Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-12-08
Geographic News
Bulletins by the
National Geographic Society
THE DODECANESE

LIE ODE<Oka E9L
Busy Rabbit is apt to skip the
item Italy Announces Cession Of
Dodecanese Invalid, Pending Lau-
same Conference" with the exclam-
alton:
What are these Greeks to me. ]
build bungalows. not Greek temples;
and 1 haven't time for the theatres
or the art galleries"
On the way home, however, Bah
bit calls at the doctors office. Been
feeling a little sluggish" and he
takes the prescription to a drug
store.
.That's when the Dodecaneso
come in" says a bulletin from the
Washington, d. c., headquarters of
the National Geographic Society.
The Colossus of Kos
ION Kos, second largest of the
Dodecanese, lived Hippocrates, the
father OF modern medicine. For
service to mankind this intellectual
colossus of Kos deserves to over
shadow the inanimate colossus or
Rhodes. the largest island in the
chain that struggles from Samos to-
ward Crete.
"Pharmako, or the island of herbs,
now is herbless. But this drug is
land occupied some years ago by a
single family. p~erpetuates its claim
to being the first drug store in the
world by the title 'Phar. d. held
by every man authorized to fill your
prescription.
"Pharmako is not n of the ma
jor land units which give h group
it's name-Twelve Islands. Even
some of the twelve are, or have
been, uninhabited, and on none OF
their rocky surfaces are the resi-
dents self-sustaining.
when, in 1921, Kalymnos, Just
north of Kos, gave up its losing
fight and sent a mission to surrender
to Sultan Suleiman, the delegates
took along a highly suggestive geo
graphical exhibit. The gifts they
bore consisted of sponges and. white
loaves. The first symbolized their
sponges piled on the drug tore
counter most likely were collected
by a Dodecanese diver-while the
white bread showed the islanders
need of wheat from the mainland or
Asia Minor since they could not live
upon corn of their W growing.
NlACtl Liz
Aegean became depleted the Dode-
canese divers discovered other beds
off Tripoli and when Italy virtually
made a monopoly of the fisheries
there some of the divers Jared as
far away from home as Tarpon
Springs, Florida. to ply their pre-
carious trade.
The Isle of ST. John
"Patmos, northernmost of the
group, known wherever the Bible Is
read because it's cave sheltered st.
John, was without a single inhabl-
tant in the twelfth century.
1T long has been a saying that
the Greek islands r more Greek
than Greece. The D~odecanese are
among the most Greek of all the
islands. Homer knew them all and
mentions the leaders under which
their armies took part in the expe-
dition against Troy.
"One sort of ruins of the time OF
Hippocrates may well be considered
the precursor of another humane in
stitution of modern life, the hospital.
On Kos may be seen the base
stones and columns of an Asclep1on,
one of these institutions, which blefl"
ded the modern functions of a tenn
pie, a sanitarium and a clinic. by
nominations, charms and
the asclepia sought to heal the SICK
and it was against these practices
that Hippocrates rebelled. He was
not permitted to dissect human
bodies but his study of animals n
a comparison of their habits. ana
tony and functions with those OF
800 Lt,z n rnT11 a VII q hIa hl GIG
for diagnosis of human ills. His
ideas about diet and regimen, for
the sick, for" example, T remark
ablv sound when it is considered lie
was a pioneer in this field.
Healing Arts Among Greeks
ITO many sufferers the faith cures
effected by the asclepia were po--
tent: others were kept in physical
condition by the gymnasia, but HIP
p~ocrates' fame as a surgeon, espe-
oially, soon spread far. Thus these
remote Aegean islands had three
therapeutic schools which cores
pended to our modern practitioners
of mental healing, medical practI-
TONERS and physical culturists.
"Geologically the islands are frag-
ments of Asia Minor, torn away by
some remote volcanic upheaval. The
sporadic formation of the group is
attested by their other name, Spor-
AIDES, given them in contrast to the
Cyclades, so called because of then
circular arrangement.
Should you visit a home IN
Rhodes you would get a first impress
sion that some member of the house
hold has a hobby for collecting cur
ious, heterogeneous assortments of
plates. When a child is born Gus
tom DEGREES that a plate be added to
the family collection, and the pat
tern of this plate must be distinctive.
Hence a ~genealogy recorded in plat
tiers which, If they r famous Rho
dian ware, have great beauty and a
high price, since only extreme stress
or a generous offer would impel a
family to part with any Of the family
tree 70.