time of which we speak, medicine could
scarcely be classed among the sciences in Russia, and if we accept the
statement of modern travellers, the situation is not much improved at
the present day. The scientific doctor of Russia was the _feldsher_ or
army surgeon, whose sole schooling was obtained among the soldiery and
whose knowledge did not extend beyond dressing wounds and giving an
occasional dose of physic. Upon being called to the bedside of a
patient, he adopted an air of profound learning, asked a number of
unimportant questions, prescribed an herb or drug of doubtful efficacy,
and charged an exorbitant fee. The patient usually refused to take the
medicine and recovered. It sometimes happened that he took the
prescribed dose and perhaps recovered, too. On a level with the
_feldsher_ and much preferred by the peasantry, stood the _snakharka_, a
woman, half witch, half quack, who was regarded by the _moujiks_ with
the greatest veneration. By means of herbs and charms, she could
accomplish any cure short of restoring life to a corpse. "The
_snakharka_ and the _feldsher_ represent two very different periods in
the history of medical science--the magical and the scientific. The
Russian peasantry have still many conceptions which belong to the
former. The majority of them are now quite willing, under ordinary
circumstances, to use the scientific means of healing, but as soon as a
violent epidemic breaks out and scientific means prove unequal to the
occasion, the old faith revives and recourse is had to magical rites and
incantations."[5]

Neither of these systems was regarded favorably by the Hebrews. The
_feldshers_ were, by right of their superior knowledge, an arrogant
class; and it was suspected that on more than one occasion they had
hastened the death of a Jew under treatment, instead of relieving him.
The Israelites were equally suspicious of the _snakharkas_; not because
they were intellectually above the superstitions of their times, but
because the incantations and spells were invariably pronounced in the
name of the Virgin Mary, and no Jew could be reasonably expected to
recover under such treatment.

What was to be done for poor Mendel? Hirsch, assisted by suggestions
from his wife, cogitated long and earnestly. Suddenly Miriam found a
solution of the difficulty.

"Why not send to Rabbi Eleazer at Tchernigof?"

Hirsch gazed at his wife in silent admiration.

"To the _bal-shem_?" he asked.

"Why n