AND LOVV£R EGYPT. 227 



amongst the Egyptians as physic and as cosmetics. 

 Their women fancy that nothing is better adapted 

 to give them that emhonpr/mt which they all wish 

 for, to clean their skin, and to give it bloom and 

 freshness ; to preserve the beauty of their hair, 

 and also to increase the quantity of their milk 

 when they become mothers. Medicine also finds 

 in it real or supposed means of cure in several 

 diseases. If these healing virtues are not more 

 efficacious in other maladies than in the inflam- 

 matory ones of the eyes, for which the Egyptian 

 physicians recommend this oil, upon my word 

 they will not acquire much confidence, for there 

 is not a country in the world where the organs of 

 sight are more frequently affected with numerous 

 diseases, to such a degree, that eyes perfectly sound 

 are seldom to be met v/ith, excepting, perhaps, 

 those of the women, which their veils defend 

 against the keen and penetrating impressions of 

 the air. 



I have already, in the former part of this work, 

 pointed out some of the causes of those disorders 

 of the eyes really endemical in Egypt, and which 

 render this country, excellent in other respects, 

 an unpleasant and dangerous abode, I have given 

 it as my opinion, that the chief of these causes was 

 the great quantity of water with which the streets 

 and houses of the cities were sprinkled several 



Q z times 



