8o Greek Medicine 



observation is hardly capable of indefinite development, for 

 a point must ultimately be reached at which the mind recoils 

 from complex conclusions far remote from observed phenomena. 

 The medicine of the ancient and settled civilization of such 

 a people as the Assyro-Babylonians, for instance, of which 

 substantial traces have been recovered, is hardly, if at all, more 

 effective, though far more systematized, than that of many 

 a wild and unlettered tribe that may be observed to-day. Of 

 such medicine as this we may give an account, but we can 

 hardly write a history. We cannot establish those elements of 

 continuity and of development from which alone history can 

 be constructed. 



It is the distinction of the Greeks alone among the nations 

 of antiquity that they practised a system of medicine based 

 not on theory but on observation accumulated systematically 

 as time went on. The claim can be made for the Greeks that 

 some at least among them were deflected by no theory, were 

 deceived by no theurgy, were hampered by no tradition in 

 their search for the facts of disease and in their attempts at 

 interpreting its phenomena. Only the Greeks among the 

 ancients could look on their healers as physicians ( = naturalists, 

 0uo-ts= nature), and that word itself stands as a lasting 

 reminder of their achievement. 1 



At a certain stage in the history of the Western world the 

 exact point in time may be disputed but the event is 

 admitted by all men turned to explore the treasures of 

 the ancient wisdom and the whole mass of Greek medical 

 learning was gradually laid before the student. That mass 

 contained much dross, material that survived from early as 



1 The word 0uo-t/co?, though it passed over into Latin (Cicero) with 

 the meaning naturalist, acquired the connotation of sorcerer among 

 the later Greek writers. Perhaps the word physicianus was introduced 

 to make a distinction from the charm-mongering physicus. In later 

 Latin pbysicus and medicus are almost always interchangeable. 



