524 



for the piirpose of defending the profession of medicine against 

 the stigma of a degrading origin. And although Le Clerc and 

 Drelincourt have undertaken that task, aided by an unusual 

 share of erudition, they have not exhausted the subject. It is 

 the object of the present communication to adduce a few addi- 

 tional considerations. 



" During the earhest periods, medicine was, no doubt, culti- 

 vated in the East, along with other sciences ; was thence im- 

 ported into Egypt, and soon became a part of the studies of 

 the priests. As the records of all remarkable cures were de- 

 posited in their temples, they had opportunities of acquiring 

 medical knowledge, and they frequently used it with good 

 effect. The ancient Egyptians were more than any other na- 

 tion addicted to the care of health, which gave occasion to the 

 sneer of Herodotus, that they were all physicians : but Diodo- 

 rus Siculus says that no one dare publicly profess medicine 

 unless admitted into the order of priests. That there were 

 servile persons, however, who dabbled in medicine, appears 

 from holy writ : ' And Joseph commanded his servants the 

 physicians to embalm his father.' 



" Amongst other nations of antiquity, there were neither 

 physicians nor an acknowledged code of medicine, nor did 

 the priests interfere in medical affairs. Whatever knoAvledge 

 of remedies existed was diffused amongst the population, and 

 this, when necessity required, was rendered available in the 

 following singular manner : ' The Babylonians' (says Hero- 

 dotus) ' have no physicians by profession, but those Avho are 

 diseased, being brought into the public places, whoever passes 

 the sick man advises with him concerning his disorder, and if 

 he has himself, at any time, laboured under the same com-^ 

 plaint, or known one affected in the same way, recommends the 

 remedies by which he himself or others were cured. To pass 

 a sick person Avithout inquu-ing his complaint is deemed a 

 breach of duty.' The splendid city which could boast of a 

 hundred brazen gates could not produce one physician. 



