EARLY CIVILIZATIONS
"The office of the physician extends equally to the
purification of mind and body; to neglect the one is to
expose the other to evident peril. It is not only the
body that by its sound constitution strengthens the
soul, but the well-regulated soul by its authoritative
power maintains the body in perfect health."--PLATO.
"Aristotle mapped out philosophy and morals in lines the
world yet accepts in the main, but he did not know the
difference between the nerves and the tendons. Rome had
a sound system of jurisprudence before it had a
physician, using only priest-craft for healing. Cicero
was the greatest lawyer the world has seen, but there
was not a man in Rome who could have cured him of a
colic. The Greek was an expert dialectician when he was
using incantations for his diseases. As late as when the
Puritans were enunciating their lofty principles, it was
generally held that the king's touch would cure
scrofula. Governor Winthrop, of colonial days, treated
'small-pox and all fevers' by a powder made from 'live
toads baked in an earthen pot in the open
air.'"--MUNGER.
"There is nothing so absurd or ridiculous that has not
at some time been said by some philosopher. Fontenelle
says he would undertake to persuade the whole republic
of readers to believe that the sun was neither the cause
of light or heat, if he could only get six philosophers
on his side."--GOLDSMITH.
A glance at the history of medicine will show three fairly well
defined periods. The beginning of the first is hidden in the uncertain
days of prehistoric ages and the period continues down to early
Christian times--perhaps the end of the second century when Galen
died. The second period extends from this time to the fifteenth or
sixteenth centuries, and the third period embraces the last three or
four centuries. The second period was almost wholly stationary, and
this, we are ashamed to say, was largely due to the prohibitive
attitude of the church. The science of medicine, then, is almost
wholly the result of the investigations and study of the last period.
This means that medicine is one of the youngest of the sciences, while
from the very nature of the case it is one of the oldest of arts.
From the beginning of the art of therapeutics, mental healing has been
a large factor in the cure. This was not recognized, of course, for
only in the last century has the psychic element been admitted to any
extent as a therapeutic agent. We can read back now, however, and see
what a large element this really was. The cruder the art, the more
powerful was the mental influence. The ways of primitive therapeutics
are completely hidden from us except what we can gather from the races
which retained their primitive practices in historic times. We can
well understand, though, that the concoctions of medicine-men and
witch-doctors could have little effect except in a suggestive way.
Snakes' heads, toads' toes, lizards' tails, and beetles' wings have a
small place in the pharmacopoeia of to-day, except as placebos, and
it is extremely doubtful if they were ever valuable for any other
purpose.
The object of the primitive practitioner seems to have been to make an
impression upon the patient either by the explanation of his disease
or by the effort made to effect a cure. The explanation most
frequently given was that demons were responsible for the trouble, and
the cure of the disease was an attempted exorcism of the demon. The
more fantastic the ceremony, the more likely the cure, on account of
the mental influence upon the patient. The primitive man's religion
and therapeutics were inextricably interwoven and, unless we make an
exception of the past few years, this has always been an unprofitable
union for one or both. All the early civilizations with the exception
of the Greeks, as well as the Christian nations up to the sixteenth
century, were handicapped by this partnership, and it was only by
divorcing the two that therapeutics was able to make the great advance
during the last period. The nature of the primitive religions was
responsible to a great extent for the nature of the method of healing,
therefore, appeasing the offended deity and exorcising the demon were
therapeutic as well as religious ceremonies.
The Chinese of to-day, except in some of the seaboard cities, must be
classed among the earliest civilizations, for their mode of living has
not changed much in the last two or three milleniums. Their system of
medical practice partakes of the character of that found among the early
people, with some slight modifications which show some relationship to
the European practice during the Dark Ages.
All sorts of disgusting doses are administered, and incantations and
exorcisms are among the most effective methods of healing. For
example, Hardy reports that a missionary told him of his being called
in to see a man suffering from convulsions; he found him smelling
white mice in a cage, with a dead fowl fastened on his chest, and a
bundle of grass attached to his feet. This had been the prescription
of a native physician.
