Arabmedicinesurg 00 Hiltuoft
Arabmedicinesurg 00 Hiltuoft
Arabmedicinesurg 00 Hiltuoft
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ARAB MEDICINE
SURGERY
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Plate I
BY
M: W. HILTON-SIMPSON, B.Sc.
. H. CAMERC- ,
307 SKERBOURWEST.
LONDON X- ^ 4^^
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
HUMPHREY MILFORD
1923
PRINTED IN ENGLAND
AT THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
:
PREFACE
It is with the greatest diffidence that I lay this little work
before students of the History of Surgery, Medicine, and
Pharmacology.
A layman— totally untrained in medical science— I suddenly
found myself in 1913 admitted to some of the secrets of the
reticent Berber and Arab doctors of the Aures Massif,
Algeria.
It is my misfortune that I lacked the knowledge necessary
to enable me to do justice to the opportunities of studying
themselves.
I my heartiest thanks to the authorities at the
wish to offer
Herbarium at Kew and at the Botanical Gardens, Oxford
to Professor E. B. Poulton and Mr. E. W. Holmes, for the care
with which they have determined for me the materia medica I
M. W. HILTON-SIMPSON.
Oxford, 1922.
CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION i
THE AURES 7
^ H.-S., '
Influence of its Geography on the People of the Aures Massif,
Algeria,' Geographical Journal^ vol. lix, Jan. 1922.
^ Man, August 1920. ' Geographical Journal, January 1922.
* Scottish Geographical Magazine, 1922.
' viii, 1897, p. 174.
INTRODUCTION 3
secrecy with which the natives practise the healing art, that
I became acquainted after the war with practitioners in three
-^l^^ta^fl^
f
iHr«^fr
k^1^^
^
OPERATIONS ON THE SKULL
INTRODUCTION 5
worked.
There are two methods which can be employed when
attempting to obtain information from a native doctor; the
first is, to work from the disease to the remedy;the second,
from the remedy to the disease. I employed both of these
according to the inclination of the doctor with whom I was
working but, with regard to medicine, I found the second
;
OFTHEAURES 9
and, although some doctors in the Jebel Shershar undoubtedly
specialize in the operation of the trepan, in the same way in
which the natives of southern Morocco are stated by the
Shawiya to specialize in the treatment of the eye, there is
(7) Daud el Antaky and (8) Abderrezzaq, the Algerian ' '.
;
'
Histoire de la Medecine arabe, ii, 225, et seq.
OFTHEAURES ii
who asked a friend of mine the sum of fifty francs for medi-
cally treating his wife (my friend had, in addition, to pur-
chase some drugs required) but most practitioners appear
;
it,'
in order that it might return to
Fig. I
its proper place in the body This, '.
beats at nearly twice its normal rate and the patient is thirsty ;
2C66 D
i8 THE GENERAL PRACTITIONER
One eye of the owl is constantly sleepy, the other as
constantly wakeful. Upon placing the two eyes in a bowl
of water the sleepy one sinks immediately to the bottom,
while the wakeful one floats upon the surface. Persons
suffering from insomnia are advised to wear the sleepy eye
suspended from a cord around the neck, while those who
sleep too much wear the wakeful one. In describing a
similar treatment in his Sorcellerie au Maroc (p. 144) the
late Monsieur Mauchamp states that in that country the
eating of the right eye of the owl is believed to induce sleep,
and of the left one to prevent it.
If their acquaintance with anatomy, physiology, and the
theory of medicine is limited, the Shawiya doctors can at least
pride themselves upon their practical knowledge of botany.
They believe that every member of the vegetable kingdom
has its use in medicine if only that use were known, and they
employ a very large number of the plants with which even
their barren country abounds. The doctor, as a rule, himself
collects the wild plants and possesses a very intimate know-
ledge of the localities in which they grow, while such varieties
as are not to be found in the Aures, but flourish in other
parts of Algeria, he purchases, dried, in the native shops of
large centres such as Biskra. Thus, for example, although
sarsaparilla is said by the Shawiya to grow upon the plateau
near Batna, it considered to be inferior for the treatment
is
Fig. 2.
up with water, and the remainder filled with the herb which
is to be used. The *
then placed upon a rough locally
still ' is
"Tgr
Fig. 5.
