CONDITION OP APOTHECARIES IN AFRICA. 
127 
the Physician, who frequently receives for such a visit thirty 
ducats. 
All compounded medicines are imported by the Apothe- 
cary from Alexandria, Cairo, and Constantinople ; but the 
more simple ones he prepares according to his own plea- 
sure, or after a kital, i. e., a manuscript which goes down 
from father to son. A great many objects of natural his- 
tory are also to be seen in the Apothecary's shop ; for ex- 
ample, ostrich-eggs, serpents, ichneumons, crocodiles, lob- 
sters, river fish, elephants'-teeth, sea-shells, coral stones, 
sponges, pearl-shells, &c, from all of which substances 
costly medicines are prepared. Thus, from the eggs of the 
ostrich, perfumed balsams are prepared as antidotes against 
corrosive sublimate and arsenic ; and also a matsun (elec- 
tuarium) against dysentery and rheumatism. From em- 
balmed serpents and toads, tinctures are prepared for 
strenghtning the nerves, and in these gold and silver leaves 
are* floating, thus proving that the medicine is prepared 
from pure gold and silver. From the bones of the ibis a 
mass is prepared, which is formed in brass moulds, and 
sold as amulets against the bite of serpents. From the 
ichneumon is prepared with oils a very strong smelling 
ointment, which is used for wounds produced by the croco- 
dile. In large glasses, bleached camel's-hair is preserved. 
This is employed to stop haemorrhage from wounds, by strew- 
ing the finely cut hairs in the wound. Furthermore, the 
Speziarides prepare from pearls a tincture for contagious 
diseases, and as a proof that it is actually prepared from 
pearls, undissolved pearls are seen floating about in glasses 
filled with some red coloured liquor. The different bezoars 
form in these countries important articles. Bezoars of the 
serpent, the crocodile, the buffalo, and the camel, are to be 
seen of extraordinary size, set in gold, and ornamented 
with pearls, in the most beautiful glasses, or hanging about 
in the shop, 
