The native American., 1838-05-12
STATE OF MEDICINE IN TURKEY.

STATE OF MEDICINE IN IUhhEi.
An essay on the State Of Medicine, and on the
prevailing diseases of European and Asatlc lur-
key, by f. w. Oppenheim, NJ d. Hamours'
1893.
DR.. Oppenheim entered Turkey during the
Russian campaign. in the medical department oi
the invading army, and after the peace he passed
into the Turkish service, under the auspices OF the
Grand Vizier Three wears he travelled IN the diiA
f,rent provinces of Turkey as medical officer,
and having become master of the language and
customs of the Turks. and adopted the oriental
dress he was treated not as Frank, but as a true
believer. He had, therefore, the best opportuni-
ties of obtaining accurate knowledge of the sub
iects on which he writes.
Among the Turks, the knowledge of medicine
is at its lowest ebb. The doctrines of Islamsm
are opposed to moral and intellectual advance
ment, and its doctrine of fatalism and proscrip-
ton of anatomical Investigations, operate against
the advancement of medical science, with pecu-
liar force. "Whatever is, was predestlnated, and
whatever is predestnated viii come to pass"
says the pous Turk, and the plague commits its
ravages almost without molestation. To the Turk
every dead body is sacred. The Koran forbds
it to be opened, seven should the dead person
have swallowed the most costly pearl which did
not belong to him." Thus as long as Mahome-
danism remains strong in the affections of the peo-
the changes induced by disease be unknown to
the native practitioner, and without this knowledge
slight is the basis of medicine.
Animal qualification of the grossest kind, is the
governing motive of the male population; hence
the most priced, if not the principal part of the
miserable duties of the native DOCTORS is to minis
ter, by fancied restoratives and corroborants, TO
the palled appetites and jaded powers of an cx-
hausted or superanuated sensuality.
1t is somewhat remarkable that though the Tur-
ksh doctors are ignorant of the circulation of the
blood, the pulse is relied on the certain indica-
ton of whatever is necessary for the correct dag
nosis, prognoss, and treatment of disease. By
that alone the doctor is expected to know not
only the complaint but whether the patient has
slept, and how; whether he has taken ANYTHING
and what; what are the nature of the excavations,
when the favorable crisis will arrive or the min
ute in which death will ensue. Divinaton is one
of the principal agents Of their medical practice
Sometimes disease is regarded as an evil spirit
and is to be coniured away. At other times as
immediate judgment of God; hence they re-
sort to long prayers and the counting of the ro-
sary. At one time passage from the Koran is
written on paper, pounded into bolus and swal-
lowed, or the words are written on board, wash
ed off, and the milky water given as draught.
Amulets, both as prophy Tactics and means of cure.
are held in the highest estimation. The doctors
religously observe their aChite and black DAYS; or
the last OF which no course of treatment is under
taken, nor surgical operation performed.
In this dearth OF native science, it is not won
derful that European physicians should be highly
estimated. Indeed such is their confidence in
them, and such their ignorance, that to every one
that wears a hat, hundred arms are oustretched
wherever he goes, with request to feel the pulse
With them Frank and physician are almost sy-
NOR pti1rar ,ntx
take advantage of their creduity. Of the regi-
mental surgeons mentioned by DR.. Oppenhem
one had been letter-wrlter, another a sea cap.
tain. DIR. 0. furnished commissioned off
Ger with siEteen recipes, and he was Immediate
ly installed as body physician to the Aga of
Iambul In Smyrna he met in consultation
French physician, who had been drunl-maor in
the army of Napoleon! And yet with all their
ignorance, the Turkish doctors are held. as in
some degree, sacred, and the title of Ht1hian (doc-
tor) is the sures protection against all kinds of
religious or political persecution.
The following conversation between DR.. Op-
penheim and a Persian physician, may serve to
indicate the state of anatomical and therapeutical
knowledge in the east. The doctor had bled for
hepatitls, OF which treatment the Persian disap-
proved. 'Dost thou dare say said he, ssthat
his bowels are not diseased!' To this assented.
.sIn what then are the bowels in the belly CON
tained!" In sack or skin. ''It is false They
swim in a lake or pool; in this the pool is
dried up, and the entras nearly on fire; hence
the intense thirst, the heat, the pain in the body
the dry tongue and skin, and scanty discharge of
urine; and therefore thou hast dealt unustly BY
him in deprivng him of fluid blood, and in Civ
ING him solid instead Of fluid medicines. To in
hammation thou should oppose moisture; to drop
sy, dry remedies; heat should be expelled by
cold, and cold by heat. ."-pp. 6s.
For more extensive review of this interesting
work, refer the professional reader to an arti-
Gle in the British and Foreign Medical Review,
or to republication of it, which may be found
in Bells Eclectic Journal Of Medicine for March