Medicines are made from asses' sinews, fowls' blood, bears' gall,
shaving of a rhinoceros' horn, moss grown on a coffin, and the dung of
dogs, pigs, fowl, rabbits, pigeons, and bats. Cockroach tea, bear-paw
soup, essence of monkey paw, toads' eyebrows, and earth-worms rolled
in honey are common doses. The excrement of a mosquito is considered
as efficacious as it is scarce, and here, as in Europe in the Middle
Ages, the hair of the dog that bit you is used to heal the bite and to
prevent hydrophobia. An infusion from the bones of a tiger is believed
to confer courage, strength, and agility, and the flesh of a snake is
boiled and eaten to make one cunning and wise. Chips from coffins
which have been let down into the grave are boiled and are said to
possess great virtue for catarrh. Flies, fleas, and bedbugs prepared
in different ways are given for various diseases. Medicines are given
in all forms, and not infrequently pills are as large as a pigeon's
egg. If any of these medicines ever had any beneficent effect it must
have been through mental rather than through physical means.
Nevius has left us in no doubt concerning the belief in demons among
the Chinese, and of the effect this belief has on their theory of
disease. Certain forms are daily observed to drive away the evil
spirits. For this purpose Taoist priests are hired to recite formulae,
ring bells, and manipulate bowls of water, candles, joss-sticks, and
curious charms. Sometimes the family insists that one of the priests
shall ascend a ladder, the rounds of which are formed of swords or
knives with the sharp edge uppermost, and go through his exorcisms at
the top. Instead of the priest, the mother may make a fire of paper
and wave a small garment of her sick child over it.
A relative or friend of a sick person will visit a temple and beat the
drum, which notifies the god that there is urgent need of his help. To
be sure that the god hears, his ears are tickled, and the part of the
image which corresponds to the afflicted part of the sick person's
body is rubbed. Some ashes from the censor standing before the image
may be taken to the sick-room and there reverenced. Holy water is
brought from the temple, boiled with tea, and drunk as a certain cure
for disease. Spells are written on paper and burned; the ashes are
then put into water and drunk as medicine. Charms and magical tricks
of all kinds are tried in order to drive away the demon.
There were schools of medicine in Egypt in the fifteenth century
before the Christian era, and the Egyptians made great progress in the
study and practice of medicine. Notwithstanding this, we find many
examples of mental healing, or at least attempts at healing by mental
means, among the recipes and prescriptions which have come down to us.
Poor and superstitious persons, especially, had recourse to dreams, to
wizards, to donations, to sacred animals, and to exvotos to the gods.
Charms were also written for the credulous, some of which have been
found on small pieces of papyrus, which were rolled up and worn, as by
the modern Egyptians.
The Ebers papyrus, an important and very ancient manual of Egyptian
medicine, has thrown much light on early Egyptian practices. It shows
that an important part of the treatment prior to 1552 B. C., consisted
in the laying on of hands, combined with an extensive formulary and
ceremonial rites. The physicians were the priests, and among the
interesting contents of this manuscript are several formulae to be used
as prayers while compounding medicaments. Some of the prescriptions
given here are accompanied by exorcisms which were to be used at the
same time. Many of the prescriptions could have had little but mental
influence because the remedies recommended consisted of horrible
mixtures of unsavory ingredients, the theory, if we can judge by the
medicines, being that the more disgusting the dose the more
efficacious the remedy; this is true from a mental stand-point.
Demonism was not unknown; in fact, it underlay much of the treatment.
People did not die, but they were assassinated. The murderer might
belong to this or to the spirit world. He might be a god, a spirit, or
the soul of a dead man that had cunningly entered a living person. The
physician must first discover the nature of the possessing spirit, and
then attack it. Powerful magic was the weapon used, and the healer
must be an expert in reciting incantations and skilful in making
amulets. On account of this, the Egyptians became the most skilled in
magic of any people, and have their equals only in the Hindus of
to-day. The experiences of Joseph and Moses, as recorded in the Bible,
give us some idea of their skill at that time. After the exorcism the
physician used medicine to relieve the disorders which the presence of
the strange being had produced in the body.
Maspero gives us the following information: "The cure-workers are
divided into several categories. Some incline towards sorcery, and
have faith in formulas and talismans only; they think they have done
enough if they have driven out the spirit. Others extol the use of
drugs; they study the qualities of plants and minerals, describe the
diseases to which each of the substances provided by nature is
suitable, and settle the exact time when they must be procured and
applied; certain herbs have no power unless they are gathered during
the night at the full moon, others are efficacious in summer only,
another acts equally well in winter or summer. The best doctors
carefully avoid binding themselves exclusively to either method."[1]
Among the early Egyptians the human body was divided into thirty-six
parts, each of which was thought to be under the particular government
of one of the aerial demons, who presided over the triple divisions of
the twelve signs. The priests practised a separate invocation for each
genius, which they used in order to obtain for them the cure of the
particular member confided to their care. We have the authority of
Origen for saying that in his time when any part of the body was
diseased, a cure was effected by invoking the demon to whose province
it belonged. Perhaps this is why the different parts of the body were
assigned to the different planets, and later to different saints. It
undoubtedly accounts for the fact that an Egyptian physician treated
only one part of the body and refused to infringe on the domain of his
brother physician.
