Early History. ii 



yet in a large measure it remained in its primitive condition in 

 the hands of shepherds and farmers. 



At the beginning of our present era medicine was chiefly domi- 

 nated by the teachings formulated by Hippocrates and Aristotle 

 in their general writings. The study of comparative natural 

 science, instituted by Aristotle, laid the foundation of our 

 knowledge of animal biology, of comparative anatomy and physi- 

 ology ; while Hippocrates and after him the physicians of his 

 school established pathology. At that time it was held that there 

 were in the animal and hmuan bod)' four cardinal humors, "blood, 

 mucus, and yellow and black bile." It was taught that a proper 

 relationship between these (crasis) insured health; and that dis- 

 ease depended upon the occurrence of lack or excess of one or 

 other, that is upon some modification of their relationship (dys- 

 crasis). Next to the blood, the principal vital humor, Hippocra- 

 tes placed mucus in order of importance, because it is often dis- 

 charged in large quantities from the nose and was thought to 

 come from the brain and to escape through the ethmoidal open- 

 ings. Yellow bile was often seen in vomit : but black bile was 

 entirelv a product of the imagination and was supposed to arise 

 in the spleen. The basis of vital phenomena was supposed to 

 be the inspired air {pnciuna, the breath of life), which was 

 thought to contribute warmth to the body. In conformity with 

 the accepted theory of corruption of the humors, therapeutic 

 measures were directed to a riddance from the system of the ma- 

 terial which had caused the "dyscrasia ;" and for this reason 

 evacuants, diaphoretics, diuretics and venesection played an mi- 

 portant part in those times. The importance which Hippocrates 

 ascribed to these fluids or humors led to the application by later 

 generations of the name Humoral Pathology to this system. 

 The solid structures of the body were not entirely disregarded, 

 but only vague ideas prevailed in relation to them. There 

 was a theory (Democrites) that the solid parts were made up 

 of particles known as c.toms, between which there were pores 

 [for the passage of air and humors], that the width of these 

 pores varied with the varying density of deposition of the 

 atoms, and that by some such method the state of the body was 

 regulated. To this extent, therefore, there was a Solid Pathology, 

 which, however, found but few adherents. Efforts toward 

 such theoretical explanations found support particularly in the 

 schools of philosophy ; and tenacity of such views and the rigid 



