HISTORY OF THERAPEUTICS 67 



In the early days of medicine the priests were the physicians and 

 ministered to both body and soul. Their remedies and practices were 

 closely associated with religion and mysticism. They obtained their 

 knowledge from others, from records in the temples, and from ex- 

 perience. No thought was given as to why certain remedies should 

 be used in certain conditions or as to the cause of the disorder. Dis- 

 ease was often regarded as an evil spirit or entity and often some- 

 thing disgusting was given with the hope of driving it out of the body, 

 or some performance gone through to strike terror to it and make it 

 leave the place. 



After a while the practice of medicine became too large for the 

 priests to look after, so a new class arose, who looked after the 

 bodily ills and gave the priests full power to look after the spiritual 

 welfare of man. Hippocrates was one of the first physicians, and is 

 said to be the father of medicine. He gained much of his knowledge 

 from the records in the temples, was a close observer and voluminous 

 writer. He believed in the theory of the four cardinal humors, blood, 

 yellow bile, black bile and mucus or phlegm, and of coction and 

 crisis. By coction was meant a thickening or elaboration of the 

 humors of the body, which was sometimes necessary for their elim- 

 ination. Disease was regarded as a combination of phenomena re- 

 sulting from the conservative principles of life to effect a coction, in 

 other words, a combination of the death producing elements in such 

 a manner that they could be eliminated. Crisis was regarded as the 

 time of union and was considered as critical. This being obtained by 

 coction, it was only necessary to evacuate the deleterious material. 

 The seventh day was often considered the critical day and the time 

 for medicinal interference. Depleting drugs were used at that time 

 (emetics and purgatives) to aid in the elimination. Although this 

 theory dates back to early days, we often hear the laity speak of the 

 humors of the blood, a thing commonly believed, and still exploited 

 by many patent medicine concerns. It is not so long, either, since 

 the practice of roweling horses was in vogue. This consisted of 

 inserting some dirty material under the skin, to cause the formation 

 of pus, which was then considered as so much poison that had been 

 brought to the part and was being thrown off. 



Eemedies were chosen solely by their recommendation and reputa- 

 tion and no attention was given to their method of action. They 

 were used because it was customary to use them in certain conditions. 

 In the effort to enlarge the number of medicines, many were tried. 

 It was noticed that most drugs of any medicinal value were bitter. 

 This accounts for a large number of preparations which have no other 

 virtue. Then, in some cases it was only necessary to have a plant 

 resemble in shape some anatomical structure of the body to have it 

 lauded as a panacea for all diseases of that organ. (Hepatica — 

 Lungwort, etc.) 



