Chap. IV. 
BLINDNESS PREVALENT. 
53 
and sailors ; and when the northern towns were taken 
by us during the war, the Chinese continually heard our 
men shouting it out to each other, and naturally con- 
cluded that this was the name of the class to which the 
lower orders belonged. It was quite common to hear 
them asking each other whether such a one was a Man- 
darin, a Sien-sang, or an A-say. 
Cutaneous diseases are less common amongst the 
natives here than amongst those in the south of China, 
probably owing to the more healthy nature of the 
climate. They are, however, dreadfully affected with 
diseases of the eye and ultimate blindness. This is, 
doubtless, caused in a great measure by the operations 
of the native barber, who, whenever he shaves the heads 
of his customers, also tickles their eyes and probes their 
ears, and the result is that they become both blind and 
deaf The lashes of the eye, probably also from this 
cause, frequently grow inwards, and the hairs rubbing 
on the eyeball soon cause inflammation. Many of the 
poor natives were cured by my friend Dr. Maxwell, who, 
in the kindest and most philanthropic manner, set apart 
a portion of every day for the purpose. They flocked to 
him from all parts of the island, submitting cheerfully 
and without a murmur to operations of a most painful 
nature. Many most remarkable cures resulted from his 
skill, and his fame spread not only all over the island, 
but also to the main land — ^to Chinhae and Ning-po — 
from whence numbers came and begged to be admitted 
on his list of patients. One day, when I was out with 
the Doctor on a botanising expedition, as we were 
passing a small cottage at the foot of the hills, a man 
