Stamboul Sketches by Freely John;

Author:Freely, John; [John Freely]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 1948868
Publisher: Eland Publishing
Published: 2015-03-11T16:00:00+00:00

A tinsmith’s shop on the Street of Caldron-Makers

13

The Dust of Seven Shops

The Fourth Section of the Procession of the Guilds was headed by the Chief Physician of the Saray, and Evliya tells us that he was followed by one thousand doctors of medicine. According to Evliya: ‘At the public procession they adorn their litter with all the instruments of their profession, with clysters, draughts, pills, etc., feel the pulse of sick men, and give medicines to them. The Prophet said, “Science is twofold, the science of bodies and the science of religions.” The science of medicine is very old, and in the earliest time it was patronised by Pythagoras the Unitarian, and by the divine Plato, Hippocrates, Socrates, Aristotle and Galen, who split a hair into forty parts, and raised a ladder for science to ascend to heaven; but finding no remedy against death, they were obliged to leave this world.’

The Physicians were followed in the Procession by the Oculists, eighty in number. As Evliya tells us: ‘Their first patron was a Jewess of the time of Moses, who was directed by God to apply to her for relief for his sore eyes. This woman took dust from under the right eye of Moses and put it into his eye, by which means he was cured. The patron of Oculists in the Prophet’s time is buried in Isfahan, and the dust of his tomb is reckoned as a specific against sore eyes. The Oculists make a show upon litters of all their unguents, medicines and instruments, giving physic to men with diseases of the eye.’

And the Oculists were followed in turn by the Merchants of Collyrium, the Confectioners of Electuaries, the Apothecaries, and the Surgeons, who ‘parade at public processions with litters full of instruments to draw teeth, as well as saws, lancets, and other instruments of surgery. They pass with jests as if they were dressing wounded heads, broken arms or feet.’

Although modern science has come to Stamboul since Evliya’s time, many of the conservative Anatolians who live here still swear by more traditional medicine. In the poorer quarters of the town the sick often have recourse to folk-healers called büyücü, who make use of cures and remedies reminiscent of those which Evliya describes. And since, as Evliya wrote, science is twofold, many of the complaints from which the poor seek relief are not physical but psychic or spiritual, which is to say that the büyücü serves as a folk-magician as well as a quack salver.

Many of the most common maladies from which the superstitious of Stamboul suffer are thought to be brought on by nazar, or the evil-eye. Nazar is not such a serious problem as it was in the old days, but there are still a few ancient, snake-haired witches who may dart their malevolent glances at you as you pass beneath their windows. If you have the misfortune to fall under the spell of one of these wrinkled crones, forget about modern medicine and psychiatry, and, instead, place yourself in the care of your neighbourhood büyücü.

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