в A UMS TEITISMUS. 1 65 



part with a bunch of needles set on a spring, and 

 afterwards rubbing in an ointment. 



I had taken one of these instruments with me, in 

 some kind of prevision of its utihty. If Dr. Baum- 

 steit, the inventor of this marvellous panacea, be still 

 alive, he may take pride in learning that his dis- 

 covery was welcomed with enthusiasm by the inha- 

 bitants of Koko-nor, who regarded the needle-spring 

 as a sacred thing received almost direct from Buddha 

 himself ! I subsequently presented it to a Mongol 

 prince, who at once began to practise with it on his 

 aides-de-camp, although they had nothing earthly 

 that ailed them. 



The most common maladies among the Mongols 

 were syphilis, different skin diseases, and stomach 

 complaints, besides contusions and fractures of bones. 

 The sufferers grave the most ludicrous accounts of 

 their ailments ; thus, one woman, whose digestive 

 organs were impaired by an excessive consumption 

 of barley-meal, declared that she had a fungus grow- 

 ing inside her ; another that her eyesight had been 

 harmed by the evil-eye, &c. 



My patients, however, were not satisfied with 

 the operation of Baumsteitismus only ; they asked us 

 to give them internal remedies as well ; we usually 

 administered doses of salts, tincture of peppermint, 

 and soda powders, sometimes, as in cases of cataract, 

 magnesia, simply to rid ourselves of them. Our 

 stock of medicines, however, was at last exhausted, 

 and we had to fall back upon the needle-spring, 

 which never failed us to the end of the expedition. 