SURGERY
Styptics
Asepsis
Although the surgeon not infrequently makes incisions by
means of a red-hot cutting instrument, this appears to be
done solely in order to check haemorrhage, and no attempt
is made to secure surgical cleanliness. The surgeon washes
his hands and his instruments after use in any water, hot or
cold, clean or dirty, which may be at hand, and he uses for
his pads and bandages strips of dirty cotton dress material
and wool supplied by the women of his patient's family. In
SURGERY 29
dirty condition.
Anaesthetics
grass mat, a rug, or a sack placed upon the floor (for tables
are unknown in an ordinary Algerian household), while the
surgeon carries out his task. An anaesthetic is, however,
known to most, if not all, of the practitioners I have met, but
they do not as a rule employ it merely because they are
afraid of its effect. A very few of them might, perhaps,
employ it in the case of a patient who was a relation or a
great personal friend whose family could be relied upon to
30 SURGERY
claim, upon their delicacy of touch to reduce the patient's
sufferings to a minimum. In the fanciful language of the
Algerian native, one surgeon has informed me that a really
skilful operator can cut through the shell of an egg without
damaging its inner membrane, and all maintain that so gentle
are their methods that their patients never faint during the
operation. Nevertheless one of them stated that he restores
such patients to consciousness by throwing water in their
faces or holding onions beneath their noses.
One successful operator told me that he used no anaesthe-
tic, but added, I look at the patient and he looks at me
* '.
When the scalp over the seat of the injury has been re-
moved or turned back many surgeons scrape away tissues
adhering to the bone with the aid of fan-shaped scrapers
(PL IV,yand q), used also as spatulae, or of a combined saw
and scraping instrument (PL V, e), one practitioner stating
that he treats the surface of the bone with powdered bark
of Jiiniperus phoenicea, upon which a little warm butter is
SCALPING INSTRUMENTS
SURGERY 33
Fig. 6.
at each side, so that the last -^^ inch is but | inch wide, its
extremity being rounded and ground to a cutting edge. The
'
34 SURGERY
object of the '
shoulders '
is automatically to prevent excessive
penetration. A varying in width from | inch
rounded point,
to I inch, is to be found upon most of the drills I collected,
but a drill with sharp trident points is recommended by some
surgeons, the only such specimen which I secured being far
more coarse than is usual (PI. IV, p) and not intended for use
in trepanning, for which, indeed, some surgeons consider the
trident drill to be useless. From the oldest practitioner I met,
who must have been nearly eighty years of age, I obtained a
drill — once the property of his father — in which excessive
penetration is prevented in a different way (PI. IV, 6).
The
blade consists of a round iron rod, \ inch in diameter,
projecting some 3I inches from a plain round wooden handle.
The distal end is flattened into a curved cutting edge devoid
of shoulders
*
'. Over this blade is drawn a sleeve, consisting
of a piece of wood, slightly conical in form, perforated through-
out its length with a hole through which the blade is passed.
When pressed right home to the wooden handle
the sleeve is
about y\ inch of the blade projects beyond its distal end, but
this amount can be reduced by pulling the sleeve nearer to
the point of the blade and filling the gap thus created between
the sleeve and the handle with a piece of string or rag tied
around the blade. The sleeve having been thus secured to
give the desired penetration, it serves, as do the shoulders '
SURGERY 35
of the left hand flat upon the patient's scalp beneath the haft
of the saw blade in order to check accidental perforation of
the skull when the bone is nearly cut through.
All the saws I collected, with the exception of one, lend
themselves by their form to either method of manipulation.
They consist of iron or steel blades projecting from rough
round wooden handles, the distal end of the blades being
flattened and, in most cases, turned down nearly at right
36 SURGERY
angles to their hafts, the lower edge of this turned down
portion being serrated with teeth in the same plane as the
handle. In some cases the turned down part of the blade is
slightly fan-shaped (PI. V, a, c,/, h), in others curved (PI. V, b,
and Fig. 7), according to the fancy of the owner.
In other saws the distal end of the blade consists of a flat
rectangular surface, projecting at right angles
to the haft on either side of it, in which one
edge may be serrated, the end forming a scraper
and the opposite edge a scalping-knife (PI. I V,/);
or it may be serrated on both sides, leaving the
end for use as a scraper (PI. V, e) or it may ;
Fig. 8.
X
o
Q
<
o
>
w
<
O
Oh
w
'
SURGERY 37
when the scalp has closed over the aperture, and it will
appear red in colour instead of white with red lines in it, as
it will have appeared when first revealed by the operation.
