THIRTY-FIVE YEARS IX THE EAST. II 



'upon the recovery of the patient, he receives the balance, 

 which includes the cost of medicine. 



Having arrived at Kannobin, I found the bishop suffer- 

 ing from nervous fever, in a state of insensibility. After a 

 strict examination, I entertained but little hopes of his 

 recovery. Kis numerous relatives, standiiig round his bed, 

 appeared to have resigned all hope previous to my arrival. 

 I agreed v/ith the brothers of the bishop as to the amount 

 they were to pay me for my attendance, the half of which 

 I received in advance, for the medicines to be delivered, 

 the other half to be paid after the recovery of the 

 patient, from whose own hands I should receive it, according 

 to the above-mentioned custom. All was legally signed by 

 the parties and witnesses. I caused the troublesome 

 spectators to withdraw, as by their thronging around the 

 bed they occasioned disturbance and confusion, and only 

 permitted four of them to remain as attendants. Then I 

 was able to reflect, and found that the patient had been 

 wrongly treated by his former physicians, and so reduced 

 to a most pitiable condition, 



They had copiously bled him unnecessarily, and, led by 

 a false diagnosis, they had prescribed him a quantity of de- 

 coctions and purgatives. I learned from the attendants, 

 that four days previously the patient v/as constipated, which 

 occasioned him to fall into a state of insensibility. I found 

 it necessary to commence my treatment with a lenitive 

 clyster, which did not fail to have its good effect ; I after- 

 wards ordered the room to be aired, sprinkled the patient's 

 face with vinegar mixed with rose-water, and ordered his 

 feet to be warmed by friction. 



At ten in the evening I applied a blister on the nape, 

 and administered a compound opiate powder, which was 

 given in a strong dose. I put it into his mouth, rinsed it 

 from his tongue, after which he began to perspire, and 

 passed a tolerably quiet night. The beneficial result was 

 owing to the properly proportioned mixture of the opium, 

 as I afterwards experienced in many cases, whilst a lesser 

 "dose ( I — 2 grains opium ) made the malady worse, By 

 6 



