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2 great number of the elite of the nobility. It may easily be
3 imagined, that on such an occasion there was no lack of festivals
4 and amusements, in which I took some share, as I met with a very
5 kind reception, owing, perhaps, to my oriental costume.
6 From Toplitz I returned to Kronstadt, my native country,
7 in order to pass the carnival there among my relations. In the
8 spring of the year 1836, I went to Vienna, on particular business,
9 and I stayed there till the autumn. In the summer of the same
10 year, the long-dreaded guest, Cholera, was raging in that
11 capital. I myself felt the first symptoms of that dreadful and
12 destroying epidemic. I had spasms and a diarrhoea ; I therefore
13 lost no time in applying my remedies, taking, every half-hour, a
14 homoeopathic dose of ipecacuanha. This remedy proved quite
15 efficacious, and I was fortunate enough to be entirely recovered
16 in the space of six hours.
17 As there are many substitutes for ipecacuanha, I think it not
18 superfluous to mention on this occasion, that it is only the genuine
19 drug that can produce the desired effect. That by which
20 I was restored, was from Doctor Lehmann. The good result
21 which I experienced in myself and others, from adopting the
22 homoeopathic system, induced me to extend the practice to a
23 larger circle of patients. For that purpose I chose the capital
24 of the Ottoman empire, which I thought particularly suitable,
25 as it was at no great distance from my native country, and
26 because I was acquainted with the oriental languages, habits
27 and manners. Besides that, my pecuniary circumstances were
28 rather embarrassed, as the reader may be aware, owing to the
29 losses I had sustained in different countries, particularly in
30 Bokhara (by the Armenians) and in Russia (by my sable transac-
31 tions). To carry out my plan, I petitioned for a passport to
32 Constantinople, which I obtained without any difficulty.
33 I departed from Vienna, passed through Kronstadt and Buka-
34 rest for Gallaz, where I embarked, not as previously at Varna
35 in an open vessel, but in a steamer bound to Constantinople.
36 Contrary to my expectation, the plague was raging there at that
37 time, and the Europeans kept themselves shut up in their houses,
38 far from any contact with the world. Under such circumstances,