Part 691

"The incantations against diseases describe a great variety of cases. … But the most numerous are those which aim at the cure of the plague, fever, and 'disease of the head;' this latter, judging from the indications which are given of its symptoms and its effects, appears to have been a sort of erysipelas, or cutaneous disease. … These are the principal passages of a long incantation against 'the disease of the head:' the tablet on which we find it bears six other long formulæ against the same evil. 'The disease of the head exists on man. The disease of the head, the ulceration of the forehead exists on man. The disease of the head marks like a tiara, the disease of the head from sunrise to sunset. In the sea and the vast earth a very small tiara is become the tiara, the very large tiara, his tiara. The diseases of the head pierce like a bull, the diseases of the head shoot like the palpitation of the heart. … The diseases of the head, like doves to their dove-cotes, like grasshoppers into the sky, like birds into space may they fly away. May the invalid be replaced in the protecting hands of his god!' This specimen will give the reader an idea of the uniform composition of these incantations against diseases, which filled the second book of the work under consideration. They all follow the same plan throughout, beginning with the definition of the disease and its symptoms, which occupies the greater part of the formula; and ending with a desire for deliverance from it, and the order for it to depart. Sometimes, however, the incantation of the magician assumes a dramatic form at the end. … We must add … the use of certain enchanted drinks, which, doubtless, really contained medicinal drugs, as a cure for diseases, and also of magic knots, the efficacy of which was so firmly believed in, even up to the middle ages. Here is a remedy which one of the formulæ supposes to have been prescribed by Hea against a disease of the head: 'Knot on the right and arrange flat in regular bands, on the left a woman's diadem; divide it twice in seven little bands; … gird the head of the invalid with it; gird the forehead of the invalid with it; gird the seat of life with it; gird his hands and his feet: seat him on his bed; pour on him enchanted waters. Let the disease of his head be carried away into the heavens like a violent wind; … may the earth swallow it up like passing waters!' Still more powerful than the incantations were conjurations wrought by the power of numbers."

_F. Lenormant, Chaldean Magic, chapters 1 and 3._

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MEDICAL SCIENCE: Finnish.

"The Finnish incantations for exorcising the demons of diseases were composed in exactly the same spirit, and founded upon the same data, as the Accadian incantations destined for the like purpose. They were formulæ belonging to the same family, and they often showed a remarkable similarity of language; the Egyptian incantations, on the contrary, having been composed by people with very different ideas about the supernatural world, assumed quite another form. This is an incantation from one of the songs of the Kalevala: 'O malady, disappear into the heavens; pain, rise up to the clouds; inflamed vapour, fly into the air, in order that the wind may take thee away, that the tempest may chase thee to distant regions, where neither sun nor moon give their light, where the warm wind does not inflame the flesh. O pain, mount upon the winged steed of stone, and fly to the mountains covered with iron. For he is too robust to be devoured by disease, to be consumed by pains. Go, O diseases, to where the virgin of pains has her hearth, where the daughter of Wäinämöinen cooks pains, go to the hill of pains. There are the white dogs, who formerly howled in torments, who groaned in their sufferings.'"

_F. Lenormant, Chaldean Magic, chapter 17._

MEDICAL SCIENCE: Hindu.

