists in a great degree
of vegetables and fruits, with a large portion of sugar, honey,
&c. the inhabitants of Egypt, of all denominations, are particularly
subject to the Tenia or tape-worm (_Dûd_ Ar.) I have seen pieces
of vast length preserved by the European physicians, who yet appear
to have found no specific for it. The natives mistake the symptoms
of this disease, ascarides, &c. for distinct maladies, and treat
them accordingly. The commonalty, Jews, and devout Christians,
who unremittingly use insalubrious food during their _fasts_,
are most affected with it, though none are exempt. In those who
are thus incommoded, a tumor commonly appears about the navel,
and discoloration of the skin next the eyes.
Bruce seems to be of opinion, that the great prevalence of _worms_,
with which the Abyssins are much afflicted, proceeds from the common
use of raw meat. Not to mention that it is not yet proved that the
habitual use of raw meat generates worms in the human intestines,
that complaint cannot well be more common than among the people of
Egypt, who never use meat but when fully prepared by fire.
_Hernia._
Ruptures are common in Egypt, chiefly among the lower orders,
particularly the boatmen, few of whom are seen without a greater or
less degree of this dangerous accident, and to many of whom it is
fatal. Their life is almost amphibious, and it may in some measure
be the effect of the pendent situation of the parts; but it seems
chiefly to arise from the exertions they are obliged to make in
lading and unlading their boats, and propelling them, as frequently
happens, by applying their shoulders. In the people of this city,
who carry heavy loads on their backs, and raise great weights,
it is also common. Clumsy and ineffectual trusses are made in
Kahira, which rather distress and embarrass than relieve or secure
the patient. The scrotum is sometimes cauterized, and with effect,
if the intestines be not incarcerated. In Dar-Fûr this disease is
uncommon; yet it is sometimes seen there.
_Hydrocele._
The hydrocele is remarkably frequent in Syria, and, above all, in the
town of Beirût. It is also frequent in Egypt, but most among the
Christians of both countries. Some attribute it to the Nile water;
others to the air; others to the use, or rather abuse of _aqua vitæ_;
others to food of a particular kind: none of which seems to be the
real cause. The natives of both countries have a method of inciding
securely, which discharges the water, and of course produces temporary
relief: but the malady is rapidly regenerated. The only radical cure
is the actual cautery, which, though unskilfully, is yet successfully
applied to such patients as are bold enough to encounter the danger.
_Hæmorrhoides and Fistula in ano._
The hæmorrhoides (_bowasîr_) are very common both in Egypt and
Dar-Fûr. In the latter, they cure them by the cautery. The _Fistula
in ano_ is also seen there, and is cured by a topical application,
but without incision.
_Apoplexy._
I have known two instances in Dar-Fûr of what appeared to me to
be apoplexy. The one was of a male slave, about sixteen years of
age, the other of a man about forty; both of them of plethoric
habit. The boy dropped down senseless, after having been standing
near a large fire in cool weather. Pulsation ceased, and a great
hæmorrhage took place from the nostrils. After one hour and
a half he expired. Bleeding was recommended to the proprietor,
but the by-standers would not consent, saying it was _Sheitân_,
the devil had possessed him. The man was dead before I saw him;
much extravasated blood appeared about him. He had been at work in
the sun. The _coup-de-soleil_, properly so called, does not often
occur. When much exposed in walking or at work, they protect their
head from the ill effect of the rays descending perpendicularly,
by winding their shirt round it, and leaving the trunk uncovered.
_Umbilical ruptures._
Among the slaves, and even free persons in Dar-Fûr, prominencies
of the navel, and umbilical ruptures, of greater or less magnitude,
are very common. Though the chord be remarked to be larger in the
negroes than with us, this circumstance must probably be occasioned by
ignorance, carelesness, or some mismanagement at the birth. It does
not appear to be attended with positive inconvenience. The chord,
when divided, is here cauterized as in Egypt.
_Accouchemens._
The accouchemens of the Arabian females are remarkably easy. There
are stories of the Bedouîn women sitting down near a water and
delivering themselves. Certain it is, that both the Mohammedan and
Coptic females in the cities and towns are equally averse from the
attendance of a man on these occasions; and however unskilful the
accoucheuses may be imagined, few accidents have place.
The women of Fûr, in like manner, are assisted by their own sex, and
are seldom long confined: yet nature seems to render child-bearing
more difficult to them than to the Egyptians, and their care after
delivery is not always such as to prevent both the mother and the
child from suffering. I have known several instances where cold caught
after the accident has proved of serious consequences to the mother.
