THE TROOPS. 213 fate. The medical man hurries through the whole hospital in one single visit, which he pays after sunrise, prescribes what he has been reading up for the occasion at home, without inquiring into the disease, and every order is given on the principle of " Allah kerim !* I have several times had the opportunity of convincing myself of the unparalleled neglect with which the hospital patients are treated, for, on my arrival at Lobeid, I found but one European medical man. Dr. Iken, a native of Hanover, who was too ill to do duty, and shortly afterwards died. It is a common saying, that an apothecary is no physician, and, vice versa ; but we know by experience that there are many apothecaries who are sufficiently well educated to be able to prescribe a remedy in cases of urgent necessity ; we may, however, form an idea of the want of medical knowledge of an Arabian apothecary, when the doctor of medicine is himself ignorant, and we may also guess what the poor patients who fall into their hands have to expect or suffer between them. In Europe, the sick soldier is desirous of being admitted into the hospital, because he is convinced that he will there receive speedy and certain relief. In Lobeid, the contrary is observed, for the invalided men are obliged to be dragged to the infirmary by force, because they stand in so much awe of this terrible jilace, that every disease increases as soon as they know that they