456 
MEDICINE  IN  TURKEY. 
few  weeks'  time  was  sufficient  to  effect  the  change  in  the  extract, 
years  may  elapse  before  the  plant  itself  is  so  affected,  owing 
probably  to  the  presence  of  water  in  the  former. 
In  view  of  this  change  being  a  species  of  fermentation,  as 
shown  by  MM.  Delarocque  and  Robiquet,  the  author  sought  for 
an  agent  which,  whilst  it  would  not  interfere  with  the  proper 
function  of  the  extract  as  a  dye,  would  prevent  the  transforma- 
tion of  the  tannin. 
The  result  of  his  research  was  that  chloride  of  lime,  corrosive 
sublimate,  and  carbolic  acid  (or  mineral  tar  creasote),  were  each 
capable  of  arresting  the  change  ;  the  latter  being  the  most  active 
and  least  interfering  with  the  process.* 
The  author  says  that  a  solution  of  gallic  acid  would  dissolve 
metallic  iron  with  the  elimination  of  hydrogen,  whilst  with  a  so- 
lution of  tannin  no  gas  is  given  off,  though  the  solution  is  stained, 
probably  owing  to  the  presence  of  a  little  oxide  of  iron. — Jour, 
de  Pharm.  et  de  Chimie,  Juillet,  1856. 
MEDICINE  IN  TURKEY. 
Service  in  the  Ottoman  army,  medical  or  otherwise,  offers  no 
inducements  whatever  to  young  Americans.  Of  actual  want  one 
suffers  little,  but  must  submit  to  humiliating  embarrassment ; 
while  the  society  of  even  the  first  officers  cannot  possibly  be 
agreeable  to  a  person  who  is  cultivated,  or  accustomed  even  to 
the  mere  decencies  of  life.  The  Turks  are  slow  to  perceive 
merit,  and  still  slower  to  reward  it.  The  first,  and  almost  the 
only  word  of  English  they  learn,  is  to-morrow;  and,  however 
gentle  and  urbane  the  Mussulman  may  be  in  private  life,  he  is 
a  paragon  of  intrigue  and  overbearing  treatment  in  office. 
Foreigners  who  enter  the  Turkish  service  appear  to  adopt  per- 
manently their  worst  peculiarities.  It  was  related  to  me  by  an 
Italian,  in  the  service  at  Silistria,  that  Achmet  Pasha  once  caused 
several  of  his  physicians  to  be  tied  up  and  flogged,  in  the 
presence  of  the  troops.  We  hear  much  of  foreigners  in  the  Ot- 
toman service  ;  but  very  few  of  them,  surgeons  excepted,  ac- 
£*Note. — The  presence  of  oil  of  cloves  and  some  other  substances  in  ink 
probably  act  as  carbolic  acid  in  preventing  the  transformation  of  tannic 
acid,  and  whilst  thus  preventing  mould  preserves  the  coloring  qualities  of 
the  ink.— Editor  Amer.  Jour.  Pharm.] 
