Page:Thirty-five years in the East.djvu/73

Rh to the minister, Masraf Effendi, who introduced us to the Pasha.

He examined the nest in the vial, and asked the boy whether he was really cured ? " Yes, my Pasha," was his answer, whereupon he said to me, " Afferim," ( well done ); and I received 1,000 piastres, besides a Tshokha ( cloak of honour ),

Many readers will ask, how did these insects come into the ear ? I questioned the boy, and was told that he slept in a stable where cows were kept. I therefore considered the insects to be cow-lice, which had crept into his ear and bred there.

At the suggestion of the minister, the Pasha requested me to attend an Arab, who was lame, in consequence of a gun-shot wound which he had received a few years before in his hip. Although the man felt no pain, and no foreign body was perceptible in any part of his limb,he nevertheless persisted in stating that the ball was sticking some-where in his hip. The surgeons endeavoured to convince him, that if such had been the case, they could never have succeeded in healing the wound. The question with me was, whether or not I ought to re-open the cicatrix, and search for the extraneous substance in the hip, I thought this operation was needless, and yet I felt compelled to do something, in consequence of the order of the Pasha.

It occurred to me that exercise was necessary, so I ordered him to walk a great deal, to beat the ground firmly, and caused the hip to be tapped on that part where I presumed the ball to be, rubbing it frequently with the hand downwards, and I gave him also an emollient ointment, &c. After three weeks the man felt a pain in the hollow of his knee caused by the presence of an extraneous substance. I examined the part and felt a protruding body, which was easily moved from one part to another. It was, in fact, the ball which I immediately cut out, and the patient was very soon cured of his lameness. Thus the mystery of this case was solved, my fame was established, and the Arab surgeons, or more properly barbers, were cast into the shade,