With the lapse of time the religious and mystical features of the treatment carried on at the Asclepieia gave place, more and more, to rational methods, and eventually—it is scarcely possible to mention a date, but probably not many years before the Hippocratic period—these institutions became centres for the spread of medical knowledge of the most practical kind. This is particularly true of the Asclepieion at Cos, where Hippocrates is believed to have received his medical training. It is interesting to note that the mystical features of the temple treatment—features which certainly did not originate with Aesculapius himself or with his sons, Machaon and Podalirius—eventually proved powerless to stay the slow but sure advance of sound medical knowledge. Even during the period when these false elements seemed to be most strongly rooted in the temple methods, there were forces at work which in due time deprived them of much of their pernicious power. This result was inevitable, for an organization which, in order to prosper in its work of doing good to humanity, depended upon the natural superstitiousness of the people, could not possibly thrive for an indefinite length of time. That the evil results did not develop sooner than they did simply shows how powerful and stubborn is the force of superstition. In the absence of trustworthy historical evidence, hypothetical statements only can be brought forward, but there can scarcely be any doubt but that a genuine belief in the power of Aesculapius (deified) to cure disease and restore health persisted for centuries.
The custom of recording the case histories on tablets or on the columns of the temple,—for at this period writing was in general use,—and also that of dedicating to the god images which represented (sometimes with a remarkable degree of truthfulness) the pathological condition for which the patient sought relief, contributed very greatly to the substitution of sound learning for religious mysticism and poorly concealed humbuggery.
Among the interesting objects which may be seen at the Museum of the History of Medicine in Jena, Germany, there are several of these terra-cotta images (votive offerings) representing pathological conditions; and among them the writer noticed more particularly one which reproduced faithfully, though in diminutive size, the appearances presented by cancer of the female breast. (Fig. 7.) There were also a very carefully modeled statuette of the trunk of a woman affected with ascites, and an admirable representation of a case of facial paralysis. (Fig. 8.) These objects were obtained by Professor Meyer-Steineg on the occasion of a recent visit to the ruins of the temple of Cos and other similar ruins in Greece and Asia Minor. The British Museum possesses many objects of the same character.
FIG. 6. BAS-RELIEF OF AESCULAPIUS, ACCOMPANIED BY WOMEN AND CHILDREN, IN THE PRESENCE OF AN ENORMOUS SERPENT.
The original is in the National Museum at Athens.
FIG. 7. FEMALE BUST SHOWING CANCER OF ONE BREAST.
(Courtesy of Prof. Dr. Meyer-Steineg, of Jena, Germany.)
It is not known at what precise date the iatreia, or small private hospitals, first made their appearance, but it was about the time when the religious character of the therapeutic work done in the Asclepieia gave place to treatment of a more distinctly medical character. Then, in addition to these iatreia, there were schools for gladiators and institutions in which gymnastic exercises were zealously cultivated; and in these places there was a frequent demand for advice in regard to questions of diet, and for surgical aid in the setting of broken bones, the reducing of dislocations, and the curing of bruises and sprains. As may readily be understood, the Asclepieia could not furnish the sort of professional aid which these institutions needed, and thus a further stimulus was given to the complete separation of the two kinds of medical practice—that connected with the temple and that conducted by outside physicians.