6^ TRAVELS IN UPPER 



jiiy rcp'iitation, but they came openly to consult 

 me, and made me the confident of the uneasiness 

 which so>me of their patients occasioned them. 



One of the modes of cure the most in vogue 

 among the Egyptian physicians, is the burning the 

 part affected. This species of cauterization is the 

 basis of the science of physic with the natives of 

 the East. It was known to the ancient Greeks, 

 and their physicians practised it, and called it Ara- 

 hk Imrnhig ; but they used it with great discretion, 

 and it was in their hands a very powerful remedy. 

 The EfTyptians apply a medicine so violent upon 

 every occasion, and without any regard to the part 

 to which they make the application. I have seen, 

 for instance, a man whose eyelashes, and a part of 

 his eyebrows, had been scorched with a red-hot 

 iron, in order to cure him of an inflammation in his 

 eyes. Another, who was attacked with a pain in 

 his stomach, had likewise submitted to this cruel 

 operation. To the pit of his stomach, and directly 

 opposite upon his back, a piece of red- hot iron had 

 been applied, of the size of a crown-piece. But 

 the burning physician had had, to all appearance, 

 too heavy a hand, for the stomach and the back of 

 the wretched man were laid open, in such a man- 

 ner, that his body was, so to speak, bored through. 

 The great heat, and the want of dressing to these 

 wounds, }iad made them degenerate into the most 

 4 filthy 