38 SURGERY
every second day for a month or six weeks, at the end of
which time the patient should be restored to normal health.
Another surgeon advises the sprinkling of powdered burnt
alum upon the wound, over which he then places a pad
another uses the powdered leaves of Ajuga iva, Schreb., and
Teucrium polium, L., mixed together, for sprinkling upon a
dressing of butter, while another employs a butter dressing
upon which is sprinkled some powdered saffron and white
cone sugar before pitch of the pine is poured over it.
None of the surgeons apply stitches to the scalp, and none
attempt to replace the bone removed by any form of artificial
plate. I heard a couple of stories, however, of such replace-
for according to Doctors Malbot & Verneau tous ces faits '
sont en Algeria pure banalite but I will cite one case, the
',
The surgeon told his patient that he must avoid cold, and
must not yet stand upon he did in order
his injured leg (which
to demonstrate the success of the surgeon's handiwork), be-
cause by so doing he would cause the blood to flow too freely
into the limb. He further stated that the patient would be
permanently lame. The surgeon regarded this case with
exceptional pride and satisfaction, for, he said, the patient
had been taken to a European practitioner,
in the first instance
who had declared amputation of the limb to be necessary.
I have noted many examples of the successful removal of
bone from limbs, and have sent to the Pitt- Rivers Museum
several fragments thus taken away from persons whom I
been created. The reason for this is that nearly all the
surgeons I met with were agreed that the replacement of bone
b}^ any foreign material can only be effected where the injured
bone is well surrounded by tissues which would retain that
material in position, and that nothing can, accordingly, be
done to replace a fragment removed from the tibia. There
is, however, on record a well-authenticated case of an orderly
Fractures in Limbs.
In the case of a simple fracture of, for example, the tibia,
after thebone has been set, a little butter w^hich, in the opinion
of some surgeons, should be devoid of salt, is lightly rubbed
over the seat of the injury, and some wheat flour is sprinkled
thereon. One
surgeon, however, held that butter should be
applied to the head only, oil being more suitable for the
limbs, while another advises a poultice of equal parts of
barley flour and the powdered leaves of Passerina hirsuta, L.,
instead of the dressing of butter or oil, the poultice remaining
in position until the seventh day after its application.
Thelimb having been bandaged with strips of cotton
material, over which a layer of sheep's wool is sometimes
placed, splints are applied. These vary in form. One prac-
titioner applies four straight flat pieces of any wood which
may be at hand, one to the front, one to the back, and one to
SURGERY 43
which the six flat pieces of wood are replaced in one case by
seven and in the other b}^ eight strips of split bamboo, stitched
to goat-skin two pieces of bamboo from two to three inches
;
drooping '.
told thathe had recovered but was slightly lame, the doctor
remarking that he was now of the opinion that the knee-cap
had been dislocated but not fractured.
It appears, from inquiries made relative to this case, that
should recommend
tibia, its inclusion in the dressing for a
broken rib.
Should a fractured rib be depressed, one of my native
surgeon friends states that it should be drawn back into its
natural position by means of suction applied with the aid of
an ordinary tin bleeding cup (PI. VIII, r), which operation
he naively described as very exhausting for the doctor.
Bandages should be only fairly tightly applied to a fractured
rib.
Fracture of the Jaw.
Nothing can be inserted to replace shattered bone in the
jaw, and, as a rule, no splint is applied when this is fractured.
One surgeon informed me, however, that he had applied a
curv^ed wooden splint beneath a jaw, both sides of which had
been broken, securing the splint by means of bandages
passing over the top of the head the patient, who was fed
;
had then pierced the inner side of the left arm. The patient's
lower jaw had been fractured and so shattered that a frag-
ment measuring, on the inner curve, one and a quarter inches
in length with a maximum depth of half an inch, had been
removed with the aid of a pair of European scissors (PI. VIII,
p). The two ends of the jaw-bones, left separate by the
fracture, were drawn together by means of bandages, and
48 SURGERY
when I felt the interior of the patient's mouth, two months
dipped into very hot olive oil and dabbed upon a twisted
' '
50 SURGERY
knee and camel's fat, wrapped in rag, is warmed over a fire
;
Fig. 9.
Hernia.
its proper position oil is rubbed upon the skin, and a bowl
SURGERY 51
CAUTERIES
in the semolina all night the extract within the shell will be
found to have solidified it is then dried in the sun, and
;
flat strip of iron, both ends of which are ground into rounded
that all the ingredients used for the powder can be obtained
in Barbary.