"There is reason to … conclude, from the imperfect opportunities of investigation we possess, that in medicine, as in astronomy and metaphysics, the Hindus once kept pace with the most enlightened nations of the world; and that they attained as thorough a proficiency in medicine and surgery as any people whose acquisitions are recorded, and as indeed was practicable, before anatomy was made known to us by the discoveries of modern enquirers. It might easily be supposed that their patient attention and natural shrewdness would render the Hindus excellent observers; whilst the extent and fertility of their native country would furnish them with many valuable drugs and medicaments. Their Nidana or Diagnosis, accordingly, appears to define and distinguish symptoms with great accuracy, and their Dravyabhidhana, or Materia Medica, is sufficiently voluminous. They have also paid great attention to regimen and diet, and have a number of works on the food and general treatment, suited to the complaint, or favourable to the operation of the medicine administered. This branch they entitle Pathyapathya. To these subjects are to be added the Chikitsa, or medical treatment of diseases—on which subject they have a variety of compositions, containing much absurdity, with much that is of value; and the Rasavidya, or Pharmacy, in which they are most deficient. All these works, however, are of little avail to the present generation, as they are very rarely studied, and still more rarely understood, by any of the practising empirics. The divisions of the science thus noticed, as existing in books, exclude two important branches, without which the whole system must be defective—Anatomy and Surgery. We can easily imagine, that these were not likely to have been much cultivated in Hindustan. … The Ayur Veda, as the medical writings of highest antiquity and authority are collectively called, is considered to be a portion of the fourth or Atharva Veda, and is consequently the work of Brahma—by him it was communicated to Daksha, the Prajapati, and by him the two Aswins, or sons of Surya, the Sun, were instructed in it, and they then became the medical attendants of the gods—a genealogy that cannot fail recalling to us the two sons of Esculapius, and their descent from Apollo. Now what were the duties of the Aswins, according to Hindu authorities?—the gods, enjoying eternal youth and health, stood in no need of physicians, and consequently they held no such sinecure station. The wars between the gods and demons, however, and the conflicts amongst the gods themselves, in which wounds might be suffered, although death might not be inflicted, required chirurgical aid—and it was this, accordingly, which the two Aswins rendered. … The meaning of these legendary absurdities is clear enough, and is conformable to the tenor of all history. Man, in the semi-barbarous state, if not more subject to external injuries than internal disease, was at least more likely to seek remedies for the former, which were obvious to his senses, than to imagine the means of relieving the latter, whose nature he could so little comprehend. Surgical, therefore, preceded medicinal skill; as Celsus has asserted, when commenting on Homer's account of Podalirius and Machaon, who were not consulted, he says, during the plague in the Grecian camp, although regularly employed to extract darts and heal wounds. … We may be satisfied that Surgery was once extensively cultivated, and highly esteemed by the Hindus. Its rational principles and scientific practice are, however, now, it may be admitted, wholly unknown to them. … It would be an enquiry of some interest to trace the period and causes of the disappearance of Surgery from amongst the Hindus: it is evidently of comparatively modern occurrence, as operative and instrumental practice forms so principal a part of those writings, which are undeniably most ancient; and which, being regarded as the composition of inspired writers, are held of the highest authority."

_H. H. Wilson, Essays on Sanskrit Literature, pages 269-276, and 391._

"The number of medical works and authors is extraordinarily large. The former are either systems embracing the whole domain of the science, or highly special investigations of single topics, or, lastly, vast compilations prepared in modern times under the patronage of kings and princes. The sum of knowledge embodied in their contents appears really to be most respectable. Many of the statements on dietetics and on the origin and diagnosis of diseases bespeak a very keen observation. In surgery, too, the Indians seem to have attained a special proficiency, and in this department European surgeons might perhaps even at the present day still learn something from them, as indeed they have already borrowed from them the operation of rhinoplasty. The information, again, regarding the medicinal properties of minerals (especially precious stones and metals), of plants, and animal substances, and the chemical analysis and decomposition of these, covers certainly much that is valuable. Indeed, the branch of Materia Medica generally appears to be handled with great predilection, and this makes up to us in some measure at least for the absence of investigations in the field of natural science. On the diseases, &c., of horses and elephants also there exist very special monographs. {2124} For the rest, during the last few centuries medical science has suffered great detriment from the increasing prevalence of the notion, in itself a very ancient one, that diseases are but the result of transgressions and sins committed, and from the consequent very general substitution of fastings, alms, and gifts to the Brahmans, for real remedies. … The influence … of Hindu medicine upon the Arabs in the first centuries of the Hijra was one of the very highest significance; and the Khalifs of Bagdad caused a considerable number of works upon the subject to be translated. Now, as Arabian medicine constituted the chief authority and guiding principle of European physicians down to the seventeenth century, it directly follows—just as in the case of astronomy—that the Indians must have been held in high esteem by these latter; and indeed Charaka is repeatedly mentioned in the Latin translations of Avicenna (Ibn Sina), Rhazes (Al Rasi), and Serapion (Ibn Serabi)."

_A. Weber, History of Indian Literature, pages 269-271._

MEDICAL SCIENCE: Jewish.

