DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11638#0078
64 TRAVELS IN UPPER
my reputation, but they came openly to consult
mc, and made me the confident of the uneasiness
which some of their patients occasioned them.
One of the modes of cure the most in vogue
among the Egyptian physicians, is the burning the
part affected. This species of cauterization is the
basis of the science of physic with the natives of
the East. It was known to the ancient Greeks,
and their physicians practised it, and called it Ara-
bic burning ; but they used it with great discretion,
and it was in their hands a very powerful remedy.
The Egyptians apply a medicine so violent upon
every occasion, and without any regard to the part
to which they make the application. I have seen,
for instance, a man whose eyelashes, and a part of
his eyebrows, had been scorched with a red-hot
iron, in order to cure him of an inflammation in his
eyes. Another, who was attacked with a pain in
his stomach, had likewise submitted to this cruel
operation. To the pit of his stomach, and directly
opposite upon his back, a piece of red-hot iron had
been applied, of the size of a crown-piece. But
the burning physician had had, to all appearance,
too heavy a hand, for the stomach and the back of
the wretched man were laid open, in such a man-
ner, that his body was, so to speak, bored through.
The great heat, and the want of dressing to these
wounds, had made them degenerate into the most
4 filthy
my reputation, but they came openly to consult
mc, and made me the confident of the uneasiness
which some of their patients occasioned them.
One of the modes of cure the most in vogue
among the Egyptian physicians, is the burning the
part affected. This species of cauterization is the
basis of the science of physic with the natives of
the East. It was known to the ancient Greeks,
and their physicians practised it, and called it Ara-
bic burning ; but they used it with great discretion,
and it was in their hands a very powerful remedy.
The Egyptians apply a medicine so violent upon
every occasion, and without any regard to the part
to which they make the application. I have seen,
for instance, a man whose eyelashes, and a part of
his eyebrows, had been scorched with a red-hot
iron, in order to cure him of an inflammation in his
eyes. Another, who was attacked with a pain in
his stomach, had likewise submitted to this cruel
operation. To the pit of his stomach, and directly
opposite upon his back, a piece of red-hot iron had
been applied, of the size of a crown-piece. But
the burning physician had had, to all appearance,
too heavy a hand, for the stomach and the back of
the wretched man were laid open, in such a man-
ner, that his body was, so to speak, bored through.
The great heat, and the want of dressing to these
wounds, had made them degenerate into the most
4 filthy