in a speedy deliverance from impending evils, and all the blessings of protection and tranquillity!1

1 The event of this contest was such as might be expected from the superior abilities of Demosthenes. His rival was condemned, and involved in the consequences of a groundless and malicious prosecution. Unable to pay the penalty, he was obliged to submit to exile, and determined to take up his residence at Rhodes: where he opened a school of eloquence. Here he read to his hearers those two orations. His was received with approbation, that of Demosthenes with an extravagance of applause. And how must you have been affected, said Eschines, with a generous acknowledgement of his rival's merit, had you heard HIM DELIVER IT?

It is said, that, as Eschines was retiring from the city, Demosthenes followed him, and obliged him to accept of a large present of money in his distress.

HIPPOCRATES

ON ANCIENT MEDICINE

THE OATH

TRANSLATED BY

FRANCIS ADAMS, LL.D.

SURGEON

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY THE SAME

INTRODUCTION

LIFE AND WRITINGS OF HIPPOCRATES

It is well known that the oldest documents which we possess relative to the practice of Medicine, are the various treatises contained in the Collection which bears the name of Hippocrates. Their great excellence has been acknowledged in all ages, and it has always been a question which has naturally excited literary curiosity, by what steps the art had attained to such perfection at so early a period.

How

It is also generally admitted that the Hippocratic Medicine emerged from the schools of philosophy; therefore, since the philosophy of the Greeks was indigenous, there is every reason to suppose that their medicine was so in like manner. long the union between medicine and philosophy had subsisted before the time of Hippocrates, has not been determined upon any contemporary evidence, but the disciples of Pythagoras, in after ages, did not hesitate to ascribe to him the honor of effecting this alliance.1 However this may be, it appears to me very doubtful whether these philosophers ever practised medicine as a craft. Indeed, it is much more likely that they merely speculated upon the phenomena of disease. Thus we shall see afterwards, that Plato himself did not discard speculative medicine from his system of philosophy, although we are quite sure that he never practised it as an art. But this connection between medicine and philosophy was by no means regarded, in after times, as having been favorable to the advancement of the former, for we find Hippocrates complimented by Celsus for having brought about a separation between them.

It is clearly established that, long before the birth of philosophy, medicine had been zealously and successfully cultivated by the Asclepiadæ, an order of priest-physicians that

1 Celsus mentions Pythagoras, Empedocles, and Democritus, as the most distinguished of the philosophers who cultivated medicine.

traced its origin to a mythical personage bearing the distinguished name of Esculapius. Two of his sons, Podalirius and Machaon, figure in the Homeric poems, not however as priests, but as warriors possessed of surgical skill in the treatment of wounds, for which they are highly complimented by the poet. It was probably some generations after this time (if one may venture a conjecture on a matter partaking very much of the legendary character) that Esculapius was deified, and that Temples of Health, called Asclepia, presided over by the Asclepiadæ, were erected in various parts of Greece, as receptacles for the sick, to which invalids resorted in those days for the cure of diseases, under the same circumstances as they go to hospitals and spas at the present time. What remedial measures were adopted in these temples we have no means of ascertaining so fully as could be wished, but the following facts, collected from a variety of sources, may be pretty confidently relied upon for their accuracy. In the first place, then, it is well ascertained that a large proportion of these temples were built in the vicinity of thermæ, or medicinal springs, the virtues of which would no doubt contribute greatly to the cure of the sick. At his entrance into the temple, the devotee was subjected to purifications, and made to go through a regular course of bathing, accompanied with methodical frictions, resembling the oriental system now well known by the name of shampooing. Fomentations with decoctions of odoriferous herbs were also not forgotten. A total abstinence from food was at first prescribed, but afterwards the patient would no doubt be permitted to partake of the flesh of the animals which were brought to the temples as sacrifices. Every means that could be thought of was used for working upon the imagination of the sick, such as religious ceremonies of an imposing nature, accompanied by music, and whatever else could arouse their senses, conciliate their confidence, and in certain cases, contribute to their amusement. In addition to these means, it is believed by many intelligent Mesmerists

1 The number of Asclepia in Greece noticed by Pausanias is sixtyfour. Plutarch states in positive terms that all the Temples of Health were erected in high situations, and where the air was wholesome.