"If we are to judge from the frequent mention of physicians (Exodus xv. 26; Isaiah iii. 7; Jeremiah viii. 22; Sirach x. 11, xxxviii. 1 ff.; Matthew ix. 12; Mark v. 26; Luke iv. 23, etc.), the Israelites must have given much attention to medicine from ancient times. The physicians must have understood how to heal wounds and external injuries with bandaging, mollifying with oil (Isaiah i. 6; Luke x. 34), balsam (Jeremiah xlvi. 11, li. 8), plasters (2 Kings xx. 7), and salves prepared from herbs (Sirach xxxviii. 8; Exodus xxi. 19; 2 Kings viii. 29; Ezekiel xxx. 21). The ordinances respecting leprosy also show that the lawgiver was well acquainted with the various kinds of skin eruptions (comp. section 114). And not only Moses, but other Israelites also may have acquired much practical knowledge of medicine in Egypt, where the healing art was cultivated from high antiquity. But as to how far the Israelitish physicians advanced in this art, we have not more exact information. From the few scattered hints in the Old and New Testaments, so much only is clear, that internal diseases were also treated (2 Chronicles xvi. 12; Luke viii. 43), and that the medicinal springs which Palestine possesses were much used by invalids. It by no means follows from the fact that the superintendence of lepers and the pronouncing of them clean are assigned by the law to the priests, that these occupied themselves chiefly with medicine. The task which the law laid on them has nothing to do with the healing of leprosy. Of the application of charms, there is not a single instance in Scripture."

_C. F. Keil, Manual of Biblical Archæology, volume 2, pages 276-277._

The surgery of the Talmud includes a knowledge of dislocations of the thigh, contusions of the head, perforation of the lungs and other organs, injuries of the spinal cord and trachea, and fractures of the ribs. Polypus of the nose was considered to be a punishment for past sins. In sciatica the patient is advised to rub the hip sixty times with meat-broth. Bleeding was performed by mechanics or barbers. The pathology of the Talmud ascribes diseases to a constitutional vice, to evil influences acting on the body from without, or to the effect of magic. Jaundice is recognized as arising from retention of the bile, dropsy from suppression of the urine. The Talmudists divided dropsy into anasarca, ascites, and tympanites. Rupture and atrophy of the kidneys were held to be always fatal. Hydatids of the liver were more favourably considered. Suppuration of the spinal cord, induration of the lungs, etc., are incurable. Dr. Baas says that these are 'views which may have been based on the dissection of (dead) animals, and may be considered the germs of pathological anatomy.' Some critical symptoms are sweating, sneezing, defecation, and dreams, which promise a favourable termination of the disease. Natural remedies, both external and internal, were employed. Magic was also Talmudic. Dispensations were given by the Rabbis to permit sick persons to eat prohibited food. Onions were prescribed for worms; wine and pepper for stomach disorders; goat's milk for difficulty of breathing; emetics in nausea; a mixture of gum and alum for menorrhagia (not a bad prescription); a dog's liver was ordered for the bite of a mad dog. Many drugs, such a assafœtida, are evidently adopted from Greek medicine. The dissection of the bodies of animals provided the Talmudists with their anatomy. It is, however, recorded that Rabbi Ishmael, at the close of the first century, made a skeleton by boiling the body of a prostitute. We find that dissection in the interests of science was permitted by the Talmud. The Rabbis counted 252 bones in the human skeleton."

_E. Berdoe, The Origin and Growth of the Healing Art, book 2, chapter 2._

MEDICAL SCIENCE: Greek.

