ALBERTS CAREER AS AN OCULIST. 193 



character he was about to assume, he particularly in- 

 formed us that he purchased a black frock-coat and a 

 high hat. It was an easy matter to get the report 

 spread thnt again an oculist was about to ascend the 

 Nile, and on his arriving at the various villages and 

 towns on its borders an anxious crowd of sufferers was 

 waiting to consult him. The silver-key system was 

 again put in force, but, with a modesty worthy of Albert, 

 he only demanded a half-dollar fee ; and to prevent any 

 unpleasant accident arising, he wisely limited his treat- 

 ment to the external diseases of the eye, and thus ran 

 no risk of destroying sight. His success was far greater 

 than he had calculated upon, and in some towns he 

 found work for several days ; and after this fashion he 

 gradually ascended the Nile until he reached Assouan, 

 near the first Cataract, when considering his profes- 

 sional career was at an end, he went out for a quiet 

 stroll to think over his successful venture. During this 

 time an old woman of the village called to have a bad 

 eye attended to, and the dragoman, thinking that he 

 ought not to lose so golden an opportunity of bagging 

 a patient, placed her in the professor's chair, and whilst 

 holding her head well back dropped into the affected 

 eye what he supposed was a solution of sulphate of 

 zinc. The effect was wonderful, but not quite what 

 he anticipated, for the eye seemed at once to smoke 

 up and collapse, and to his utter horror the old woman 



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