e shelf; the long glass tube, that instrument of torture,
was in a corner; and among other furniture, the dotor himself was seen
seated, unconcernedly enjoying his pipe, and who, having found that
human means were inefficient, had had recourse to supernatural, and had
prescribed, as a last resource, the talisman, which it was my fate to
write. A new dervish excited new hopes, for I saw that I produced
much stir as I entered the sick room, I asked for paper with an air of
authority, as if I felt great confidence in my own powers, (although,
in fact, I had never written a talisman before), and a large piece was
produced, which seemed to have been the wrapper to some drug or other.
Pen and ink were also given me; and then calling up all my gravity, I
scrawled the paper over in a variety of odd characters, which here and
there contained the names of Allah, Mohamed, Ali, Hassan, and Hossein,
and all the Imams, placing them in different anagrams, and substituting
here and there figures instead of letters. I then handed it over with
great ceremony to the doctor, who, calling for water and a basin, washed
the whole from off the paper into the basin, whilst the bystanders
offered up prayers for the efficacy of the precious writing. The doctor
then said, "In the name of the prophet, let the patient take this; and
if fate hath decreed that he is to live, then the sacred names which
he will now swallow will restore him: but if not, neither my skill, nor
that of any other man, can ever be of the least avail."

'The draught was administered, and every eye was immediately fixed upon
the wretched man's face, as if a resuscitation was expected to ensue. He
remained for some time without showing any symptom of life; when, to the
astonishment of all, not excepting myself and the doctor, he groaned,
opened his eyes, raised his head on his arm, then called for a basin,
and at length vomited in a manner that would have done credit to the
prescription of Abu Avicenna himself. In short, he recovered.

'In my own mind, I immediately attributed the happy change to the drug
which had once been wrapped in the paper, and which, with the nausea of
the ink, had produced the effect just described; but I took care to let
the bystanders know that the cure was entirely owing to the interference
and to the handwriting of one of my sanctity; and that but for me he
would have died.

'The doctor, on the other hand, took all the merit of the case to
himself