_Hydrophobia._
The _rabies canina_, or hydrophobia, is either very unusual or
entirely unknown both in Egypt and Fûr. I never heard of an instance
of it in either country, which appears not entirely unworthy of
remark, not only as multitudes of dogs are found in each, which in
many instances can have no access to water, to the want of which was
once vulgarly attributed that dreadful malady, but as one fact more
in the series which must finally conduct us to its cause.
_Idea of Orientals respecting remedies._
Among the inhabitants of Egypt and Africa the classification of
remedies is remarkably simple. They have only two _grand divisions_,
مبردات refrigerants, and حمه heating medicines. They esteem
all the former beneficial, and the latter generally pernicious:
so that if the most skilful physician were to prescribe for his
patient what the latter supposed to possess an heating quality,
it would be impossible to persuade him to use it.
_Phlebotomy._
Scarification, or superficial incision of the skin, is commonly
recurred to for various diseases, and at all ages, from two years till
sixty. The head, breast, loins, legs, are all subjected to this simple
and apparently little efficacious treatment. Sometimes, however,
violent and obstinate pains in the head, proceeding from extraordinary
exertion, and other causes, are removed by superficially inciding
the skin, near the coronal suture, which occasions a sufficient
discharge of blood.
The other mode of bleeding is by horns, prepared for that purpose,
which operate on the same principle as our cupping glasses. These
are applied in a very simple manner, and without occasioning
any pain, remove such quantity of blood, as the operator judges
necessary. Adhesion is produced by applying the mouth to the
smaller aperture of the horn, which, when this is accomplished,
is stopped. The incision is commonly made with a razor.
_Bruises._
The bitumen found in the mummy pits is dissolved with butter by the
Egyptians, and not only applied externally, but taken inwardly, in
large doses, for bruises and wounds; it is said to have a surprising
effect.
_Petroleum._
Petroleum, which is brought from the western shore of the Arabian
gulf, near to Suez, is taken inwardly as well as outwardly applied,
and is much esteemed.
_Bezoar._
The Orientals have still great confidence in the _bezoar_, or
_benzoar_. For a small one they are, not unfrequently, contented
to pay a sum equal to seven guineas. Even the European physicians
administer it in some cases pulverised, as an alterative, and,
as they say, with success.
_Sal ammoniac._
Perhaps none of the drugs of Egypt is more extensively useful than
sal ammoniac. That medicine seems, as it were, a specific, carefully
provided, for the prevailing diseases of the country. Acting mildly,
both as a carminative and diuretic, nothing is more effectual to
remove the cephalalgia and lassitude often experienced during the
great heat, which precedes the Nile’s augmentation, than a few
drops of this spirit taken in water. Pulmonary complaints, occasioned
by bad air, the suffocating heat of the southerly winds at certain
seasons, and the ill effect of sudden transition from the burning
heat of the sun to the chilling nocturnal dew, are often relieved
by it. It might even be suggested, that as regular and continued
transpiration seems very adverse to pestilential infection, a proper
use of sp. sal. ammon. might not be wholly contemptible as an antidote
to its infection.
_Aphrodisiacs._
No part of the materia medica is so much in requisition as those
which stimulate to animal pleasure. The _lacerta scincus_, in powder,
and a thousand other articles of the same kind, are in continual
demand. For this chiefly fields are sown with _hashîsh_, the _bang_
of the East Indies. It is used in a variety of forms, but in none,
it is supposed, more efficaciously than what is in Arabic called
_Maijûn_, a kind of electuary, in which both men and women indulge to
excess. The impotence of age, and the languor of satiety or disease,
ponder in vain the oracles of the descendant of Ismaîl, for the
invigorating influence of the benign deity of Canopus.
_Characteristics of the negroes._
A great and striking difference as to the firmness and density of
the skin, between the negro and the white, whether it may or may
not be called _specific_, as far as relates to the animal, is the
cause of several peculiarities, as well when they are in health as
under the power of disease. In all cutaneous maladies, or such as
ultimately relieve themselves by suppuration, the sufferings of the
blacks are excessive. Blows of the whip, which in a white subject
would become encysted tumors, discharge, dry up, heal, and disappear
in a few weeks, often remain in a negro more than a year.
The bright red colour of the muscular fibres, an apparently stronger
power of contraction, and the whiteness, solidity, and weight of the
bones, constitute other peculiarities. The eyes have generally very
distinct vision. There are few instances of myopes, and blindness
is very uncommon. The teeth are white and firm; they rarely complain
of odontalgia, and retain their teeth to old age. Both the Fûrians
and neighbouring negroes are attentive to preserve them clean, which
is done by rubbing them with the small fibrous branches of the tree
called _Shaw_.
