STANDARDS FOR MEDICINES— COOK 435 



those who turned to the heahng arts and recorded their observations 

 and teachings dominated medical practice in Europe for hundreds 

 of years. 



Tragically, the later barbaric hordes or the fanatical rehgious 

 groups who overran these countries in the middle ages destroyed 

 countless manuscripts which could have added to the exact knowledge 

 of the time, but enough was saved to preserve abundant evidence of 

 the remarkable accompUshments of this productive period. So 

 blended are the earlier records that it is diflicult to separate the 

 mythological from the real. 



Among the Greeks, Apollo was the God of Medicine, but Chiron, 

 the Centaur, by mythological tale, was credited with having brought 

 to man the first knowledge of the composition of medicines and he 

 is reputed to have taught the other mystical characters what they 

 knew of the healing art, including Aesculapius, who lived about 1250 

 B. C, and who is the patron saint of medicine. 



HIPPOCRATES AND LATER GREEK PHYSICIANS 



Prior to the time of Hippocrates, the temples of Aesculapius were 

 the centers of medical knowledge, and the priests practiced the heal- 

 ing art although it apparently depended little upon medicines. 

 Charms, incantations, and prayers were the important elements in 

 treatment, although the temples were situated in the center of lovely 

 groves where springs abounded and where the patients were subjected 

 to vigorous physical treatment. 



Historically we owe to Hippocrates, a Greek physician born 460 

 B. C, the most exact knowledge of Greek medicine. He had ap- 

 parently been steeped in the lore of tradition and mythology and had 

 learned of the medical practices of previous civilizations, but his was 

 that rare type who observes accurately and thinks clearly, and his 

 writings sharply distinguished between the real and the supernatural 

 and recorded for future generations the knowledge which he had 

 acquired in his long and active hfe. 



In his writings he named about 400 medicinal substances and is 

 said to have made his own preparations. While Hippocrates did not 

 compile what might be called a pharmacopoeia, his books told of the 

 uses of medicinal substances and how to combine them, and since his 

 teachings influenced medical practice for at least 2,000 years, his 

 place in the fixing of standards for medicines cannot be exaggerated. 

 During this period many new schools of medical thought arose and 

 and in most of them medicinal substances found a place. 



In the post-Hippocratic period, reigned the famous Mithridates 

 Eupator, King of Pontus. After his defeat by Pompey, the formula 

 for his famous medicine was released. The Confection Mithridates 



