14 
STATE OF PHARMACY IN PERSIA. 
or emery. The last, which they mix with hoiled rice, pro- 
duces, as it is said, a violent dysentery, generally terminating 
in death. One of their most deadly preparations is composed 
of the juice of euphorbia, a very venomous insect, and the 
mucus of the intestines taken from a person who has died of 
dysentery. According to them, this combination produces 
either dropsy, an intestinal inflammation, or typhoid fever. 
The Druses, certain tribes of Libanus, and of different parts of 
Syria, also regard this mucus as a powerful and energetic 
poison. 
The Persian pharmaciens have in general the worst reputa- 
tion; crafty and servile, they do not scruple to obey the san- 
guinary will of their master, even at the sacrifice of their 
dearest friends. The weights in use are: the shaf-gran and 
demi shaf-gran, silver Persian money, worth twenty sous and 
ten sous, the weight of which is nearly our half drachm. 
They also employ grains of barley. Their largest measures, 
are the oka and manu, which vary in different localities. A 
most common article in their shops, is the choub-chini, or 
China root, which they employ in all diseases as a sovereign 
specific. When it is administered, the patient keeps his 
room, closes the door and windows, and prevents the access of 
the external atmosphere. A strong decoction of choub-chini 
is then administered to him, and he is covered up in clothes 
until a profuse perspiration is induced. 
But the most curious part of their shops, is that devoted to 
prophylactics. These, in general, are bezoars, or holy stones 
of Mecca. The padzecher, say they, is the king of medicines — 
it is the most effectual preserver of life: a venomous insect, 
dare not attack the fortunate being who is possessed of a 
bezoar; the scorpions avoid it with care, and look, when it has 
passed them, to see if they retain their tails; the flies avoid it; 
the serpents never pursue the way that it has passed over; 
it is useless, say the princes, to try to poison a man who has 
one of them, for a charm preserves his life. The apothecaries 
obtain them from Bockara, India, &c, and often at high 
prices, (from three to four hundred francs.) They apply 
