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2 declared in all the Christian churches, that Mariam Khatoon
3 (Lady Mary) had saved the life of the royal Prince, and was
4 the only person who could cure the gelinjik , that being the
5 Turkish term, derived from gelin , bride, and means the bride’s
6 disease. In Greek it is called nymphizze ; it is a kind of
7 cacheccia , or hydrops alba. The royal Prince caught it in con-
8 sequence of the measles, and they were in fear for his life, as his
9 younger brother had died of the measles, having been improperly
10 treated and bled during the disease.
11 As to the treatment which the Armenian lady employed, the
12 following fact, which I insert, was generally rumored: — she
13 placed the Prince in a heated oven (tandoor), which caused a
14 profuse perspiration; after that, she fumigated him with the
15 burning flesh of a weazel, also called nymphizze , and his body
16 was rubbed with oil. Besides this external treatment, she admi-
17 nistered to him some medicines, of which the following three
18 substances were the chief ingredients — ambergris, cochineal
19 insects, and earth-worms. She ordered the Prince to observe a
20 very strict regimen, not permitting him meat, or even broth,
21 only light digestible fish (gelinjik balugi), because of its name
22 being like that of the disease. This disease occurring frequently
23 in the capital, and weasel flesh being a costly thing, the druggists
24 there sell it dried. There are many Christian women, Greeks
25 and Armenians, at Constantinople, practising the cure of that
26 malady, the principal remedy for which, I am told, is Album
27 Grcecum (white dung of dogs). It is a question whether
28 phosphate of lime might not take the place of that disgusting
29 remedy, as it consists of nearly the same substances. That
30 disease is said to occur in consequence of wrongly- treated acute
31 eruptions, especially the measles, or in consequence of sudden
32 fright or excessive fatigue: it gradually increases in virulence.
33 It is to be recognised by a pulsation behind the ears and other
34 parts ; the pulse on the wrist is felt more up the arm than usual ;
35 the eyes and feet are swollen ; the lips are pale; asthma is felt in
36 walking, with weakness in the knees ; finally, a slow consuming
37 fever follows, which is succeeded by death.