Incubation was commonly practised at the temples of Isis and Serapis
as it was afterward among the Greeks. This "temple sleep" was closely
akin in its effects to hypnotism and was undoubtedly efficacious in
the case of some diseases.
The Babylonian system of therapeutics was not unlike the Egyptian as
far as incantations were concerned. Many of these have been
discovered. The formulas usually consist of a description of the
disease and its symptoms, a desire for deliverance from it, and an
order for it to depart. Some draughts were given which may have had
some medicinal effect, but they were supposed to be enchanted drinks.
Knots were supposed to have some magical effect on diseases, and
conjurations were also wrought by the power of numbers. The Book of
Daniel shows the official recognition given to magicians, astrologers,
and sorcerers.
The Jews seem to have got their early medical knowledge from the
Egyptians, and changed it only in so far as their religion made it
necessary, for with them as with others the healing art was a part of
the religion, and the Levites were the sole practitioners. Much
valuable medical knowledge was mixed with much that could only have
had a mental influence. Disease was considered a punishment for sin,
and hence the cure was religious rather than medical. The disease
might be inflicted by God direct, and the cure would be a proof of his
forgiveness; it might also be inflicted by Satan or the spirits of the
air with the permission of Jehovah, and the cure would then be brought
about by exorcism.
There seems to have been a rather elaborate system of demonology among
the Jews, who were at one time the chief exponents of the doctrine,
and consequently the principal exorcists. Among the Jews a prominent
"demoness of sickness is Bath-Chorin. She touches the hands and lower
limbs by night. Many diseases are caused by demons." According to
Josephus, "to demons may be ascribed leprosy, rabies, asthma, cardiac
diseases, nervous diseases, which last are the specialty of evil
demons, such as epilepsy." Incantations were in use among the later
Jews, and amulets of neck-chains like serpents and ear-rings were
employed to protect the wearers against the evil eye and similar
troubles.
In India, medicine became a separate science very early, according to
the sacred books, the Vedas. Notwithstanding this, demonology played a
large part in the production of disease according to their theories,
and religious observances were helpful in the cures.
Among 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 (460-375 B. C.). He was the first
physician to relieve medicine from the trammels of superstition and
the delusions of philosophy.
The Greeks undoubtedly believed in demons, but, different from the
nations around them, considered the demons to be well-intentioned.
Homer (c. 1000 B. C.) speaks frequently of demons, and in one instance
in the Odyssey tells of a sick man pining away, "one upon whom a
hateful demon had gazed." Empedocles (c. 490-430 B. C.) taught that
demons "were of a mixed and inconstant nature, and are subjected to a
purgatorial process which may finally end in their ascension to higher
abodes." Yet he attributed to them nearly all the calamities,
vexations, and plagues incident to mankind. Plato (427-347 B. C.)
writes of demons good and bad, and Aristotle (384-322 B. C.), the son
of a physician, speaks directly of "demons influencing and inspiring
the possessed." Socrates (470-399 B. C.) claimed to have continually
with him a demon--a guardian spirit.
In Greece, in early days, physicians were looked upon as gods. Even
after the siege of Troy, the sons of the gods and the heroes were
alone supposed to understand the secrets of medicine and surgery. At a
late period AEsculapius, the son of Apollo, was worshipped as a deity.
When we speak of the art of healing in Greece, one naturally thinks of
the apparent monopoly of the AEsclepiades, who ministered unto the
Grecian sick for centuries.
The original seat of the worship of AEsculapius was at Epidaurus, where
there was a splendid temple, adorned with a gold and ivory statue of
the god, who was represented sitting, one hand holding a staff, the
other resting on the head of a serpent, the emblem of sagacity and
longevity; a dog crouched at his feet. The temple was frequented by
harmless serpents, in the form of which the god was supposed to
manifest himself. According to Homer, his sons, Machaon and
Podalirius, who were great warriors, treated wounds and external
diseases only; and it is probable that their father practised in the
same manner, as he is said to have invented the probe and the
bandaging of wounds. His priests, the AEsclepiades, however, practised
incantations, and cured diseases by leading their patients to believe
that the god himself delivered his prescriptions in dreams and
visions; for this imposture they were roughly satirized by
Aristophanes in his play of "Plutus." It is probable that the
preparations, consisting of abstinence, tranquillity, and bathing,
requisite for obtaining the divine intercourse, and, above all, the
confidence reposed in the AEsclepiades, were often productive of
benefit.
