XX 



Introduction. 



investigation of the causes of disease, and to their possible discovery m 

 the organs or tissues of the stricken creatures. v 



In this manner may the science of medicine — human and coi^par^- 

 tive — have been begun, and the rudiments of its several branches' feeen 

 slowly but surely acquired. Hippocrates and many of the early phys^i- 

 cians obtained their knowledge of anatomy only from the dissection ot 

 animals, and these men were the founders of modern as well as ancient 

 medical knowledge. ' Choose an ape for dissection,' says Rufus, who 

 lived about the time of Trajan, ' if you have one ; if not, take a bear 5 

 and if you have not a bear, take any animal you can get.' 



The religious rites pertaining to auguries sought for in the entrails 

 of animals 5 the examination of their bodies to discover whether, as 

 food, they were pure or impure 5 and the offerings of portions of im- 

 molated creatures to their deities, were all aiding in this work, and 

 otfering grand opportunities for observation, notwithstanding the super- 

 stitions and impostures of the priests who officiated. 



When the nomad saw that the pestilence among his flocks either 

 preceded, accompanied, or was followed by another equally fatal to his 

 own species, we cannot wonder that appeals and sacrifices were made 

 to the supposed authors of such appalling destruction. In a compara- 

 tively late era, when a beautiful mythology had sprung up among the 

 Greeks, and when epidemics and epizootics appeared nearly always to 

 accompany each other, this was more particularly observable. Apollo, 

 who presided over flocks and herds, showered his arrows among them 

 when displeased, and slew men and beasts alike by his vengeful but 

 unseen darts. Homer speaks of the plague which prostrated the Greek 

 camp at the siege of Troy, and ascribes it to the wrath of that deity, who 

 was offended by an insult otfered to Chryses, his high priest. But 

 though deep-rooted superstition was fain to impose on the gentle god 

 the blame of the hurtful visitation, the great poet does not forget to 

 indicate a powerful auxiliary to the god's malevolence in the filth lying 

 about the camp, and introduces Agamemnon who orders it to be 

 thrown into the sea. This, if the first recorded step in sanitary re- 

 form, is certainly a notable one, and shows the inclination, even in 

 those distant days, to break through the barriers of ignorance and 

 credulity, by seeking out and removing the real causes of pestilential 

 diseases. 



In imperial Rome, so often the seat of fearful plagues, superstition 

 played a prominent part, and during the prevalence of epidemic or 

 epizootic disorders, the Senate had recourse to the Sibylline books and 

 lectisternium to appease the ire of the enraged gods. And the Sallii, 



