Page:Thirty-five years in the East.djvu/92

52 only from their books, under the denomination of bun, and the sample which I showed them in 1832, in the Durbar, was the first they had ever seen; but when the English arrived it became generally known. Neither had they any notion of our cantharides; for which they sub- stitute meloe telini, a fly of greater efficacy, containing more cantharidine than cantharides. They are seldom employed by the native physicians for blistering, although they know the utility of them in cases of hydrophobia. Besides what had been mentioned on the effects of blisteringin the description of my own disease, the following may likewise serve as a proof how beneficial that process is when properly employed, and it may, in some cases, even save a patient's life. General C-, had brought on a disease, by an external misapplication of mercury, while he was with the court at Umritsir. It was in the warm season, and on the fourth day after the application, he became so indisposed that my services were called into requisltion. The native physicians had previously administered different remedies, but without success. On examination, I found that the stomach and intestines were affected, which disturbed the functions of digestion, and caused a violent purging, with a burning of the anus; I commenced by bleeding him, and applying leeches; after which, the diarrhoea having been suppressed, an intermittent fever, exhibiting itself at various periods, of from three to seven days, was the consequence. Observing no improvement in the health of my patient, I conceived that the heat of the climate exercised an injurious influence over him, and that no hopes of his recovery could be entertained unless he were removed. I therefore solicited permission for him to remove to a cooler locality upon which we were sent to Deenanuggur, in the proximity of the mountains, to which place the Maharajah intended to retire with the court. The disease having lasted three months, and the patient becoming weaker, he began to complain of a burning at the region of the heart; I tried to apply soms leeches but