TinRTY-FIVE YEARS IN THE EAST, I*. 



^' 



white mulberry-tree is considered, accordinj^ to the Homceo- 

 pathic principle, as a worm-destroying: substance (antliel- 

 minticum). Those people have a particular method of cur- 

 ing the tape-worm when it becomes annoying by unpleasant 

 symptoms. They take, early in the morning, L;cfore break- 

 fast, a small piece of common soap, enveloped in the skin 

 of a fig ; afterwards, they roast a piece of fat meat on a 

 fire of charcoal, in order to coax the worm (as they believe) 

 to come up from the intestines to the stomach ; they chew 

 the roast meat, without swallowing the spittle or the juice. 

 Believing the worm to be in the stomach, which they think 

 they feel afterwards, they drink a good draught of vinegar, 

 or even strong spirits, stopping their nostrils, which is 

 supposed to aftect the worm (perhaps also the man) 

 with intoxication, by means of which the worm is 

 driven to the lower parts of the intestines, and ultimately 

 ejected by a brisk purge, such as in a civilized country 

 would only be employed by a veterinary surgeon. If the 

 worm is in the stomach, then the next process is that of 

 administering tartar-emetic (as I have previously alluded to), 

 and thus preventing the necessity of using spirits, and 

 the drastic purgative. But if it is probable that the pur- 

 gative will, together with the worm, eject also the mucus, 

 then it is advisable to administer, a few days after the 

 ejection of the worm, the purgative, but without the assist- 

 ance of spirits, or vinegar. 



Not far from Kannobin, below the highest summits of 

 the Lebanon, covered with eternal snow, beneath which 

 the well-known cedar-trees grow, are the villages of Eden 

 and Besherri, where I succeeded in effecting many cures 

 in the summer of 1821. 



The chiefs of the Maronites and Druses (Emir Beshir 

 and Sheikh Beshir) on arriving at Besherri to meet the 

 rebels, applied to me for medical assistance ; and at a 

 later period I was invited to their residences (Tidin and 

 Muktara), where I practised for some time, so that I livedt 

 for several years very agreeably, enjoying the mos 

 beautiful and romantic views of the Holy Laad (Palestine)* 