_Natrôn._
Natrôn is much used as a veterinary medicine.
As often as the camels, horses, asses, sheep, &c. drink, a large
piece of it is put into the trough of water. The natives conceive
that it renders them more eager of their food, and thus tends to
fatten them. Some camels refuse it, but in general they acquire a
preference for that water which is most strongly impregnated. When
they refuse it, the natrôn is pulverized, formed into balls, with
the flour of maize, and forced down their throats before they drink.
For the human race natrôn is used to remove the head-achs,
intermittent and remittent fevers, &c. which prevail during the rainy
season. Two or three ounces of crude natrôn are dissolved in water,
and taken fasting. It operates as a drastic purge, and with some
as an emetic. With robust and plethoric habits, there seems to be
no inconvenience from the use of it, but I experienced from it an
unfavourable rather than beneficial effect.
_Tamarinds._
The tamarind, _Thummara Hindi_[51] one of the most useful as well
as valuable of the productions of the country, supplies the want of
many others. In defect of lemons and other acids, this fruit, mixed
with water, constitutes an agreeable and refreshing drink. When
dried by beating in a mortar, it is formed into cakes, each of 2
or 300 drams in weight. The decoction of it is a mild cathartic,
and also operates as a diaphoretic; and the natives attribute to it
superior virtue as an antidote against certain poisons.
_Lactation._
Savary remarks, that in Egypt each mother affords nourishment to
her own infant, even in compliance with a command of the Prophet,
and that this prevents many diseases. No doubt can exist that the
milk of the mother, long secreted and reserved for the child, is the
proper nourishment at the birth, and by its acrid quality tends to
facilitate the evacuation of the fæces, accumulated during the period
of gestation, much better than any thing that can be substituted
in its room. But when this effect is once produced, in many cases
the milk of any other woman may be better than that of the mother;
nay, that of the mother may be insalubrious _à principio_; and it
is as yet far from being proved, that the milk of the mother is in
all cases the best possible milk for the child.
If the mother abstain not from the male embrace, and become gravid,
the milk becomes, as is well known, poison to the offspring.—The
Arabic language has even a single word to express, _quæ lactans
consuescit viro_, which they conceive extremely injurious.
_Opium_ (_Ar. Aphiûm_).
The use of opium, as is well known, is carried to excess in
Constantinople. Some persons have so long accustomed themselves to
that powerful drug, that a dose of two drams, or more, will have
no effect in exhilarating them, or producing that agreeable stupor
which they seek. In such cases, they will swallow, in a convenient
vehicle, several grains, to the amount, it is said, of ten, of
corrosive sublimate of mercury, as a stimulus.
This effect of opium, as an antidote to one of the strongest mineral
poisons, appears incredible, and would scarcely have been related, but
on authority the least questionable. A reflection has in consequence
forced itself on me, which I offer as a query. Mithridates, king of
Pontus, is said to have so fortified himself with antidotes, that
when misfortune obliged him to have recourse to poison to terminate
his existence, though repeatedly administered to him, under different
forms, it had no effect. Pontus, at that time no less than at present,
furnished the best opium. Could Mithridates have used any antidote
so powerful? And was not this effect of that drug more likely to be
known in its native country than any where else? It may possibly be
replied, that mineral poisons were not then in use, and that to the
small number of vegetable ones then known, many other antidotes,
capable of producing the same effect, might have been found. It is
not however enquired, whether single antidotes might not have been
found to obviate the influence of distinct poisons, but what could
produce so complete a change in the human body, as that no poison
should have any effect on it?
_Circumcision._
The practice of circumcision may be traced to such remote antiquity,
that its origin baffles all research: yet apparently its history
has not received all the illustration of which it is capable from a
diligent collection of facts. It has been ascribed to the structure
of the organs, in certain countries, which it is said impede coition,
or facilitate the appearance of morbid symptoms. But what may have
been perfectly true of individuals, it may perhaps not be permitted
to assume with regard to a whole nation, much less with relation to
the inhabitants of an extensive region.
Among the Fûrians circumcision appears to be no other than a
religious ceremony, performed in compliance with an express command of
the author of their faith; and it is very doubtful whether it was ever
practised among them before their conversion to Mohammedism. It is
now often neglected till the male have attained the age of eighteen
or more years, and this omission seems to be considered by them
as a matter of indifference; nor are there persons who habitually
and regularly exercise that art, as in Egypt and other Mohammedan
countries.
_Excision._