S60 On the State i^ Medicine in 



shion, which sanctioned this lazy sort of hereditary diploma, and 

 looked on the descendants of Esculapius as accomplished physi- 

 cians from their very birth. In other states, it is not rare to 

 find a predilection for certain trades and manual occupations, 

 which are cultivated almost exclusively by the inhabitants of 

 certain districts, who migrate in multitudes ovei' the whole of 

 Europe in search of employment. Thus, Bavaria supplies 

 broom girls, Savoy organ-players and bear-dancers, Lombardy 

 her workers in plaster of Paris and makers of images, Ifd'aK 

 neighbouring and even many distant countries; while in France, 

 every shoe-black is a native of Auvergne, every gate-porter is 

 from Switzerland ; and in Spain, every water-carrier comes from 

 Gallicia ; formerly Ireland supplied London with sedan chair- 

 men, and now with coal-heavers *. It was reserved, however, 

 for Sagor to stand forth as the productive mother of doctors, 

 an offspring scarcely less dangerous than that which the soil of 

 Bceotia yielded, when the crop of armed men sprung up before 

 the astonished eyes of Cadmus. ' '^ 



Jewish physicians abound in Turkey, and are not a whit 

 better informed than the Albanians. They wander about the 

 counti'y, with their apothecary's shop upon their back, and 

 are, in fact, perfect medical pedlars. Their traffic is not con|' 

 fined to the sale of medicines alone, for they vend cosmetics of 

 all sorts, soaps, oil of roses, charms, and colours. The poorest 

 of this class carry wallets, and walk the streets and bazaars, at 

 every pace uttering the shrill cry " ei Hekim !" " ei Hekim 1** 

 (a physician, a physician,) Now and then you may see theiii 

 stopped in the street by some unhealthy looking Turk, whose 

 pulse they feel, and instantly roar out, " bilirim senin hastalik," 

 (I know thy disease,) and without asking the patient a single 

 question, they open their wallets, give him a pill or a powder, 

 which he swallows on the spot, after bestowing on the physi- 

 cian two or three half farthings (paras) for his advice and me- 

 dicine ! Knowledge came from the East ; it has travelled slowly 

 to be sure, but here it has arrived at last, and lo, our fees, for- 

 merly paid in gold, are changed into silver, and undergoing 



• In the reign of Charles the Second of England, the number of Scotch- 

 men who carried on the trade of pedlars in Poland, amounted to 25,000[! 



Vide article Pedlar, Encyclopedia Britannica. 