"It is well known that the oldest documents which we possess relative to the practice of Medicine, are the various treatises contained in the Collection which bears the name of Hippocrates. Their great excellence has been acknowledged in all ages, and it has always been a question which has naturally excited literary curiosity, by what steps the art had attained to such perfection at so early a period. … It is clearly established that, long before the birth of philosophy, medicine had been zealously and successfully cultivated by the Asclepiadæ, an order of priest-physicians that traced its origin to a mythical personage bearing the distinguished name of Æsculapius. Two of his sons, Podalirius and Machaon, figure in the Homeric poems, not however as priests, but as warriors possessed of surgical skill in the treatment of wounds, for which they are highly complimented by the poet. It was probably some generations after this time (if one may venture a conjecture on a matter partaking very much of the legendary character) that Æsculapius was deified, and that Temples of Health, called 'Asclepia,' presided over by the Asclepiadæ, were erected in various parts of Greece, as receptacles for the sick, to which invalids resorted in those days for the cure of diseases, under the same circumstances as they go to hospitals and spas at the present time. What remedial measures were adopted in these temples we have no means of ascertaining so fully as could be wished, but the following facts, collected from a variety of sources, may be pretty confidently relied upon for their accuracy. In the first place, then, it is well ascertained that a large proportion of these temples were built in the vicinity of thermæ, or medicinal springs, the virtues of which would no doubt contribute greatly to the cure of the sick. At his entrance into the temple, the devotee was subjected to purifications, and made to go through a regular course of bathing, accompanied with methodical frictions, resembling the oriental system now well known by the name of shampooing. {2125} Fomentations with decoctions of odoriferous herbs were also not forgotten. A total abstinence from food was at first prescribed, but afterwards the patient would no doubt be permitted to partake of the flesh of the animals which were brought to the temples as sacrifices. Every means that could be thought of was used for working upon the imagination of the sick, such as religious ceremonies of an imposing nature, accompanied by music, and whatever else could arouse their senses, conciliate their confidence, and, in certain cases, contribute to their amusement. … It is also well known that the Asclepiadæ noted down with great care the symptoms and issue of every case, and that, from such observations, they became in time great adepts in the art of prognosis. … The office of priesthood was hereditary in certain families, so that information thus acquired would be transmitted from father to son, and go on accumulating from one generation to another. Whether the Asclepiadæ availed themselves of the great opportunities which they must undoubtedly have had of cultivating human and comparative anatomy, has been much disputed in modern times. … It is worthy of remark, that Galen holds Hippocrates to have been a very successful cultivator of anatomy. … Of the 'Asclepia' we have mentioned above, it will naturally be supposed that some were in much higher repute than others, either from being possessed of peculiar advantages, or from the prevalence of fashion. In the beginning of the fifth century before the Christian era the temples of Rhodes, Cnidos, and Cos were held in especial favour, and on the extinction of the first of these, another rose up in Italy in its stead. But the temple of Cos was destined to throw the reputation of all the others into the background, by producing among the priests of Æsculapius the individual who, in all after ages, has been distinguished by the name of the Great Hippocrates. … That Hippocrates was lineally descended from Æsculapius was generally admitted by his countrymen, and a genealogical table, professing to give a list of the names of his forefathers, up to Æsculapius, has been transmitted to us from remote antiquity. … Of the circumstances connected with the life of Hippocrates little is known for certain. … Aulus Gellius, … in an elaborate disquisition on Greek and Roman chronology, states decidedly that Socrates was contemporary with Hippocrates, but younger than he. Now it is well ascertained that the death of Socrates took place about the year 400 A. C., and as he was then nearly seventy years old, his birth must be dated as happening about the year 470 A. C. … It will readily occur to the reader, then, that our author flourished at one of the most memorable epochs in the intellectual development of the human race. … From his forefathers he inherited a distinguished situation in one of the most eminent hospitals, or Temples of Health, then in existence, where he must have enjoyed free access to all the treasures of observations collected during many generations, and at the same time would have an opportunity of assisting his own father in the management of the sick. Thus from his youth he must have been familiar with the principles of medicine, both in the abstract and in the concrete. … Initiated in the theory and first principles of medicine, as now described, Hippocrates no doubt commenced the practice of his art in the Asclepion of Cos, as his forefathers had done before him. Why he afterwards left the place of his nativity, and visited distant regions of the earth, whither the duties of his profession and the calls of humanity invited him, cannot now be satisfactorily determined. … According to all the accounts which have come down to us of his life, he spent the latter part of it in Thessaly, and died at Larissa, when far advanced in years. … As a medical author the name of Hippocrates stands pre-eminently illustrious. … Looking upon the animal system as one whole, every part of which conspires and sympathises with all the other parts, he would appear to have regarded disease also as one, and to have referred all its modifications to peculiarities of situation. Whatever may now be thought of his general views on Pathology, all must admit that his mode of prosecuting the cultivation of medicine is in the true spirit of the Inductive Philosophy; all his descriptions of disease are evidently derived from patient observation of its phenomena, and all his rules of practice are clearly based on experience. Of the fallaciousness of experience by itself he was well aware, however. … Above all others Hippocrates was strictly the physician of experience and common sense. In short, the basis of his system was a rational experience, and not a blind empiricism, so that the Empirics in after ages had no good grounds for claiming him as belonging to their sect. What he appears to have studied with particular attention is the natural history of diseases, that is to say, their tendencies to a favorable or fatal issue. … One of the most distinguishing characteristics, then, of the Hippocratic system of medicine, is the importance attached in it to prognosis, under which was comprehended a complete acquaintance with the previous and present condition of the patient and the tendency of the disease. … In the practice of surgery he was a bold operator. He fearlessly, and as we would now think, in some cases unnecessarily, perforated the skull with the trepan and the trephine in injuries of the head. He opened the chest also in empyema and hydrothorax. His extensive practice, and no doubt his great familiarity with the accidents occurring at the public games of his country, must have furnished him with ample opportunities of becoming acquainted with dislocations and fractures of all kinds; and how well he had profited by the opportunities which he thus enjoyed, every page of his treatises 'On Fractures,' and 'On the Articulations,' abundantly testifies."

_F. Adams, Preliminary Discourse (Genuine Works of Hippocrates), section 1._