National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1886-10-09

nau's' among tn G
Greeks
.. The Pelo- i32to iOi n. c., q. Acxandrian
pOncsinn war school
Chris ..........."."r".3. Meth Ist
tan Era. School.
T. Emlgrnt on|A. d. 40 to $50 4. Decad nee
OF the irba- of Science
rians.
s. Crusades.."A. D. 1O96.ig3D. 3, Arabic med.
iCinc pre-.
dominant.
G. Reform OLA. u. i5l7 toe. Re-cstab-
Martin Lu- 1880. lishmcnt nj
Their Greek medi-
cine and an-
! atImy.
The Thirty A; p. 1918 toL Discovery Of
Tears war. lbh circulation
g. Reign OLA. D. l7iO tos. Halter.
Frederick the 1856
treat
l shall take but little time In speak Inc Of
the first epoch, for the sweet visions OF the
golden fleece, the staunch craft the Argo,
the voyage OF Jason, the perlls, trials, aud
pleasures OF the Argouauts aud the famed
shores OF Colchis are rather themes for the
flowing imagery Of poetry than the
trenchant pen Of history. But II is TO this
mythical romantic period that we are in-
debted for the medical mythology Of the
Greeks, the DRY OF .Esculapus. and OF
Chiron the centaur. Medicine, rs Dor.
trayed IN the iomeric poems, did not, as Ia
Egypt and India, become subordinate
part OF religious teaching, nor were the
physicians priests. IL Is clear, however,
That the science was even then far from
being in its infancy. Homer, how.
ever, refers to .fsculapius as a
Ihessalian king, aud his worship as divin.
| lty belongs to later date. When the
temples began to he erected To Ksculauius
they were, IL fact, hospitals, TO which the
sick were brought, who, after prayer aud
sacrifice, were made To sleep on the "hihe
OF the sacrificed animal or at the feet OF the
statue OF the god, while sacred rites were
performed; while asleep the appropriate
remedy was Indicated 10y II dream p" payne.
IL Is said that the custom Of iecording cases
arose from the custom of usCrihinr ON the
wal OF the temple the record OF the cures.
aud thus the cliuical experience was made
available. But there were no distiuc
ivelv medical writers before Hippo
| crates. That there wee many physi.
clans is evident from Thucydides' nc.
count OF the plague which ragged at
Athens during part Of the Peloponesiau
| war; aud this brings us down to the second
epoth. Pythagoras, although teacher of
medicine as well as philosophy, left no
written statement Of his medical views,
but as PythagOrGs had Travelled much in
Egypt End the East before founding bis
school, II is doubtless true that his knnwl-
edge OF medicine was acquired In those
countries, and the same system His bent
toward mathematics, however, Influenced
him. aud we see the same tendency I'm the
HippOcratic doctrine of crises. But this
was the golden age of Greece, when phi.
losophy and literature freed themselves
from the trammels Of superstition.
Hippocrate, had for his contemporaries the
orator and statesman Pericles the poets Esrhy
ius, SophocleS. Euriples, Aristrnhanrs. md
ilnuhr; the philosopher Socrates, aud his dis
tinguished disc pies, Plato aud XcnnphOn. the
venerable father Of history, Heroiotlis, and hi,
young rival Thucydides: the unrivaIrd Stntu.
airy Phidias, with his ilustriOus Pupils aud |
many other distinguished names which have |
conferred Immortal honor on the age in which |
they llved.-iddms
Whether or not the ancients were cor
rect In tracing the descent Of llippocrates
from -fsculapius, IT at least certain that
this great man was the son OF one of the |
temple priests, and that his early training |
was at the bedside of the sick brought to |
the temple on the Island Of Cos. We NAV |
well pass In silence the vile SANDER that |
Hippocrates destroyed all the records of |
MS predecessors IN order that his own works |
might shine more brightly To posterity |
Tor surely no one whose transmitted |
thoughts were 80 pure could have com
mitted so unworthy an act. HippOcrates
held that to be an eminent physician IL was
necessary to be not only an anatomist, but
also TO he skilled IN logit, astronomy, and
tue other sciences, aud he practiced the art
OF inductive reasoning to its fullest
extent In making diagnoses. He was,
therefore, the father of rational medicine.
The ideas ineulcated by the master, remain
10 day In many things unchanged by the
mana OF time, and one Of the strongest owl,
dences OF his power aud keen observation
Is the fact that for centuries after his death
the ablest medicine writers were obliged TO
content themselves with writing comnenta.
rles on the works Of IIippocrates.
Not only Is medicine Indebted to him, but
general literature as well Nobody ex.
pressed better than he the sentiment that
Lille Is short, and tie art long; the occa-
sion Meeting; experience ftlaciOus. and
Judgment difficult" or that celebrated
description of the appearance of diving
patient: "a sharp nose; hollow eyes: col.
lapsed temples; tue ears cold, contracted,
ana their lobes turned out; the skin ABOUT
the forehead becoming rough, distended.
aud parched; the color of the Who'll, face
being green, black, livid, or lead-colOred.n
Ihis passage, 1t has been surmised, (Adaris)
must have suggested to Sh tkspedre the
description OF the way FallstaiT's death was
foretold: "For after | saw him tumble
win the sheets. and play with the flowers,
and smile upon his fingers ends, knew
there was but one way; for his nose was
| .
1elds'" But the greatest debt to Hippo.
crates owed by physicians Is the high con.
itptlon OF the character OF the profession.
The oath" inculcated the highest charac
Ter, the furthest remove from nlercenary
motives, and from superstition IippOcrates
recognized that the processes OF disease I
were, governed by laws as definite I
'erva'lOn those laws could be applied SO
IS TO form judgment OF the manner of
OF any case. Not only did this
'emhrkdble man show Il deeply ingrained
knowledge of pathological laws, but he also
possessed surgical handicraft aud inventive 1
genius. The identical pattern of the I
rephine used by Hipp0crates more than s
roOO years ago you viii fluid In your instru- i
nent cases TO day. He taOped tue chest for I
,neumo thorax, and laid down useful rules I
or the management of fractures and dlslo. I
atlons. His theories were OF course LARGELY |
'aseu upon the state OF the collateral {
ranches OF science Of his time, and there is 4
nuch In them that has lOug since been :
completely dlsprOyed, hut as a practical /
MUSICIAN his teachings were skilful, wise, a
nd conscientious. He placed AS much. or I
more reliance, upon diet than upon medl- t
Inc, and the book on "Regimen IN Acute a
diseases, Is well worthy Of careful read. Il
n.y. After HippOcTates, full century d
lapsed before any discovery was .
nhOunced, or any essential variation ii
the principles laid down by the S
laster. AS is frequently the case, how d
yer, AS time went on, while the least ynlu C
PIE OF Hippocratess work were exalted, v
is theories, the really valuable part, the
tactical, became entirely neglected. The q
Celebrated anatomisJ Herophilus was the 81
ext 'minent physician, lie had been "
upil OF the Hippocrates school at Cos, and z
as deeply imhued with the doctrines of q
lppocrates, He became attached TO h
10 school at Alexandria, aud was the b