Page:Thirty-five years in the East.djvu/124

84 The voyage from London to Hamburg, which I performed in a steamer, lasted a day longer than ordinary, and was one of the most dreadful and annoying I have ever experienced. We were overtaken by a tempest, by which the vessel was tossed about in such a manner that all the passengers suffered from sea sickness. If I say that our feelings were those of a person whose bowels are being cut through with sharp knives, the comparison would remain far behind the real fact. At Berlin, I met with an old friend, Doctor Ehrenberg, the naturalist, whom I accompanied many years ago to the ruins of Balbeck ; he was in good health, and we conversed about that journey ; but Doctor Hemprich, his then travelling companion, had already left this world. According to Hahnemann's advice, I introduced myself, at Kothen, to Doctor Lehman, from whom I bought a considerable quantity of homoeopathic medicines. From Kothen I went to Leipsic, Dresden and Toplitz, at which place was that celebrated congress of the Emperors of Austria and Russia, the King of Prussia, and the most celebrated diplomatists, as also a great number of the elite of the nobility. It may easily be imagined, that on such an occasion there was no lack of festivals and amusements, in which I took some share, as I met with a very kind reception, owing, perhaps, to my oriental costume.

From Toplitz I returned to Kronstadt, my native country, in order to pass the carnival there among my relations. In the spring of the year 1836, I went to Vienna, on particular business, and I stayed there till the autumn. In the summer of the same year, the long-dreaded guest, cholera, was raging in that capital. I myself felt the first symptoms of that dreadful and destroying epidemic. I had spasms and a diarrhoea; I therefore lost no time in applying my remedies, taking, every half-hour, a homoeopathic dose of ipecacuanha. This remedy proved quite efficacious, and I was fortunate enough to be entirely recovered in the space of six hours.

As there are many substitutes for ipecacuanha, I think