Experiences of a civilian in Eastern military hospitals : with observations on the English, French and other medical departments and the organization of military medical schools and hospitals / by Peter Pincoffs.

  • Pincoffs, Peter, 1816-1872.
Date:
1857
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Experiences of a civilian in Eastern military hospitals : with observations on the English, French and other medical departments and the organization of military medical schools and hospitals / by Peter Pincoffs. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    tlie priests to I'egular physic, and it is curious enough that Armeniaus and Greeks will consult Turkish Imans, more curious still that Turks will seek advice from Armenian and Greek Priests, but it is the reason why chronic diseases, where remedies are of little avail, chiefly come under the observation of the Phy- sician. Acute disease is undoubtedly very often the result of the great and abrupt changes of temperature, mainly produced by the afore mentioned currents of air, the freezing North winds (Porias) that come from ihQ boisterous Euxine, and the South wind (Lodos) which wafts the relaxing .air from Egypt and Asia Minor over the sea of Marmora. The sudden changes in these winds which gene- rally get up towards noon and last till after midnight, not unfrequently cause the thermometer, all at once, to rise or fall six degrees or more, the proximity of the sea, augmenting the, cold at night, by the rapid evaporation of the water previously heated by a scorching sun, and thus occasioning the heavy dews, so commonly observed in the early morning. The native, though he guard against these sudden variations by wearing flannel winter and summer, or even furs, and by swaddling the abdomen with a shawl or belt, is still frequently affected with Rheu- matism, Pneumonia, Bronchitis, Piarrhoea and above all with Dysentery; though he wear the turban or the fez, to protect himself less I believe from the power- the fact that others are also to be consulted. All come, each writes his prescription and no one is expected to call again unless specially requested so to do.