European and Asiatic Turkey, 129 



again the voice of affection is listened to, and the immutability 

 of fate for the time forgotten. Sceptics in religion are scarcely 

 ever met with in Turkey ; Dr Oppenheim witnessed but one 

 instance ; he was in attendance, during the last few days of his 

 illness, upon (Emar Effendi of Kiitaja ; he was not afraid of 

 death, but he was very anxious to know exactly how long he 

 had to live. " Shall I," said he, " see the sun rise and set to- 

 morrow ?" " You cannot live until sunrise," replied Dr Oppen- 

 heim. *' Then before sunrise I shall know whether Mahommed 

 is> an impostor !" 



Idiocy produced artificially in children and adults. — Although 

 insane persons are so rare, naturals and idiots are not so unfre- 

 quent ; and occasionally idiocy is produced in children artificially, 

 by means of giving the child small doses of narcotics from its very 

 infancy ; a practice which, by stupefying the sensorium, prevents 

 the mental development, and ends by producing a state of fatuity. 

 This is an extremely curious fact, and I believe that Dr Op- 

 penheim is the first who has given us authentic information upon 

 the subject. This practice of rendering persons idiotic, is the 

 source of great emolument to some ; and Dr Oppenheim says, that 

 it is carried into effect, not merely upon children, but upon 

 adults, when it is judged necessary to render them incapable of 

 conducting their affairs, while, at the same time, their removal 

 by death appears, for certain reasons, impolitic and inexpedient. 



Practice of the present Sultan. — The present Sultan is said to 

 have had recourse to this infamous proceeding, in the case of his 

 son and heir apparent to the throne, Abdul-Medsched, a boy 

 nearly thirteen years old ; he committed this act, lest the Janis- 

 saries and their friends might seize an opportunity of dethron- 

 ing himself, and of elevating his son in his stead, a fear which 

 had led him, at a former period, to sacrifice his eldest son, then 

 a boy of tender age. The reigning Sultan is the last of his fa- 

 ther''s thirty children, and is the sole remaining descendant of 

 the family which sprung from Mahammed, that has hitherto 

 been in hereditary possession of the throne. The loss of such 

 gentle blood would be irretrievable, and therefore it is to be hoped^ 

 that some of the kings and emperors, who on all sides press 

 forward to prop up the falling fortunes of the Sultan, will be 

 able to persuade him to abandon this Saturn like-propensity. 



VOL. XVI. NO. XXXI. JANUARY 1834. I 



