The mountains that separate the province of Suse from that of Draha, abound in iron, copper, and lead. Ketiwa, a district on the declivity of Atlas, east of Terodant, contains also mines of lead and brimstone; and saltpetre also, of a superior quality, abounds in the neighbourhood of Terodant. In the same mountains, about fifty or sixty miles south-west of Terodant, there are mines of iron of a very malleable quality, equal to that of Biscay in Spain, from which the people of Tagrasert manufacture gun-barrels, equal to those made in Europe. At Elala in Suse, in the same ridge of mountains, are several rich mines of copper, some of which are impregnated with gold: they have also a rich silver mine, the metal of which latter is cast in round lumps, weighing two or three ounces each piece. I have bought of this silver at Santa Cruz, and have paid Spanish dollars for it, weight for weight; it is very pure. Mines of antimony and lead ore are also found in Suse, impregnated with gold, some specimens of which I sent to England to be analyzed; but being informed that it yielded gold sufficient only to pay the expenses of purifying, I gave no farther attention to it, although I have had reason to think, since then, that an importation of the ore would amply pay the importer.
Nyctalopia, Hemeralopia, or Night-blindness,
called by the Arabs Butelleese; and its Remedy.
During my residence at Santa Cruz, I had a cousin with me who was afflicted with this disorder. When the sun sat his blindness came on, and continued till the rising sun. This youth was so afflicted, during a month, with this disorder, that he could scarcely see his way with a candle in his hand, so that it was quite painful to see him groping about. An Arab of the Woled Abbusebah Kabyl, who retain much of the science and art of their ancestors, and whose prosperity I had promoted at Santa Cruz, by facilitating his commercial adventures, communicated to me a simple remedy for this disorder; I put no faith in it, for it was so simple that I was disposed to think it an illusion. He called on me, however, repeatedly, and finding I had not applied it, he brought it one morning himself, and urged me to try it, I did so; and that same evening the eyes of the youth were almost well, and his sight was completely restored the following night. This ophthalmic affection, in an Arabic translation of Hippocrates, is called Butelleese; another translation of ancient date calls it Shebkeret: the name, however, by which it is known at the present day in Africa, is Butelleese: the Latins called it Lusciosus, which word denotes precisely the disease, viz. one who sees imperfectly in the morning and evening twilight, but whose vision is clear at broad day-light. Lusciosus ad lucernam non videt. Vesperi non videre quos lusciosos appellant. Plaut. Mil. Gl. ii. 3.
This ophthalmia has been by some denominated hen-blindness, from the circumstance of hens' eyes being thus affected, when they are unable to see to pick up small grains in the dusk of the evening. I have frequently seen fowls thus affected soon after going to sea, from the coast of Africa, after which they decline and grow sick. A quantity of small gravel should be spread in their coops at sea, which prevents this disorder, and will sometimes cure it. At the commencement of this complaint, the circumstance that first engages the patient's attention is the dimness of his eye-sight at twilight: the nocturnal dimness of vision was such, in the instance before-mentioned, that the youth could scarcely see, even with a candle in his hand, which he described, as seen by him, as if it were misty, or as glimmering in a thick fog. There was no external disfiguration visible in the eyes, but they appeared as usual.
What the cause of this disorder was I am unable to say; but I have often suspected that it was contracted from the shining of the sun on the white terras of the house where my cousin used to go of a morning to shoot tibeebs, a bird somewhat resembling the European sparrow. This youth was rather of a weak or delicate constitution. I did not repeat the above remedy, as the boy's eyes continued well, without any defect in the vision at any time of the day or night, till seven-and-twenty days had elapsed, when the disorder returned. I procured the remedy again, and he took it; it had the same effect as before; he took it again, and then continued well for a month. It again returned a third time, and was cured by one single administration, after which it entirely disappeared, and never returned. Some time after this, I was informed that the British fleet in the Mediterranean was affected with this disorder; that one-tenth, or more, of the crews of our ships had laboured under it; and, on my return to England, I was urged to represent to His Majesty's ministers, that I had an infallible remedy for the disorder. I was referred to Doctor Harness, of the Transport Board. I waited on the Doctor, and afterwards corresponded with him. He appeared very desirous of knowing the remedy; but he was not at liberty to grant me any remuneration for it. I, however, offered to discover it, on being reimbursed the sum which the remedy cost me, on experimental proof being produced of its infallibility; which proposition was rejected by the Transport Board in August, 1812, who informed me at the same time, that the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty did not judge proper to grant the sum required by me for the discovery of the remedy for Nyctalopia, which, I should add, was between 500l. and 600l. The remedy, therefore, remains a secret to this day.
A celebrated electrician and galvanist having conversed with me lately respecting this remedy for Nyctalopia, suggested to me the probability, that the same remedy might be effectual also in gutta serena, as both those disorders are known to proceed from a defect in the optic nerve. This opinion he corroborated, by quoting, in confirmation of it, the opinion of a well-known author. The electrician perceiving my incredulity, or more properly, my ignorance of the wonderful connection that exists between the intestines and the head, was prompted, as I verily believe, by a philanthropic disposition; and actually proved to me, experimentally, the influence which the eyes have on the intestines, and vice versa. A patient with a gutta serena, who had been, as he informed me, twelve months under the hands of a celebrated oculist, was recommended by the latter, as a last resource, to try galvanism. He had received no benefit whatever whilst under the direction of the oculist above alluded to, but his intestines were intolerably deranged by the effects of the mercury which he had taken. This gentleman galvanised his eyes, and the man, who is a gunsmith, told me, that when he first went to have the operation performed, he could not see the red border round the hearth-rug in the front parlour, but when he returned into that room, after having been galvanised, he assured me he saw it plainly. He moreover declared that his bowels had been, and then were, in a very deranged state, from the effects of the mercury which he had taken, but that he felt incredible relief after having been galvanised, and that, two or three days afterwards, they were quite restored to health and strength. Being thus satisfied with the influence that so wonderfully exists between the intestines and the eyes, I am now making arrangements with the same gentleman, to administer the remedy for the benefit, as we hope, of patients afflicted with gutta serena. But I now declare to the public a third time, that the remedy is simple, safe, and effectual, and that I am ready and desirous of administering it to any one who may choose to apply for it, who is afflicted with the disorder, with my positive assurances, that it will effect a cure in eight-and-forty hours at the utmost, but probably in twenty-four.
Vaccination.
Intelligence received from West Barbary was instrumental in promoting the adoption of vaccination. In the latter years of the last century, the small-pox pervaded West and South Barbary. Mr. Matra, the British consul-general to the Empire of Marocco, wrote to me at that period officially, to procure him every information possible, and to inform him if I could discover if cattle in this country were subject to the small-pox. I made every inquiry without delay, and I reported to His Excellency, (who was ambassador as well as consul), that I had ascertained that the horses, mules, asses, and oxen were subject in this country to the small-pox, of which there could be no doubt, as the name given to the disorder in the beasts of the field, was the same as that which designated the small-pox in the human species, viz. Jedrie. In consequence of this information, confirmed afterwards by other enquiries, His Excellency wrote to England on the subject, and, I believe, sent some vaccine pus home; soon after which Dr. Jenner began his experiments on vaccine inoculation, which have since been adopted throughout Europe, and in great part of Asia and America. Although I was thus instrumental in the propagation of vaccine inoculation, yet I never asked for or received any remuneration; but I feel a satisfaction in having been thus instrumental of good to mankind, in this new and eligible system of inoculation, by means of which human life has been preserved; for, according to Sir Gilbert Blane's late statement, 23,134 lives have been saved during the last 15 years by vaccination.
Game.