Another practitioner employs a different method for the
removal of film which wholly or partially obscures the vision,
and which he described as a sort of skin appearing to con-
'
SURGERY 55
the seeds of cotton, seeds of quince^, and the white pith from the
nodes of bamboo, is warmed and introduced into the eye,
being considered also a useful remedy for stye while blood ' ',
[v:
GC
Fig. io.
of each hook protrudes from the skin, having pierced the eye-
lid twice ; the little lateral ridge of skin thus drawn up on
the eyelid is then clipped away with scissors or carefully slit
with a sharp knife, and the edges of the slit so made are
stitched together with horse-hair or silk, a daily dressing of
the antimony, used by the women of the Aures to darken
their eyelids and eyebrows, being applied until the slit is
healed.
In another method of shortening the eyehd the skin is not
cut, but the ridge picked up by the hooks is stitched with silk
or horse-hair to form a '
reef, this reef being then clamped
by means of a minute cane-splint, slit down the centre, and
bound at each end with cotton (Fig. lo). A dressing of
antimony is applied daily for four days, and upon the eighth
day the splint falls away, leaving the eyelid shortened by the
healing of the perforations made for the stitches.
SURGERY 57
cut the body to let out the water, as we do ', I have found no
example of this treatment in and around the Aures.
Setons, however, are employed in its treatment by both
Arab and Shawiya. The symptoms recognized are constant
thirst and the distension of the abdomen by fluid. One
doctor considers cold to be the cause of the disease, which is
known as saqya from a verb-root signifying to water
'
',
'
58 SURGERY
the setons are drawn up and down to facilitate the exodus of
the fluid, of which as much as a litre is said to be so drawn off.
Obstetric Surgery.
en
H
Z
en
P
O
w
<
u
CO
SURGERY 59
Lithotomy.
When '
little stones like shot hinder urination ', half a coffee-
spoonful of the following mixture is taken morning and
evening : one part of powdered leaves of Mentha rotimdi-
folia, L., three parts of honey, and one-half of an imported
cantharide beetle (known in Algeria as the 'Fly of India').
This causes dissolution of the stones. If in from twenty-five
to thirty days a cure is not effected, the surgeon resorts to
lithotomy, which operation, however, appears to be but rarely
performed.
The calculi are sought with the finger, which is often
inserted in the rectum for this purpose, and when they have
been located a small incision is made with the knife to allow
of their removal. Sometimes the urethra has
to be opened,
a long fine probe being inserted into provide a surface
it to
against which to cut. The incision thus made is immediately
sewn up and dressed, the operation causing no permanent
hindrance to urination.
Operations upon the penis, other than the universal cir-
cumcision of male infants, do not seem to be performed by
native surgeons as a rule, injuries thereto being merely
dressed. A very aged Shawiya practitioner, however, who
at one time enjoyed a ver^^ wide reputation as a successful,
if brutal, operator, claims to have removed a penis injured
extended.
The operator, zvho was not a practising Shawiya surgeon,
then produced a small stick, some four inches in length, cut
so as to leave a knob at one end (Fig. 11). Having drawn
back the foreskin, dipping his finger and thumb in the dust .
SURGERY 6i
skin,between the glans and the knob of the stick, and severed
the by one quick downward cut of an ordinary
foreskin
native knife between the knob and the woollen loop, the
latter serving to protect the glans.
A slight variation of the operation was described to me by
a surgeon, who gave me a stick used as above, in which one
end, instead of being knobbed, had been hollowed into a cup-
like depression (Fig. 12). In this depression a small round
Fig. II.
Fig. 12.
Cupping.
Blood-letting is very frequently carried out, especially in
From near the open end rises a curved spout to the extremity
of which is tied a small piece of leather. The open end of
the cup having been placed over the incisions in the neck,
the operator apphes suction with his mouth to the end of the
spout in order to start the flow of blood into the vacuum thus
produced, closing the spout with the piece of leather referred
to above, and binding it with string, immediately he withdraws
his Hps.
have also seen blood drawn from a vein in the forehead
I
over the left eye without the aid of a cup, the patient's neck
having been tightly bandaged with a handkerchief before the
incision was made. I have never observed the practice of
Dentistry.
