OUTLINES OFGREEK AND ROMAN MEDICINE
ASKLEPIOS
The ancient Greek Deity of Healing.
From Wellcome's Medical Diary (Copyright)
By permission of Burroughs Wellcome & Co.
OUTLINES OFGREEK AND ROMAN MEDICINE
BY
JAMES SANDS ELLIOTT, M.D., Ch.B.(Edin.)
Editor of the "New Zealand Medical Journal,"
Honorary Surgeon to the Wellington Hospital, New Zealand.
Illustrated
milford house inc.
boston
This Milford House edition is an unabridgedrepublication of the edition of 1914.
Published in 1971 by MILFORD HOUSE INC.Boston, Massachusetts
Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number 76-165987
Standard Book Number 0-87821-036-9
Printed in the U.S.A.
TO MY FATHER
PREFACE.
I was stimulated to write these Outlines ofGreek and Roman Medicine by a recent sojournin the south-eastern part of Europe. The nameof the book defines, to some extent, its limitations,for my desire has been to give merely a generaloutline of the most important stages in theadvancement of the healing art in the two Empiresto which modern civilization is most deeplyindebted. There are a few great works on thehistory of medicine by continental writers, such,for instance, as those by the German writers,Baas, Sprengel, and Puschmann, but, generallyspeaking, the subject has been much neglected.
I cherish the hope that this little work mayappeal to doctors, to medical students, and tothose of the public who are interested in anarration of the progress of knowledge, and whorealize that the investigation of the body inhealth and disease has been one of the mostimportant features of human endeavour.
The medical profession deserves censure forneglect of its own history, and pity 'tis that somany practitioners know nothing of the story oftheir art. For this reason many reputed discoveriesare only re-discoveries; as Bacon wrote:[Pg viii]"Medicine is a science which hath been, aswe have said, more professed than laboured, andyet more laboured than advanced; the labourhaving been, in my judgment, rather in circle thanin progression. For I find much iteration, andsmall progression." Of late years, however, theHistory of Medicine has been coming into itskingdom. Universities are establishing courses oflectures on the subject, and the Royal Societyof Medicine recently instituted a historical section.
The material I have used in this book has beengathered from many sources, and, as far as possible,references have been given, but I have sought for,and taken, information wherever it could best befound. As Montaigne wrote: "I have here onlymade a nosegay of culled flowers, and havebrought nothing of my own but the thread thatties them together."
I have to express my indebtedness to my friend,Mr. J. Scott Riddell, M.V.O., M.A., M.B., C.M.,Senior Surgeon, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, for hisgreat kindness in reading the proof-sheets, preparingthe index and seeing this book through thepress and so removing one of the difficulties whichan