ON MEDICINE AND PHARMACY IN TURKEY. 
229 
always, however, with the consent of the patients and their rela- 
tions. In proportion as the disorder appears likely to require 
more or less treatment, they require for a complete cure one, two, 
or as much as ten thousand piastres.* As soon as the contract is 
made, a third of the amount is paid in advance ; when the patient 
is in a state of convalescence the second third, and the remainder 
when the cure is effected. If the patient happen to die during the 
treatment, the doctor receives nothing beyond the amount which 
had been paid in advance. Besides the above fees, which are con- 
siderable, the hekins receive from persons of high rank remarkable 
presents, consisting of horses, pipes ornamented with amber, worth 
sometimes from 6000 to 10,000 piastres, diamond rings, precious 
stones, &c. At the same time the persons attached to the Physi- 
cian, whether as Surgeon or Pharmacien, obtain presents of less 
value, although not unimportant. If a hekin has succeeded in 
curing a distinguished personage his fortune is made, and he ac- 
quires the name of hekin padischa (first physician.) 
Another class of doctors are the Surgeons (geri'ahs,) and also 
the barbers (berber,) who, in the absence of physicians, perform 
the functions of hekins. They are found in their shops, where 
they attend patients, who receive the medicine on the spot. They 
also perform the minor surgical operations, sometimes in sight, to 
attract the notice of passers-by, and the most ordinary operation 
is then vaunted by the friends of the gerrahs, and by persons hired 
for the purpose, as an operation full of danger. In these shops or 
magazines, are kept, in old boxes not labelled, the medicinal sub- 
stances most in use, such as sulphur, amber, sarsaparilla, corrosive 
sublimate, jalap, and tartar emetic. Serpents are suspended in 
the middle of the shop, or placed near the windows in glass jars. 
Patients can either purchase or borrow leeches and syringes. 
As a third class of doctors we may mention the kombojanites, 
charlatans of the first order. They are met with especially in Asia 
Minor, Epirus, Macedonia, and Thessalia. They are criers at 
fairs, selling at stalls a number of remedies for divers diseases, and 
inventing all kinds of expedients to convince the credulous public 
of the efficacy of their specifics. 
In Turkey, up to the present day, no law exists prohibiting 
foreign doctors from establishing themselves in any part of the 
A piastre is about Is. 8d. 

