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peror has supplied each leader with a lama instructed in medicine, and initiated in all sacred auguries,, able to protect us from the diseases of the climate, and to save us from the magic of the sea-monsters. What, then, have we to fear? The rebels hearing that the invincible troops of Tchakar were approaching, *** sued for peace; *** and then we re

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turned to our pastures, and to the charge of our flocks."

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Again, among the aborigines of our own country, the functions of the physician are in the hands of the priest. The Tla-quill-augh, or man of supernatural gifts, is supposed to know all things, and to be capable of throwing his good or bad medicine, without regard to distance, on whom he will; and to kill or cure by magic at his pleasure. These Tla-quillaughs are generally men beyond the meridian of life; grave, sedate, and shy, with a certain air of cunning; but possessing some skill in the use of herbs and roots, and in the management of injuries and external diseases. The people at large stand in great awe of them, and consult them on every affair of importance. But their personal safety is not in pro portion to their influence. Every misfortune, unseen evil, or sudden death among the people, is immediately attributed to them. And, however innocent of the calamity, they are apt to pay for it with their lives.*

These customs of the savage, springing as they do out of the untutored instincts of the human heart,

* Ross. "Adventures on the Oregon and Columbia River."

may be taken as no inapt illustration of what may have been the first estate of medicine among those people from whom it has descended to ourselves. Overlooking the juggleries of the Indian priests, the philosopher will discover that their real force lies precisely in that department of the art which, in ancient times, was cultivated earliest, and with most success; and that the foundation for the future development of medical science among them, is quite as broad as that upon which the enduring, but still unfinished temple of medicine was originally begun, more than thirty centuries ago; the first architects of which, like the Tla-quill-aughs of Oregon, were also of the order of the priesthood.

Among the early Egyptians the priests were a numerous and influential body; receiving for their support about one-third of the whole income of the nation. They were of several orders; most of them skilled in medicine, and practicing, as some suppose, gratuitously among the people. "Here," says Herodotust, each physician applies himself to one disease only, and not more, all places abound in physicians; some for the eyes, others for the head, others for the teeth, others for the parts about the belly, and others for internal diseases." Of this same class were the embalmers, whose occupation must have rendered them familiar with the internal

* Schulze, p. 24, from Diodorus Siculus,

Herodotus, Book II. ch. 86,

et

seq.

† Book II. c. 84.

structure of the body, and furnished them with useful insight into the nature, causes, and results of diseased action. The deference paid to the medical skill of the Egyptian priests, was not confined to their own people. They were sought for by the rulers of the surrounding nations, and sometimes sent abroad against their will. Cambyses, the Persian, demanded the daughter of Amasis, king of Egypt, at the instigation of a physician, who had been forced by Amasis from his native country, and had taken this mode of revenge for having been torn from his wife and children to gratify the request of Cyrus, who had, asked for the ablest oculist of Egypt.* The attendants on Cambyses must have known something of the internal structure of the human frame; for, having shot an arrow through the body of a child, the son of Prexaspés, to prove his skill in archery, he ordered them to open him and examine the wound; when the arrow was found to have pierced, the heart.† The practice of the Egyptian priests, as we learn from Aristotle, was in conformity with a prescribed law. "Even in Egypt," says he, "the physician was allowed to alter the mode of cure which the law prescribed to him, after the fourth day. But if he did so sooner, he acted at his own peril.".

* Herodotus. Book III. c. 1.

+Ibid. Book III. c. 35. Politics. Book III. c. 15.<

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CHAPTER II.

THE ORIGIN OF MEDICINE AMONG THE GREEKS.

AMONG the Greeks the art of medicine appears to have been derived from three sources; the Gymnasia, the schools of Philosophy, and the Temples of Esculapius.*

1. At the Gymnasia the course of education consisted, first, of music, which, according to the ancient use of the term, included every study for developing the intellectual and moral faculties; and secondly, of gymnastics, in which was included every exercise for strengthening and improving the body. It was a rule with these people that what the boy first learns in sport he will afterwards love, and exercise with more ability as the serious occupation of his manhood; and hence, that children should practice as amusements such sports as are best suited to prepare them for their future occupations. The course of intellectual training at the gymnasia, áccording to Plato, began with the. sixth and ended with the twentieth; or, according to Aristotle,§ began with the seventh and ended with the twenty

Littré, Œuvres d'Hippocrate, Introduction, tome i. p. 5.
Plato, Laws. Bk. i. ch. 12.

Laws. Bk. vii. c. 4.

§ Politics. Bk. vii. c. 17.

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first year. For learning to read and write, according to Plato,* three years will suffice for a boy commencing at ten years old; and the three succeeding years will be sufficient for the handling of the lyre. The free-born are also to be educated in computation, in geometry and astronomy; not all, indeed,. with equal nicety. But such as may be necessary for the masses, it would be, says he, shameful for the many to neglect. That, however, which tends merely to the acquisition of wealth or bodily strength, or any other cleverness apart from intellect and justice, he excludes from this course of training, as not worthy to be called education at all; applying this term only to that which tends to virtue, which causes one to feel a deșire of, and love for becoming a perfect citizen, and to know how to govern, and be governed.

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In connection with this intellectual course, the physical exercises were also systematically pursued at the gymnasia. These latter embraced not merely wrestling, racing, and other athletic sports; but also the general rules of health; attention to the food most proper for invigorating the frame, for increasing the powers of endurance against fasting, fatigue, watching, exposure to the weather or to the vicissitudes of the seasons; and to every circumstance likely to prepare the youth for serving as soldiers in defense of their country, or for acquiring applause in contests with one another at the Olympic, Pythian, or other national festivals. These exer

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*Laws. Bk. vii. c. 14.

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