Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1908-04-21

a HEHLTH
RESORT OF
B.C. 500
Here is the Temple Where Hip
pocrateS PractiSed-Ancient
Greek Patients Treated 2.40O
Years Ago Much as They
Would Be In a Modern Hos
pital Ruins Recently IN
earthed by Two British Ar
chitectS.

line most famous OF the ancient
Greek health temples and the last
whose ruins have been brought into
view is ON the island of Cos il the
Aegean Sea, not far from the south
west corner of Asia Minor.
There were larger health temples
than that of Cos, but the newly dis
covered temple is the most celebrat-
ed of them all, because it was there
that Hippocrates, the Father of Med
icine, studied and practised the art
OF healing and wrote some of the
books that have come down to us.
1t was there that he freed medicine
from some of the ancient superstitions
and that his powers of observation
and scientific insight led him to dis
coyeries of new truth that were a
blessing to the Greeks for centuries
after his death.
This forerunner of the modern hos
pital was built about 2,40O years ago.
The place where dt stood had been
so changed by earthquakes and the
ravages of time and men that it was
not identified as the site of the
health temple of Hippocrates till
three years ago.
Then two British architects began
digging and found Inscriptions prov
ing that on this spot the long lost
temple stood Excavations were
rapidly pushed and the foundations
and ruined buildings now revealed,
were found to cover as area of 500
feet from north to south and 423
feet from east to west.
So much has been found that it is
not difficult TO make a mental pic
ture of the ensemble of the beauti
full buildings that stood here over
1000 years ago.
The site, two miles from the sea,
is very beautiful. Mountains rise on
two sides of it and it is fronted by
the turquoise Aegean dotted with
islands. The buildings were group
ed on three terraces.
In front is the three portico and
its buildings where patients were re
ceiyed and where the consultation and
operating rooms and baths were sit
uated. It was here that Hippocrates
wrote his notes on many important
cases
The baths were numerous because
he was a great believer in the RENE
dial uses of water. 1t is supposed
that the medical school also occu-
pied somo OF the front buildings.
A fight of stairs in the middle
ground leads to the second terrace,
and here was the great altar, and
the gymnasium, for Hippocrates
prescribed a great deal of exercise
in suitable cases. On this terrace
have been unearthed many wall
slabs inscribed with wise maxims in
regard to health that have come down
TO us in the writings of Hippocrates's.
Reached by the broad stairs ascend
ing to the third terrace is the restor-
alton of the beautiful temple to Apol-
10. The temples of all the greater
gods exactly faced the east, and this
is the only building in the santa
rum that had precisely that orienta-
tion.
The priests of Apollo here were
trained to the care of the sick and
SO their religious ceremonies occu-
pied only part of their time In
the buildings that SURROUND the ter
race on three sides were the Sleep
ing apartments of the patients
Thus it is seen that 2,400 years
ago the sick in this hospital were
surrounded by many of the advant-
ages which today are regarded as
helpful to invalids. They We're nurs-
ed back to health in a lovely en-
vironment, for here was the charm
of mountains, plain and sea--a place
of rest, peace and beauty
There was the daily routine of
treatment by baths. exercise, mas
sage. a regulated diet and medicines
of vegetable origin, which usage had
approved, and there we're hours Of
sitting out in the sunlight in that
pure mountain air, and to divert al
tention from human ills there were
professions of white robed priests
and priestesses, with music of flute
and cithara and the singing of paeans.
Then there were performances OF
comedy to Danish despondency, and
the studious person was free to bor-
row manuscripts from the library and
dream over works of history the
drama or poetry.
Here Hippocrates won his indy
ing fame by his devotion and
lifelong iabors to help the sick
and manned. TO lessen suffering
of all kinds and to record
his experiences and discoveries
for the benefit of future genera
items He placed curative methods
upon a new basis His work, how
ever. was h Apered by the fact that
the Greek reverence for the human
body forbade him to dissecs the bodies
of the dead, and therefore his knowl'
edge Of anatomy was defective