Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1875-09-03

Theophile Gautier, writing Of CONSTANT
nople, said In the rich jewelers. store there
are masses of precious stones inclosed in
Golfers which they keep constantly under
their eyes, or which are placed within wire
work Enclosures, and in many of these OBJ
scure shops (more resembling cobbler shops
than anything else) incredible riches are ac-
cumulated. Diamond from Visapore and
Golconda, brought by the caravans; rubies
of Giamschid, pearls Of Ophir, topazes from
Brazil, and opals from Bohemia in great
abundance with turquoises, garnates, aqua
marines. and agates without number, literal
ly lying in heaps in the shops. The Turks
are very fond of precious stones, and this no
merely as luxuries, but as depOsit0ri ot
wealth. Ignorant of the refnemente of
modern finances, they draw no interest omf
their capital-so doing being, indeed, rig or
ously prohibited by the Koran and it is for
this reason that we find the proposals for
Turkish loans always violently opposed
by the old Turkish party. a diamond is not
only easy to conceal and to carry, but en-
bodies very large value in minute CON-
pass, and, in an Eastern point of view, is
most desirable investment, although it makes
no return; but try to persuade Arab or
Turkish ayarice to part with the stone Jar
which contains his treasure for any three or
four per cent, even though the thing had
been permitted by Mahomet These precious
stones are generally either uncut or only
rose-cut for the Orientals themselves do
1sa l.. r,1f..= aitbar T-. ..
understanding the process, or not possessing
the diamond dust necessary for the purpose,
or from an unwillingness to diminish the
weight of the stones themselves. The set
ting of such stones rs are mounted are coarse
and massive, and in the antique Genoese
style. The exquisite skill of the Arabs
in the working of jewelry has left few
traces among the Turks. The Jewels
consist chiefly of necklaces, earrings, head
ornaments, stars, flowers, crescents, rings
for the ankles, and handles of sabers or pom
iards, but they are never displayed in all
their splendor except in the recesses Of the
harem where they adOrn the lovely forms
Of the odalisques reclining beneath the eve
of the master in corner Of the diyan. and
all this magnifcence is, for strangers, rs it
it did not exist. Although the wealth Of
the foregoing sentences starred as they are
with the names of precious stones-may
have made the reader dream Of the Cave Of
Aboulcassem (again inyoluntarily returning
to that inexhaustible mine of Oriental ina
gerry and dassOciation-the Arabian Nights
he must imagine nothing Of particular bril-
liancy in the aspect of the jewellers shops
themselves. for the Turks do not understand
the art of displaying any of their wares, and
the rough diamonds and other stones. lying
in little boxes of common wood, really look
little different from bits Of glass, although,
in fact, one might easily spend I,0O0,0on
francs in any one Of these obscure and pal
try shops.
SUBSTITUTION OF WRONG WoRDs.-It may
be. however, that not only are the right
words forgotten, but wrong ones are sub
stituted The mother-in law of medical
man 1--WE are told by Dr. Trousseau) lAbored
under very singular intellectual disorder
Whenever visitor entered her apartment
She rose with an amiable look, and, point
ins to a chair, exclaimed. Pig. brute, stu
pid fool l''
Mrs. 3 B--- Axis you to take chair.
her son-in-law would then put in. giving
this Interpretation 10 her strange expression.
Ia other respects Mrs. B-'s acts were ra-
tional, and her case differed from ordinary
aphasia in that she did not seem to grow
inpatient at what she said. or to under
stand the meaning of the insulting exprcs-
sion Of which She made use. Crichton men
tons the case of an attorney who, when he
asked for any thing, constantly used some
inappropriate term instead Of asking for
a piece of bread, he asked for his boots, and
if these were brought, he knew they did not
correspond to the idea Of the thing he want
ed therefore, he became angry. yet he
would still demand some of his boots or shoes,
meaning bread One gentlemen "a patient
of Sir Thomas Watson) would say "phamph
poker when he meant the fire, Dr.
Moore, of Dublin, has recorded the case of
a gentleman who completely lost the connec-
ton between ideas and words.
On one occasion the doctor was much
puzzled by his patient saying to him,
Clean my boots =" Finding that he was not
understood, he became much excited, and
cried out yehemently. "Clean my boots by
walking on them p" At length it was aScer-
tained that the cause Of disquietude was the
shining of the candle in his face and that
the object Of bis unintelligible sentences was
to have the curtain drawn. When this was
done he appeared gratifed. In this case, it
will be noticed, the patient formed complete
sentences, the power of coordination and
articulation was perfect, and the intelligence
was apparently unimpaired. But some
times, where articulation may be retained,
what i uttered is perfect ilrgon. \ gen
tleman in Dublin, after al attack Of ape
plexy, was thus affected, and in the hotel
where he stayed he was mistaken for 4
foreigner. DR.. Osborn, with a view to as
certain the nature Of his imperfection of Ian
guage asked him to read aloud the following
sentence from the bylaws of the College Of
physicians at shall he in the power of the
college to examine or not to examine any
licentiate previous to his admission to n fel-
lowship, as they shall think fit lie read
as follows An the be what in the temother
of the trothotodoo to maiorum or that imi-
drate Elm einkrastroi mestraits to ketra to-
tombreida to IA from treido as that kekri-
test" Several of these syllables are difficult
and unusual.-From 'hafrmities Of Speech,
an Popular Science Monfhiy.