Prefent State of Surgeiy m Turkey. 127 



prognostics, when determined for particular places, muft not 

 be considered as free from frequent error, as thofe caufes 

 which a<Sl upon the earth, in general, may be much changed 

 by local cauies in different diitri&s. 



III. On the prefent State of Surgery in Turkey. From 

 A Survey of the Turkifh Empire. By W. Eton, Efq. 



_L T might reafonably be expecled that a nation of warriors 

 fhould have expert furgeons at leaft, and that they fhould 

 have paid attention to the improvements and difcoveries 

 made by other nations. Nothing of this, however, is the 

 cafe. They perform no operations, nor will they confent to 

 an European's making an amputation, though the lofs of life 

 be a certain confequence of omitting it. Their art is (imply 

 confined to healing, and at moft extracting a ball and a 

 fplinter of a bone. Tt mult he confeffed that, as their habit 

 of body is generally healthy, nature performs often wonder- 

 ful cures. They relv much on balfams, mummy, Sec. 

 There is in Conftantinople a Perfian extraordinary expert in 

 the art of healing. The Arabs bury a perfon, who has re- 

 ceived a wound in his body, up to the neck in hot fand for 

 twenty-four hours ; and apply with fuccefs the aftual cau- 

 tery for the dropfy. 



I faw in the eaflcrn parts of the empire a method of 

 fetting bones pra£tifcd, which appears to me worthy of the 

 attention of furgeons in Europe. It is by inclofing the 

 broken limb, after the hones are put in their places, in a 

 cafe of plafter of Paris (or gypfum) which takes exactly the 

 form of the limb, without any prefture, and in a few minutes 

 the mafs is ("olid and ftrong. ( If it be a compound fracture, 

 the place where the wound is, and out of which an exfoliated 

 bone is to come, may be left uncovered, without any injury 

 to the flrength of the plafter encafement. This fuhltance 

 may be eafily cut with a knife, and removed, and replaced 



with 



