1 4^
2 tnanv that the first operation of that kind, in dangerous cases, is
3 Usually beneficial.
4 I summoned all my resolution, and was determined to use the
5 lancet ; and having no one to perform the operation, I ventured
6 to do it myself. I ordered warm water, put my hands and
7 afterwards my feet into it, and tried to bleed myself, but neither I
8 nor my servant, Antun, could succeed, as no blood came. Never-
9 theless, my courage did not abandon me, for I thought that if I
10 spared my body to-day, it might be put to-morrow into the grave.
11 In a fit of desperation, I cut through the median vein of the
12 left arm, upon which the blood began to trickle, but to the
13 amount only of about two ounces. After my wounds had been
14 dressed, I lay down exhausted, and recommending my soul to
15 God, I soon fell asleep. I passed a tranquil night, and on
16 awaking in the morning, I found my feet warm, my pulse
17 beating, although but faintly, and the internal pain somewhat
18 abated ; but the external pain was more acute, as the erysipela-
19 tous inflammation had extended from the back to the navel, and
20 from the arm to the hip, and owing to mv excessive debility,
21 I was afraid of mortification. Nevertheless, I had more hopes
22 of mv recovery, relying on the efficacy of the bleeding and
23 blistering. To free myself from the troublesome dryness of my
24 tongue, I sent for some quince kernels, which, enveloped in a
25 small piece of linen, I put into some water, and with this little
26 pad I frequently moistened my tongue, which produced a very
27 good effect. In the course of the day I began also to chew some
28 monaka (large raisins), which refreshed me. To arrest the
29 farther extension of local inflammation, I sent my servant to the
30 bazaar, to endeavour to procure some leeches, and in case he could
31 not obtain them, he was to bring a barber or some other person
32 to cup me. He came back, accompanied by a woman provided
33 with a quantity of leeches, by which I ascertained that the Per-
34 sian physician, who told me that no leeches were to be obtained,
35 was a rogue. I caused twelve of them to be applied around the
36 blistered part, and requested the woman to return in the evening,
37 when I ordered her again to apply the same number of leeches
38 to the place where, a few years before, I had been afflicted with