420 Voyage of the Novara. 



about like blind men. In Vienna, we had been advised by 

 various physicians there, with a view to the confirmation or 

 refutation of the popular belief, to try the use of boiled ox- 

 liver ;* and, as one of the oxen shipped at Ceylon had been 

 slaughtered, we were in a position to make the desired experi- 

 ment, which, it must be confessed, proved eminently success- 

 ful. This time, morever, several of those thus afflicted were 

 treated with cooked pig's-liver, which was given them to eat, 

 while the steam rising from the dish was applied to their eyes. 

 But we had, on our return voyage, the most convincing proof 

 of the efficacy of the liver of animals of the ox tribe in 

 cases of night-blindness, when above twenty of those afflicted, 

 after frequent relapses during the voyage from Valparaiso to 

 Gibraltar, were treated in the last-named port with ox-liver, 

 and dismissed permanently cured, t 



The voyage from Ceylon to Madras was, on the whole, mo- 

 notonous and void of interest, with the exception of one single 

 event, which no one on board is likely to forget for the re- 

 mainder of his life. About 3.30 p.m. of the 2nd January, 

 1858, there suddenly resounded from the hold, the astound- 

 ing cry of " Fire ! fire 1 " Everyone rushed, in the utmost 

 excitement, on deck. It turned out that a by no means 



* This cure is likewise veiy much resorted to, even of late years, among the High- 

 lands of Scotland ! 



f During the entire voyage round the globe, there occiuTed 75 cases of Hemeral- 

 opia ; the largest number of which, 00, occiu'red between Capo Horn and Gibraltar. 

 The remainder were isolated cases, occm-ring at Rio, Ceylon, the Nicobai* Islands, 

 and on the voyage fifom China to Sydney. 



