150 The National Geographic Magazine 



a carbuncle, for it often attains unusual 

 proportions and commonly lasts for eight 

 or nine months. Every inhabitant of 

 Bagdad is said, sooner or later, to suffer 

 from one of these boils, Europeans and 

 Arabians alike being susceptible to it; 

 and so universal is it that old inhabit- 



very politely exhibiting a number of 

 cases he gave me his opinion as to its 

 cause: " O 'est V eau, le climat et le soleil,. 

 Monsieur.'" In the opinion, however, of 

 Dr Ramsey, the resident English physi- 

 cian of the place, this Bagdad boil is an 

 infection arising from the sting or bite of 



111 3IM' 



• "■*'•,. 



I 



Photo b3' Fairchild 



Women at Worship in a Church — Bagdad. (See page 151) 



ants of the region say that the} 7 can al- 

 ways tell whether a man has lived in 

 Bagdad or not by the scar which it 

 leaves somewhere on his body. In 

 order to have a definite idea of its na- 

 ture, the writer called at the Turkish 

 hospital and interrogated the Turkish 

 doctor in charge as to its nature. After 



an insect which he describes as a species 

 of fly, and he recounted his own per- 

 sonal experience, in which he was con- 

 scious of the bite of this insect on the 

 very spot on his forearm where the boil 

 ultimately developed. This Bagdad boil 

 would form a very interesting problem 

 for some bacteriologist who was willing 