The extraction of teeth is very usually performed by jewel-
lers in the Aures, nearly all of whom possess forceps
(PI.VII, m), which contain either two or, more rarely, three
'
claws' on either side, and of which one or both sides of the
handle are curved to facilitate the grip. I have seen one
double specimen, i. e. two forceps which had one bar of their
handles in common, such as is illustrated in Dr. Raynaud's
Medecine au Maroc (p. 130) among a number of instruments
used in Morocco.
One Arab surgeon gave me a hook (PI. VII, /), which is
inserted behind the roots for the extraction of particularly
firm stumps, stating that it is more efficacious in such cases
than the forceps. This man stated that he had endeavoured
to check toothache by filling a cavity in the tooth with opium,
but that this treatment had proved unsatisfactory. Indeed,
64 SURGERY
he appeared to be quite ignorant of the cause of toothache,
although he is very widely known for his skill as a surgeon,
particularly in trepanning. A layman informed me that the
pain of toothache is caused by an insect '
(doubtless he'
referred to the nerve) within the tooth, and that this insect
can be killed by filling the cavity, should there be one in the
tooth, with a mixture of lime and pitch, which will cause the
tooth to cease from troubling or to break. Gum asafoetida
is also used for the plugging of a hollow tooth.
Sutures.
It appears that wounds, other than those in the face and
made in lithotomy, are rarely
the incisions sutured, the edges
being merely drawn together by means of bandages torn
from any old cotton material which may be at hand.
When used, the sutures, of horse-hair, silk, or very rarely, of
wire, are inserted in holes previously made with a needle
(which in olden days was of silver) and tied separately.
When the wound is healed they are cut and withdrawn.
Skin-Grafting
Is said by one surgeon be sometimes practised in the
to
hills and the desert, but neither he nor any other practitioner
I have met with had ever attempted it.
Bullet Wounds.
The bullet is sought with the aid of probes, straight or
spoon-shaped at one end (PI. VIII, //, j), made in various
lengths and thicknesses of iron, brass, or more often, of
copper. Should the bullet have penetrated very far into the
body it is often left in the wound, owing, I presume, to the
SURGERY 67
PART III
MEDICINE
Purges and Laxatives. Some of the native doctors in-
variably commence a course of treatment by administering
a purge, of which, as well as of laxatives, they possess a fair
selection, the stronger varieties being
(a) Forty grammes of the dried and powdered leaves of
A
mixture of the seeds of Negella sativa and of
{b)
MEDICINE 71
the Aures or the roots of the oak tree are boiled to obtain
;
hoopoe^ s feathers, black sheep's wool, and oleander leaves are used
for the fumigation of patients suffering from fever, a form of
treatment which owing to its slight practical effect and its
undoubted magical origin may perhaps bridge the almost
negligible gap between primitive medical science and the art
of magic.
Colds in the head are treated by causing the patient to
inhale steam obtained by pouring water upon a hot hearth-
stone, the inhalation taking place through an inverted halfa-
grass funnel such as is used for filling goatskins or the ;
saliva powdered and mixed with btttter, one year old dose, ;
76 MEDICINE
[c) Pounded leaves of Lavcndida tnultifida, L. eaten with
butter, one year old.
[d) A soup made of garlic and grains of either wheat or
barley, which must have been spht in two, is eaten the :
{/) the flowers of Datura metel, L., dried and broken up,
are smoked in the form of a cigarette, or
{k) An infusion of the pounded leaves of Rosemarinus
officinalis, L. is drunk.
For coughs in children.
(/) A very little of the powdered roots oi Pistacia atlantica,
Desf. (terebinthe) is swallowed in oil, or
{m) One soup-spoonful of amixture of a species of
Lycoperdon and butter, heated together, is eaten each morning.
For Bronchitis, a mixture of powdered linseed and honey
had been recommended by a native doctor to a Jew who
informed me that the treatment had proved very beneficial
while one doctor uses the following medicine for bronchitis,
and has also found it to be efficacious in cases of gas poisoning
resulting from the war. He boils the flowers of violet in an
-enamelled pot until they become 'white', when the flowers
MEDICINE ^^
pp. 230 and 248), the viper, owing to its spiteful disposition,
and a gall-bladder, on account of its bitterness, are highly
distasteful to the demons, which, in the opinion of the Shawiya
and the Arabs, are the cause of disease.
