Page:Siam and Laos, as seen by our American missionaries (1884).pdf/531

 Although spirit-worship and other religious observances are of paramount importance in their homes, they willingly neglect them when treated upon our own premises.

Upon entering a sick chamber the physician finds the air almost suffocating, and must conduct his examination by the dim light of a small wax taper, for in the construction of a Laos house the principal object to be attained seems to be the utter exclusion of light, there being no doors or windows except the necessary entrance. The examination concluded, the physician gives his directions concerning the management of the patient and goes his way, with the assurance that his instructions will be regarded by the friends of the patient as of some importance or as utterly insignificant, just according to their own views of the case.

Dispensary work is equally unsatisfactory. The friends of the patients come to the dispensary and describe as well as they can the most obvious symptoms, and from the information obtained in this exceedingly unsatisfactory way an opinion as to the nature of the patient's ailment must be arrived at and a prescription made. The results of such a method could not be otherwise than unsatisfactory even with intelligent nursing and a faithful observance of directions. As to the nursing of the sick among the Laos, it is sufficient to state that it is such as to