that a creature which could produce poison and disease might probably be capable of curing as well as killing. Serpents were kept in the Temples of Esculapius, and were non-poisonous and harmless. They were given their liberty in the precincts of the temple, but were provided with a serpenthouse or den near to the altar. They were worshipped as the incarnation of the god, and were fed by the sick at the altar with " popana," or sacrificial cakes.

Many of the Greek gods and goddesses were held to have power over disease. Hygeia, known as Salus to the Romans, was said to have been the daughter of Esculapius, and to have taken care of the sacred serpents (Plate II).

Melampus was considered by the Greeks the first mortal to practise healing. In one case he prescribed rust, probably the earliest use of iron as a drug, and he also used hellebore root as a purgative. He married a princess and was given part of a kingdom as a reward for his services. After his death he was awarded divine honours, and temples were erected for his worship. The deification of Esculapius and of Melampus added much to the prestige of doctors in Greece, where they were always held in honour; but in Rome the practice of medicine was not considered a highly honourable calling.

Something can be learned from the writings of Homer of the state of medicine in his time,

although we need hardly expect to find in an epic poem many references to diseases and their cure. As dissection was considered a profanation of the body, anatomical knowledge was exceedingly meagre. Machaon was surgeon to Menelaus and Podalarius was the pioneer of phlebotomy. Both were regarded as the sons of Esculapius;

doctors, and The surgery

they were soldiers as well as fought before the walls of Troy. required by Homer's heroes was chiefly that of the battlefield. Unguents Unguents and astringents were in use in the physician's art, and there is reference to nepenthe," a narcotic drug, and also to the use of sulphur as a disinfectant. Doctors, according to Homer, were held in high esteem, and Arctinus relates that two divisions were recognized, surgeons and physicians, the former held in less honour than the latter-" Then Asclepius (Esculapius) bestowed the power of healing upon his two sons; nevertheless, he made one of the two more celebrated than the other; on one did he bestow the lighter hand that he might draw missiles from the flesh, and sew up and heal all wounds; but the other he endowed with great precision of mind, so as to understand what cannot be seen, and to heal seemingly incurable diseases."

Machaon fought in the army of Nestor. Fearing

1 Arctinus," Ethiopis." Translated in Puschmann's "Hist. Med. Education."

for his safety, King Idomeneus placed him under the charge of Nestor, who was instructed to take the doctor into his chariot, for "a doctor is worth many men." When Menelaus was wounded, a messenger was sent for Machaon, who extracted the

The first Greek military surgeon, attending to the wounded Menelaus.

barbed arrow, sucked the wound and applied a secret ointment made known to Esculapius by Chiron the Centaur, according to tradition.

The practice of Greek medicine became almost entirely restricted to the temples of Esculapius. the most important of which were situated at Rhodes, Cnidus and Cos. The priests were

13

CHAPTER II.

EARLY GREEK MEDICINE.

Apollo Esculapius-Temples-Serpents - Gods of Health -Melampus - Homer-Machaon-Podalarius-Temples of Esculapius-Methods of Treatment-Gymnasia Classification of Renouard-Pythagoras-DemocedesGreek Philosophers.

THE history of healing begins in the Hellenic mythology with Apollo, the god of light and the promoter of health. In the "Iliad" he is hailed as the disperser of epidemics, and, in this respect, the ancients were well informed in attributing destruction of infection to the sun's rays. Chiron, the Centaur, it was believed, was taught by Apollo and Artemis, and was the teacher, in turn, of Esculapius, who probably lived in the thirteenth century before Christ and was ultimately deified as the Greek god of medicine. Pindar relates of

"On some the force of charmed strains he tried,

To some the medicated draught applied;

Some limbs he placed the amulets around,

Some from the trunk he cut, and made the patient
sound."1

Esculapius was too successful in his art, for his death was attributed to Zeus, who killed him by a

1 Wheelwright's translation of "Pindar."