GREEK SCIENCE IN EARLY ATTIC PERIOD 



some Persian spies into his native country, promising 

 to use his influence in converting some of the leading 

 men of his nation to the Persian cause. Laden with 

 the wealth that had been heaped upon him by Darius, 

 he set forth upon his mission, but upon reaching his 

 native city of Croton he threw off his mask, renounced 

 his Persian mission, and became once more a free 

 Greek. 



While the story of Democedes throws little light 

 upon the medical practices of the time, it shows that 

 paid city medical officers existed in Greece as early as 

 the fifth and sixth centuries B.C. Even then there 

 were different " schools" of medicine, whose disciples 

 disagreed radically in their methods of treating dis- 

 eases; and there were also specialists in certain dis- 

 eases, quacks, and charlatans. Some physicians de- 

 pended entirely upon external lotions for healing all 

 disorders; others were "hydro therapeutists" or "bath- 

 physicians ' ' ; while there were a host of physicians 

 who administered a great variety of herbs and drugs. 

 There were also magicians who pretended to heal by 

 sorcery, and great numbers of bone-setters, oculists, 

 and dentists. 



Many of the wealthy physicians had hospitals, or 

 clinics, where patients were operated upon and treated. 

 They were not hospitals in our modern understanding 

 of the term, but were more like dispensaries, where 

 patients were treated temporarily, but were not allowed 

 to remain for any length of time. Certain commu- 

 nities established and supported these dispensaries for 

 the care of the poor. 



But anything approaching a rational system of 

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