DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.11448#0282
244
THE CRESCENT AND THE CROSS. [chap. xxix.
painting or sculpture of leaves and flowers ; and friezes, con.
sisting of verses from the Koran, are not unfrequent; but, gen-
erally, nothing can be more naked and cheerless than the interior
of a Moslem temple. It contains no furniture, except a pulpit,
a few mats, and a number of small lamps suspended from the
dome. When a mosque becomes old, it is considered irreverent
to repair it; it therefore is allowed to fall, and a new one occu-
pies its place. Attached to the mosque of El Azhar is the uni-
versity, in which the classic languages are unknown, science
much neglected, and a vast quantity of Moslem theology prin-
cipally exercises the students' minds.
There are several hospitals and schools of medicine ; among
the latter there is one devoted to educating female surgeons,
which is characteristic of the country. The greater number of
pupils are Abyssinians and negresses, who learn quickly, and
pay great attention to Mademoiselle Goult's lectures on medical
science; that branch of it especially in which it may be sup-
posed women are most personally interested, and in which they
here practise exclusively.
These are all dry details, which are uninteresting I fear to
those who do not visit Cairo, and too meagre for those who do.
I shall not allude to the Courts of Justice further than to say,
that the name is a melancholy irony applied to tribunals in which
the unblushing bribery is only to be equalled by the profound
ignorance of those who administer the laws.
THE CRESCENT AND THE CROSS. [chap. xxix.
painting or sculpture of leaves and flowers ; and friezes, con.
sisting of verses from the Koran, are not unfrequent; but, gen-
erally, nothing can be more naked and cheerless than the interior
of a Moslem temple. It contains no furniture, except a pulpit,
a few mats, and a number of small lamps suspended from the
dome. When a mosque becomes old, it is considered irreverent
to repair it; it therefore is allowed to fall, and a new one occu-
pies its place. Attached to the mosque of El Azhar is the uni-
versity, in which the classic languages are unknown, science
much neglected, and a vast quantity of Moslem theology prin-
cipally exercises the students' minds.
There are several hospitals and schools of medicine ; among
the latter there is one devoted to educating female surgeons,
which is characteristic of the country. The greater number of
pupils are Abyssinians and negresses, who learn quickly, and
pay great attention to Mademoiselle Goult's lectures on medical
science; that branch of it especially in which it may be sup-
posed women are most personally interested, and in which they
here practise exclusively.
These are all dry details, which are uninteresting I fear to
those who do not visit Cairo, and too meagre for those who do.
I shall not allude to the Courts of Justice further than to say,
that the name is a melancholy irony applied to tribunals in which
the unblushing bribery is only to be equalled by the profound
ignorance of those who administer the laws.