Herodotus says[430] that when the king of the Scythians was sick he sent for three soothsayers, who proceeded to discover by divination the cause of his majesty’s malady. The prophets generally said that such or such a citizen had sworn falsely by the royal hearth, mentioning the name of the citizen against whom they brought the charge. The accused, having been arrested, was charged with causing the king’s illness. When he denied it, the king sent for twice as many more prophets; if these confirmed the charge, the offender was promptly executed; if they failed to do so, the first prophets were put to death. Abaris, the Hyperborean priest of Apollo, cured diseases by incantations, and delivered the world from a plague, according to Suidas. Anarcharsis, the Scythian philosopher, flourished 592 B.C.; if he knew anything of medicine, as has been said, he was probably acquainted with such knowledge of the art as was possessed by the Greeks.
The ancient physicians seemed to have had no idea of the necessity for observing any order in their interpretation of diseases; even in the middle ages, says Sprengel,[431] they merely followed the position of the parts of the body, “passing from the head to the chest, from the thorax to the abdomen, and from the belly to the extremities.”
In that branch of modern medical science which treats of the classification of diseases, and which is termed Nosology, a systematic arrangement is followed, and the prominent symptoms are taken as the basis of that classification.
Greek Medical Literature.
The following is Dr. Greenhill’s probably complete list of the ancient treatises on Therapeutics now extant.[432]
Hippocrates: Seven Books (see p. 178 of this work). Aretæus, Περὶ Θεραπείας Ὀξέων καὶ Χρονίων Παθῶν, De Curatione Acutorum et Diuturnorum Morborum, in four books. Galen, Τέχνη Ἰατρική, Ars Medica; Id. Θεραπευτικὴ Μέθοδος, Methodus Medendi; Id. Τὰ πρὸς Γλαύκωνα Θεραπευτικά, Ad Glauconem de Medendi Methodo; Id. Περὶ Φλεβοτομίας πρὸς Ἐρασίστρατον, De Venæsectione adversus Erasistratum; Id. Περὶ Φλεβοτομίας πρὸς Ἐρασιστρατείους τοὺς ἐν Ῥώμη, De Venæsectione adversus Erasistrateos Romæ Degentes; Id. Περὶ Φλεβοτομίας Θεραπευτικὸυ Βιβλίον, De Curandi Ratione per Venæsectionem; Id. Περὶ Βδελλῶν, Ἀντισπασέως, Σικύας, καὶ Ἐγχαράξεως, καὶ Καταχασμοῦ, De Hirudinibus, Revulsione, Cucurbitula, Incisione, et Scarificatione. Alexander Aphrodisiensis, Περὶ Πυρετῶν, De Febribus. Great part of the Σύναγωγαὶ Ἰατρικαί, Collecta Medicinalia, of Oribasius, and also of his Σύνοψις, Synopsis ad Eustathium, treat of this subject. Palladius, Περὶ Πυρετῶν Σύντομος Σύνοψις, De Febribus Concisa Synopsis. Ætius, Βιβλία Ἰατρικὰ Ἐκκαίδεκα, Libri Medicinales Sedecim. Alexander Trallianus, Βιβλία Ἰατρικὰ Δυοκαίδεκα, Libri de Re Medica Duodecim. Paulus Ægineta, Ἐπιτομῆς Ἰατρικῆς Βιβλία Ἕπτα, Compendii Medici Libri Septem, of which great part relates to this subject. Theophanes Nonnus, Ἐπιτομὴ τῆς Ἰατρικῆς Ἀπάσης Τέχνης, Compendium Totius Artis Mediciæ. Synesius, Περὶ Πυρετῶν, De Febribus. Joannes Actuarius, Methodus Medendi. Demetrius Pepagomenus, Περὶ Ποδάγρας, De Podagra. Celsus, De Medicina, in eight books. Cælius Aurelianus, Celerum Passionum, Libri iii. Id. Tardarum Passionum, Libri v. Serenus Samonicus, De Medicina Præcepta Saluberrima, a poem on the art of Healing. Theodorus Priscianus, Rerum Medicarum, Libri iv.
EXAMPLES OF ANCIENT SURGERY.
Fig. 1.
Representation of the mode of reducing dislocation of the thigh outwards, as given by M. Littré.