Rheumatism. As far as I, a layman, could judge, rheuma-
tism appeared to be very prevalent among the Shawiya. The
poultice alluded to as a remedy for chest affections, consisting
of colocynth, Lawsonia inermis, Thapsia garganica and red
pepper mixed in honeys is applied to the part affected or a :
inner side of the arm just over the elbow-joint, which becomes
as hard as a stone '. As a later symptom he recognizes
'
'
sweHing of the bones'. In treatment he takes the roots of
Sarsaparilla and the seeds ofLepidum sativum^ L., pounds
them to powder, and mixes two parts of each of the resultant
powders with one part of roasted wheat flour; this powder,
being mixed with one pound of honey, is administered to the
patient each morning and evening before meals for fifteen
days, one coffee-spoonful constituting the dose, but, in mild
cases, seven days of this treatment will suffice. This period
of treatment followed by fifteen days in which no drugs
is
All this time the patient must sit in a room alone and avoid
8o MEDICINE
allexcitement, and no filthy conversation must take place in
his hearing. As an alternative to sarsaparilla this doctor
recommends the leaves of Globularia alypum to be used
instead of it while an infusion of a whole plant of Peganum
;
whole body to the smoke, but taking care to close his eyes,
ears, nose, and mouth to which the fumes are injurious. The
fumigation is carried out once daily, and the resulting cure is
permanent.
This practitioner, hke the other two, is of opinion that
cleanliness of person and surroundings is of the utmost
importance in the treatment of syphilis, and that the patient
should be left quietly in a room apart where no disgusting
talk can reach his ears.
Gonorrhoea, another very common complaint in the hills
and the desert, is treated by one doctor by sprinkling dried
and powdered stinging nettles mixed with jasmine powdered
(purchased in the towns) around and upon the penis and
scrotum at night, the patient being forbidden to ride or to
have sexual intercourse another causes the patient to drink,
;
MEDICINE 83
so used at will, the seeds being the strongest and the roots
the least powerful.
Haemorrhoids, when external, are sometimes surgically
treated by passing through them a cow's sinew steeped
in ointment, a needle being used to make way for the
sinew, but several other remedies are employed, often by
laymen, such as the application of the ashes of leaves of
Globularia alypum, L., mixed with the ashes of the leaves of
84 MEDICINE
Juniperus oxycedrus, L., in oil or water, or the eating of a
coffee-spoonful of honey and garlic, which mixture is also
applied to the anus, forms of treatment which are also used
in cases of internal haemorrhoids.
One doctor advises the appHcation of the fluid resulting
from heating jv6)/>^ of egg in a pot; or the fumigation of the
anus in the smoke of a fruit of colocynth which has been
cooked in cinders and sliced in half, upon which a little salt
has been sprinkled.
Another pounds the interior of a colocynth fruit, mixes it
with a few spoonfuls of honey to form an ointment, heats it
and applies it on a pad of rag to the anus, where it should
remain all night, the severe pain which this treatment is said
to cause being alleviated by the application of melted butter,
sheep's butter being universally regarded as the best for
medicinal purposes.
Anointment also used in the treatment of haemorrhoids,
but which is said to be very expensive for some reason which
comparatively expensive.
Patients are sometimes made to eat yolk of egg fried until
it becomes black as pitch
'
', one spoonful being consumed
daily, while a diet of oil, butter, and unleavened bread is
followed to the exclusion of meat, dates, and vegetables.
The cast skin of a local viper is also eaten as a cure for
'
'
MEDICINE 85
'
Waran ', is remarkable) ; or the powdered roots of Thapsia
garganica mixed by heating with honey, in the proportion of
one part powder to three parts honey, to which a Httle sulphur
is added, is also used as an ointment for itch and to remove
perhaps, be meant.
Melanodermia, which found in Morocco and stated by
is
86 MEDICINE
treated by the application of a lotion formed of equal parts of
white vinegar and the extract obtained by pounding the leaves
of Ruta graveolens, L.
For the complaint in which the skin becomes white in
patches and the blood also becomes white, to quote my native
informant, a mixture of the extract of pounded fresh leaves
of Beta vulgaris, L., and almond oil is recommended, but I
have not yet discovered how or in what quantities it is
administered.
Baldness is treated by the application of a lotion made by
boiling a viper's skin in olive oil; or of a mixture of olive oil
and the ashes of a green lizard, known to the Arabs as
*
burrion a specimen of which I have not yet obtained. A
',
thistle
', Echinops spinosus, L., the outer skin of the root
having first been scraped away.