The excavations of Cavvadias at Epidaurus have furnished us with much
interesting material concerning the cures performed at this ancient
shrine, five hundred years before the beginning of the Christian era.
If the modern physician still recognizes AEsculapius as his patron
saint, he must have great respect for mental healing. It appears
certain from inscriptions found upon "stelae" that were dug up at
Epidaurus and published in 1891, that the system of AEsculapius was
based upon the miracle-working of a demi-god, and not upon medical art
as we now know it. The _modus operandi_ was unique in some details.
The patients, mostly incurables, came laden with sacrifices. After
prayer, they cleansed themselves with water from the holy well, and
offered up sacrifices. Certain ceremonial acts were then performed by
the priests, and the patients were put to sleep on the skins of the
animals offered at the altar, or at the foot of the statue of the
divinity, while the priests performed further sacred rites. The son of
Apollo then appeared to them in dreams, attended to the particular
ailments of the sufferers, and specified further sacrifices or acts
which would restore health. In many cases the sick awoke suddenly
cured. Large sums of money were asked for these cures; from one
inscription we learn that a sum corresponding to $12,000 was paid as a
fee. The record of the cure was carved on the temple as at Lourdes
to-day, _e.g._:
"Some days back, a certain Caius, who was blind, learned from an
oracle that he should repair to the temple, put up his fervent
prayers, cross the sanctuary from right to left, place his five
fingers on the altar, then raise his hand and cover his eyes. He
obeyed, and instantly his sight was restored, amid the loud
acclamations of the multitude. These signs of the omnipotence of the
gods were shown in the reign of Antoninus."
"A blind soldier, named Valerius Apes, having consulted the oracle,
was informed that he should mix the blood of a white cock with honey,
to make up an ointment to be applied to his eyes for three consecutive
days. He received his sight, and returned public thanks to the gods."
"Julian appeared lost beyond all hope, from a spitting of blood. The
gods ordered him to take from the altar some seeds of the pine, and to
mix them with honey, of which mixture he was to eat for three days. He
was saved, and came to thank the gods in the presence of the
people."[2]
It was not until five centuries later, when credulity concerning
miracles was on the wane, that the priests began to study and to apply
medical means in order to sustain the reputation of the place, and to
keep up its enormous revenues.
Temples similar to this one at Epidaurus existed at numerous places,
among which were Rhodes, Cnidus, Cos, and one was to be found on the
banks of the Tiber. The temple at Cos was rich in votive offerings,
which generally represented the parts of the body healed, and an
account of the method of cure adopted. From these singular clinical
records, Hippocrates, a reputed descendant of AEsculapius, is reported
to have constructed his treatise on Dietetics.
For a long time after the age of Hercules and the heroic times,
invalids in Greece sought relief from their sufferings from these
descendants of AEsculapius in the temples of that god, which an
enlightened policy had raised on elevated spots, near medicinal
springs, and in salubrious vicinities. Those men who pretended in
right of birth to hold the gift of curing, finally learned the art of
it. The preservation in the temple of the history of those diseases,
the cure of which had been sought by them, aided greatly in this happy
culmination.
Of AEsculapius himself, it is said that he employed the trumpet to cure
sciatica; he claimed that its continued sound made the fibres of the
nerves to palpitate, and the pain vanished. In line with this
treatment, Democritus affirmed that diseases are capable of being
cured by the sound of a flute, when properly played.
Herbs were also used among the Greeks, but almost wholly in the form
of charms rather than on account of what we claim now as real
medicinal value. For example, great virtues were ascribed to the herb
alysson which was pounded and eaten with meat to cure hydrophobia. If
suspended in the house, it promoted the health of the inmates and
protected both men and cattle from enchantments; when bound in a piece
of scarlet flannel round the necks of the latter, it preserved them
from all diseases.
There seems to have been no independent school of Roman medicine. From
early times there was a very complicated system of superstitious
medicine, as a part of the religion, which is supposed to have been
borrowed from the Etruscans. This comprehended both the theory and
cure of disease. The Romans got along for centuries without doctors;
in fact, doctors were a Grecian importation, not made until about two
centuries before Christ.
[1] G. Maspero, _Life in Ancient Egypt and Assyria_,
chap. VII.
[2] E. Berdoe, "A Medical View of the Miracles at
Lourdes," _Nineteenth Century_, October, 1895.