Page:Thirty-five years in the East.djvu/51

Rh upon the recovery of the patient, he receives the balance, which includes the cost of medicine.

Having arrived at Kannobin, I found the bishop suffering from nervous fever, in a state of insensibility. After a strict examination, I entertained but little hopes of his recovery. His numerous relatives, standing round his bed, appeared to have resigned all hope previous to my arrival. I agreed with the brothers of the bishop as to the amount they were to pay me for my attendance, the half of which I received in advance, for the medicines to be delivered, the other half to be paid after the recovery of the patient, from whose own hands I should receive it, according to the above-mentioned custom. All was legally signed by the parties and witnesses.I caused the troublesome spectators to withdraw, as by their thronging around the bed they occasioned disturbance and confusion, and only permitted four of them to remain as attendants. Then I was able to reflect, and found that the patient had been wrongly treated by his former physicians, and so reduced to a most pitiable condition.

They had copiously bled him unnecessarily, and, led by a false diagnosis, they had prescribed him a quantity of decoctions and purgatives. I learned from the attendants, that four days previously the patient v/as constipated, which occasioned him to fall into a state of insensibility. I found it necessary to commence my treatment with a lenitive clyster, which did not fail to have its good effect ; I after- wards ordered the room to be aired, sprinkled the patient's face with vinegar mixed with rose-water, and ordered his feet to be warmed by friction.

At ten in the evening I applied a blister on the nape, and administered a compound opiate powder, which was given in a strong dose. I put it into his mouth, rinsed it from his tongue, after which he began to perspire, and passed a tolerably quiet night. The beneficial result was owing to the properly proportioned mixture of the opium, as I afterwards experienced in many cases, whilst a lesser dose ( I — 2 grains opium ) made the malady worse, By 6