1 10
2 several persons had died suddenly, which caused great alarm
3 among the inhabitants. The silk gathering was just ended,
4 and I found the diseased were located in miserable, low houses,
5 deprived of fresh air ; I thought it advisable to cause them to be
6 removed from their habitations, and brought into the manufac-
7 tories, where previously the silk worms had been ; and the result
8 of my treatment was, that none of my patients died of that
9 disease. I was conducted from Mesrut-ul-Toofah, to a place a
10 little farther up the Lebanon, to A'ito, where the former French
11 interpreter, Isaac Torbei, was confined to his bed with Angina,
12 and was unable to articulate, in spite of all his efforts to do so.
13 I examined his throat, and found an abscess therein, which I
14 opened immediately ; by which operation my patient was able to
15 talk instantly, and after a few days he entirely recovered.
16 From A'ito, I was brought to Kannobin, to the residence of
17 the Maronitan patriarch, where the Bishop Mootran Seman lay
18 very ill. Kannobin is situated on a declivity, from whence a
19 beautiful view is obtained of the valley. It is by no means a
20 town, as the Dictionnaire Encyclopedique Fran^aise (second
21 edition) erroneously asserts, it being merely a convent. There
22 is a curious custom attached to this country, and in most places
23 of Asia. A physician being called on to attend a sick person, it
24 is first arranged as to how much he will require for curing the
25 same; upon that arrangement being completed, the physician
26 receives one moiety of the sum agreed upon, and upon the
27 recovery of the patient, he receives the balance, which includes
28 the cost of medicine.
29 Having arrived at Kannobin, I found the bishop suffering from
30 nervous fever, in a state of insensibility. After a strict examina-
31 tion, I entertained but little hopes of his recovery. His numerous
32 relatives, standing round his bed, appeared to have resigned all
33 hope previous to my arrival. I agreed with the brothers of the
34 bishop as to the amount they were to pay me for my attendance,
35 the half of which I received in advance, for the medicines to be
36 delivered, the other half to be paid after the recovery of the
37 patient, from whose own hands I should receive it, according