DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11637#0040
2,6 TRAVELS IN UPPER
cause of these disorders of the eyes. But the an-
cient Egyptians paid the utmost attention to their
canals: they cleaned them, and left in them no
water to stagnate: yet they also were liable to
ophthalmia. On the same principle, this author
attributes the greater prevalence of complaints of
the eyes at Cairo, than in any other part of Egypt,
to the exhalations from the canal that traverses
this city. Yet, in the month of August, the very
period when the most fetid vapours exhale from
this canal, I spent almust whole days at the win-
dow of an apartment looking over it, without
perceiving the least inconvenience, except the of-
fensive smell. If there be more blind persons at
Cairo than elsewhere, it is because its population
is'very considerable ; and besides, the poor repair
thither from all parts, in hopes of finding more
assistance. Disorders of the eyes, however, are
equally prevalent in the other parts of Egypt ;
and though at Cairo I preserved my eyes unhurt,
] was very near losing one of them at Sa'id.
The excessive heat, the air impregnated with
nitrous particles, the acrid and burning dust
which the winds diffuse through the air, are the
chief causes of disorders of the eyes. I have had
frequent opportunities of experiencing this. If
the wind blew a little strong, I could not expose
myself to it for an instant in the middle of the
day*
cause of these disorders of the eyes. But the an-
cient Egyptians paid the utmost attention to their
canals: they cleaned them, and left in them no
water to stagnate: yet they also were liable to
ophthalmia. On the same principle, this author
attributes the greater prevalence of complaints of
the eyes at Cairo, than in any other part of Egypt,
to the exhalations from the canal that traverses
this city. Yet, in the month of August, the very
period when the most fetid vapours exhale from
this canal, I spent almust whole days at the win-
dow of an apartment looking over it, without
perceiving the least inconvenience, except the of-
fensive smell. If there be more blind persons at
Cairo than elsewhere, it is because its population
is'very considerable ; and besides, the poor repair
thither from all parts, in hopes of finding more
assistance. Disorders of the eyes, however, are
equally prevalent in the other parts of Egypt ;
and though at Cairo I preserved my eyes unhurt,
] was very near losing one of them at Sa'id.
The excessive heat, the air impregnated with
nitrous particles, the acrid and burning dust
which the winds diffuse through the air, are the
chief causes of disorders of the eyes. I have had
frequent opportunities of experiencing this. If
the wind blew a little strong, I could not expose
myself to it for an instant in the middle of the
day*