In order to cause boils to burst and to draw out the pus
which they contain a fresh leaf of Cynoglossum pictum, Ait.,
is bound upon the part or half of a fruit of colocynth, which
;
Button '
as well as for ordinary boils. A dusting powder
consisting of the dried leaves of Pergularia tomentosa, L.
[Daemia cordata, R. Br.), finely powdered is applied daily for
two or three days to boils which spread upon the arms and
legs while for those which appear upon the arms and thighs
;
for the disease I have yet found is identical with that sug-
gested for Measles, and consists in attaching the bladder of
a freshly killed lamb or goat to the patient's head so that the
urine it contains can touch his head, but not flow away (this
is said to restore consciousness in extreme cases), the patient
MEDICINE 89
at the time her child is born, the illness resulting from im-
moderate consumption of water being treated in one of the
three following ways
{a) Eggs are made into an omelette and powdered stems
of a plant which, according to Leclerc's translation of Abder-
rezzaq, appears to be Thapsia villosay are sprinkled upon
them, the patient eating such an omelette every morning for
three days ; or
[b) A
loaf of unleavened bread in the preparation of
flat
which goaf s fat has been liberally used, is eaten, and the
stale
patient allowed to walk a little, after which she may drink
a large quantity of water ; or
(c) A plant of Capparis spinosa, L., is boiled in oil, which
90 MEDICINE
the patient drinks each morning for three days when a cure
will result.
When the child is badly placed and delivery accordingly
impeded a mixture of powdered carrot seeds, the body of the
beetle, Mylabris oleae, var, Rtmosa, and a plant of Euphorbia
is placed in hot water and allowed to cool. When cold one
coffee-cupful of the mixture is swallowed, and within five
minutes the child will be born. There is no loss of conscious-
ness on the part of the patient, but, in the words of the doctor
who described this treatment to me, the mixture '
forces the
child to be born '.
morning for fifteen days, and one in the evening, when sexual
be required.
virility will
Rabies very common in the dogs which are to be found
is
ones, upon the outer side of both legs above the ankles of a
man about fifty years of age. The doctor applied melted
butter, sheep's or cow's butter serving equally well, to the
sore on the right leg, sprinkled some powdered litharge upon
MEDICINE 93
The left leg was first washed with soap and then treated in
the same way save that a layer of squashed dates, as thick as a
pancake, was bound to the part in place of the pad of wool.
The doctor left some powdered gallnut to be daily applied in
honey and butter by the patient's wife. Legs of children
which are rendered sore by urination are sprinkled with the
powdered imder-bark ofpine.
Burns and Scalds are both treated alike, the white of a
raw egg is applied to the injured part and roots of the thistle
are chewed in the mouth and the juice thus extracted is also
applied, as it is to blisters which have been pricked.
INDEX OF MATERIA MEDICA
(Items purchased in towns marked M)
Jjiiga tva, 38, 66, 70, 77, 91. Colocynth, 25, 64, 68, 78, 84, 86,87,
Almond oil, M, 85, 86. 91.
Aloes, M, 67. Copper, acetate, M, 18, 55, 57, 65,
Alum, M, 18, 38, 53, 55, 65, 66, 87. 67, 83.
Ammonium chloride, M, 65, 67. — sulphide, M, 28, 65, 67,81, 87.
,
Butter, 32, 37, 38, 42, 47, 61, 62, 65, Erodium botrys, 66.
66, 73, 75, 76, 84, 91-3. Erodium guttatum, 66.
Erodium malocoides, 66, 67, 70.
Camel fat, Eryngium campestre, 87.
— fiesh, 55.50. Euphorbia, 69, 90.
— foam, 90. Euphorbia lathrys, 68.
Camphor, M, 84.
Candle grease, M, 67. Fenugreek, see Trigonella.
Cantharides, M, 59. Fig, 86.
Castor oil, M, 80, 90. Fir, 66.
Capparis spinosa, 70, 72, 73, 89. Flint, 72, 87.
Carrot, seeds, 90. Flour, 37, 42, 46, 87.
Cedar, 23. Foemculum vulgare, 71, 73,
Cinnabar, M, 69, 81.
Cinnamon, M, 75. Gallnut, oak, M, 28, 47, 73, 93.
Clematis flammula, 92. Garlic, 75, 76, 84, 91.
Cloves, M, 67, 77. Gazelle, gall, 55.
INDEX OF MATERIA MEDICA 95
Lawsonia inermis (henna), 58, 77, — pine, 23, 38, 84, 85.
,
Biological
8c Medical
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