306 
MEDICAL PRACTICES AND SUPERSTITIONS OF KORDOFAN 
Treatment of 
syphilis 
Treatment of 
secondary 
syphilis 
Drastic 
native 
treatment 
for syphilis 
10. Bd.mui, a vegetable' — made into a pulp with boiling water and eaten. 
11. Local fumigation is a common treatment in cases of gonorrhcea amongst women. 
Syphilis 
Tcklifshoph is the term applied to any course undergone for the cure of syphilis. 
After such a course the patient is called Wahid Tekhsheht. Every system varies in period, 
regimen, and the specific drugs used according to the methods of the Hakim adopting it. 
1. For early symptoms : — 
Jlake a solution of natron (ground salt), one handful of salt to half a rotl of 
lioiling water ; mix this with half a rotl of milk and half a rotl of oil (semn). 
.\ cupful to be drunk every morning immediately before breakfast, which is not 
eaten until mid-day, the patient fasting up till this hour. 
2. For secondary symptoms : — 
Mix 3 rotls of Tnreiha (Pternrarpus lunens) in (j rotls of water, leave standing in 
a burma for three days. Half a rotl to be taken every morning and evening for a 
week, during which time only dry bread and dura to be eaten, with no salt. 
After the first week, half a rotl of semn (native butter) to be drunk every 
morning and only goat’s meat eaten, in addition to the bread and dura, with but 
half the usual ration of salt. 
3. Semv treatment : — 
Consists in giving the patient half a pound of semn to drink every morning for a 
period of 12 days. Little care seems to be paid, as a rule, to the local treatment of 
syphilitic sores, ulcers and skin lesions in general, since they are supposed to be 
beneficial as an “outlet” for the disease. 
4. The powdered root of the Ghriir (?) is used to sprinkle over old-standing ulcers (the 
ulcer surface having been previously freshened hy scraping it with slaikh — thorn), 
as also powdered natron (salt). 
5. Knrsan, fruit of the {Posria sene(/alensis, Lam.) is used in like manner. 
One Hakim (Adrise Tahir Said by name) advocated only these external 
treatments without the use of any specific mixtures or restrictions of diet. He is, 
I think, the exception which proves the rule. 
G. The treatment of one Mahd. Naial, whom I allowed to “cure” a patient suffering 
from advanced syphilis, was— 
R 3 rotls of iron smelter’s refuse, Khura Hadid (chiefly fused (carbon, oxides of iron and 
arsenic ?) 
1 rotl Karkade (Red sorrel) 
1 rotl Tibet tree root (?) 
1 small burma of water 
These ingredients are all boiled together tor 24 hours and kept warm for another 12. 
The resulting concoction, acid and nauseating in the extreme, is given to the patient 
(a large cupful) every morning for 40 days, and always administered hot. For the 
first 14 days the patient is put on a very light diet consisting of Kissera (bread) and 
water, no salt being permitted; for the rest of the “course” eggs, milk and a little 
meat are allowed (but on no account salt). Any local external treatment is strictly 
prohibited, and the patient is not permitted to bathe. 
The result of this treatment was most unsuccessful, the patient being so severely 
purged and, in consequence collapsed, that the Hakim fled in a fright after four days 
and has not since been seen. 
See jmijc 301. 
