^64- On the Staie of Medicine in 



as is natural, they are the chief strongholds of gossip and 

 ^ndal, and afford the anxious mothers ample opportunities 

 ^pt merely of shewing their daughters to other matrons, but of 

 seeking wives for their sons. In Turkey, the practice of letting 

 blood in &pnqg, formerly common, in Great Britain, is still 

 jircvalent. e taiA moil ai^do bnfi ^nwol o^ibI s "ii 4!i\ssvv j. 



With regai'd to the manner in which the 'more respectable 

 part of the medical profession is paid, it evidently evinces a 

 great want of confidence, or rather extreme distrust. In Eng^ 

 Wd, it is commonly believed, that the word of a Turkish gevi- 

 Oeman or nobleman, once given, may be implicitly relied on ; 

 but it is too clear, from the narrative of Dr Oppenheim, that a 

 most lamentable want of principle prevails even amongst the 

 upper ranks. Wo to such a nation, for mutual distrust among 

 individuals prevents all unity and energy of action on the part 

 of the rulers ; private corruption inevitably portends the public 

 downfall. v .f > *is^ 



" There is,"' as Burke beautifully refe«Ffcs,^^ii confidence 

 necessary to human intercourse, and without which men are 

 often more injured by their own suspicions, than they could be 

 by the perfidy of others." 



The sick Turk, says Dr Oppenheim, makes promises,- WiW 

 convalescent Turk breaks them. In consequence of this dispo-' 

 sition, the physician is often obliged to draw up a specific con- 

 tract in writing, and according to a legal form, before he under-i'^ 

 takes the treatment of a case or the performance of an opera- 

 tion. The contract is deposited in the hands of a magistrate, 

 who can enforce payment, and whose zeal in the discharge of 

 this duty is quickened by the legal fee of ten per cent., to be 

 deducted from the stipulated sum. It is not very rare, how- 

 ever, for the patient to evade the ends of justice, by paying th^- 

 magistrate twenty per cent. ; when this is done, the physician's 

 contract too often turns out to be waste paper. These contracts^^ 

 however, in general afford the physician tolerable security, anrf- 

 are especially necessary when capital operations are performed, 

 as without th^m he may lose not merely his fee, but his life, irt'- 

 case his patient dies, for the Turk considers the knife of the*' 

 surgeon in the light of a weapon wielded b^, an ^fneray, and 

 thinks himself called oil to avenge th^ cjle^t;i)j,o4a.7l'Ql«tive after 



