Litchfield enquirer., 1830-11-11
Your obedient servant, O. P. o.
E:rtracts from Mnddens I,rnrels in. 7,nrkeu.


 Ertr0cts from Modden's Frauds iH Turkey.
 Every medicO (m Constantnople) has his allotted quarter, he beats this ground daily in pursuit of patients, and visits all , the cOffee-bouses in the district with a , Greek drOgacns0n at his heels, whose oc- F equation, as interpreter, is to scent out sickness and to extol the doctor. They are ever to be found on the most public bench ofthe coffee shop, smoking with pro- l found gravity, prying into the features of > those around them for a symptom of dis- case. ! confess I had to descend to this degradation to get pra ctice, in order to be- come acquainted with the domestic cus- toms of the people. The first day my
 drogueman, who had just left the service of
 Roman doctor, and had been practising on his own account since his discharge, (for
 all droguemen become doctors) took upon
 him to teach me my professional duty,
 which he made to consist in never giving
 advice before got my fee, in never asking
 questions of the sick, and in never giving
 inteligible answers to the inquirer was
 to look for symptoms only in the pulse; I
 was to limit my prOgnosis to three words,
 (" In Shallah," or" Please the Lord," for
 doubtful cases; and /" Allakharin,," or,
 " God is great" for desperate ones. l
 took my post in the coffee shop, had my pipe and coffee, while my drogueman en-
 tered into conversation with the Turks a. bout us. I soon heard him narrating his- , tory of miraculous cure which he had
 seen me perform some days before, on the
 body of dying Effendi how had taken
 out his liver and put it in again, after scra-
 ping off the disease, and how the patient
 got well the next day and gave me five
 purses. was exceedingly annoyed but ' the fellow seemed to mind my anger little, and even reproved my want ofprudence" with frown.
 3 Now, the only thing that could have givs F en origin to "the scraping of mans liv- er," &c. was my having opened bile on his back the day before. The Turksswal- , lowed this story had it been more mar . vellous it would have been still easier d- gested one turned up his eyes and said
 "there was but one God;" another prais- ed my skill, and cried, " Mahomet is the friend of God!'' The latter gentleman
 held out his wrist to have his pulse felt,
 and said, in very civil tone of voice,
 |" Come, you dog '' This endearfng epi-
 thet the Turks consider ought not to give
 an infidel offence, because it is more
 mans misfortune than his fault to be born "a Christian" and consequently a" dog" . A well-dressed man, who had been sit- ting by my side in silence for half an hour, at last recollected he had wife or two , unwclI, and very gravely asked me !" what would cure sick woman for?" It was l a question to delight the soul of Aberne- a thy. inquired her malady,-" she was s sick" In what manner she was affected,- e (" why she could not eat." On these | premises was to undertake to cure pa t tient who, for aught knew, might be al that moment in articulo mortis. l could 1 not bring myself to drive the bargain SC 3 left my enraged drogueman to ga through that pleasing process. l heard him ask q hundred piasters, and heard him swear by his fathers head and mothers that I new 8 CT took less ;-however, after nearly an ; hours baggling. saw fifty put into his , hand and the promise of hundred more, . when the patient got well, saw treated , with the contempt which, in point of fact, 3 it deserved. No man makes larger prom l ises than Turk in sickness, and no man s is so regardless of them in convalescence. . I visited my patient, whom l afterwards . found both old and ugly; but was doom-
 ed on the first occasion to see no part ol I her form she insisted on my asceriaining her disease with door between us, she be- ,. ing in one room and in another the dooi Q was ajar, and her head, enveloped in a }. sheet, as it was occasionally projected to ]. answer me, was the only part of her ! had n a glimpse of;-this was the only woman Q ever attended, here or in the islands, who e would not suffer proclamation Of my fingers d on her wrist. I, however, could just col ,s lect enough from the attendants to cause l. me to suspect she had cancer; and did d all. under such circumstances, that could Q well dol gave her an opiate. This lad, d was no sooner prescribed for, than my at . tention was directed to the youngest wife
 who was pleased to need advice. thougl l. her sparkling eyes and smiling lips demo if led little of disease. She was extremel, m pretty. and removed her veil with little diff I 6culty; but she would have her pulse fel ia through a piece of gauge, which was sufil m cieDtIv thin to transmit not only the pHIsa M ton of the artery, but also the pressure. 1" m the fingers, which mode of communicating a symptoms found very common one U a practice. l ordered her some medicine