A BRIEF SKETCH OF THE DISEASES OF NORTHERN TURKEY
Authors: H. Sandwith
Journal: BMJ (1854)

AT one attempting to give a sketch of the diseases of Constantinople, has to take into consideration the great ethnological varieties of population, and the different habits and customs of its diverse races.The Osmanli, the lord of the soil, has his dwelling inva- riably in the most open, airy, and beautiful position of this picturesque city.He is, as a nation, well fed, and remarkably well clothed, erring perhaps on the side of over cloth- ig.He is, moreover, cleanly in his habits, sober in his appetites, and, above all, he enjoys an equanimity of mind resulting from a pious resignation to Providence, and a consequent utter absence of anxiety for the future.From this description, I would exclude the higher rank of civil- ized pashas, who are gluttons and wine-bibbers, and who exhaust the nervous system by immoderate sexual indul- gence.The Armenians are Asiatics, and closely resemble the Turks, but are less cleanly and more industrious; while the Greeks, partaking more of the European character, are a restless, vivacious, tipsy people, as unlike their Osmanli masters as could well be imagined.Besides these, there is a large population of Jews, wretched outcasts of society, livg in the dark unwholesome slums of the city, in quar- ter deficient in drainage and every desirable comfort, whose inhabitants devour bad meat, tainted fish, and damaged fruit, and are very dirty in their persons and houses.Nor do the pale rickety children, fruits of precocious marriages, promise any improvement in the rising generation.The lower classes of this city live, more or less, in what may be termed a natural state.In the winter, they shiver in cold wooden houses; or, wrapped up in furs, they creep through the dark muddy streets.Their diet at this season consists of meat, fish, rice, and dried fruit.In the summer, they leave the city for the country, and change their diet for the fresh fruit and vegetables of the season, which they devour in a crude state, and in unwholesome quantities.Much has been written concerning the climate of Con- stantinople; and important as this subject is, a very brief sketch will serve my purpose better than a very elaborate description.The winds that prevail at Constantinople are mostly from the north, and are determined by the geographical con- formation of the country, the straits of the Bosphorus forming a kind of funnel, through which runs a strong cur- rent of water and wind from the Black Sea.The difference of temperature caused by a change of wind is so remarkable, that the thermometer will rise or fall ten degrees in a few hours; and the south wind has such a depressing effect on many people, as to cause an utter distaste of life while it lasts.Fortuintely for the sensitive individuals, this bane- ful breeze occurs but seldom and for a short time.The poraz, as the natives call it (boreas), is the most constant wind, and gives us a colder winter and cooler summer than are found generally in this latitude.A rough estimate of the weather may be given as follows.In December, January, and February, the weather is cold and damp; and there are great variations of tem- perature.March, April, and May, are the transition months, in the first of which are rains and bitter biting north winds, re- sembling the east wind of England at the same period.In April and May, occurs the most delicious spring weather, not unfrequotly interrupted by storms June, July, and August.The weather is hot and dry, the great heats being tempered by the cool north breezes, which ae always constant; cucurbitacee are abundant, Mam thX gaen fruit unripe Maximum of deaths.O ad November.The clima is t- peate; there are occonal showers and storms; thle fruitp are ripe.Minimum of mortality.ln July and August, owing probably to the abundance of cucurbitacese and half-ripe fruit, inordinate quantities of which are eaten, as well as to the loss of watery matter from the body and consequent inspiwsation of the blood, diseases of the abdominal organs are frequent and fataL Dysentery, diarrhoea, liver diseases, and fevers, are commo at this season.Chronic affections also often terminate fatally during these months.In June, epidemics of measles and scarlet fever frequently make their appearance.In January and February, catarrhal affections and diseases of the thoracic cavity are frequent.It is a remarkable fact, which I give on the authority of Dr. Verollot, who has made a special study of the statistics on 29 July