MEDICINE. 
that they had names for all of them ; and 
that by invoking them according to the 
part affected, the patient was cured. 
Of natural medicine we hear of none re- 
commended by the father of Egyptian 
pliysic, except the herb moly, which he 
gave to Ulysses in order to secure him from 
the enchantments of Circe ; and the herb 
mercury, of which he first discovered the 
use. His successors employed venesec- 
tion, carthartics, emetics, and clysters ; 
there is no proof, however that this prac- 
tice was established by Hermes; on the 
contrary, the Egyptians themselves pre- 
tended, that the first hint of those remedies 
was taken from some observations on brute 
animals. Venesection was taught them by 
the Hippopotamus, which is said to perform 
this operation upon itself; on these occa- 
€ions, he comes out of the river, and strikes 
his leg against a sharp pointed reed ; as he 
takes care to direct the stroke against a 
vein, the consequence must be a consider- 
able effusion of blood ; and this being suffer- 
ed to run as long as the creature thinks 
proper, he at last stops up the orifice with 
mud. The hint of clysters was taken from 
the ibis, a bird which is said to give itself 
clysters with its bill, &c. they used vene- 
section, however, but very little, probably 
on account of the wannth of the climate ; 
and the exhibition of the remedies above 
mentioned, joined with abstinence, formed 
most of their practice. 
The Greeks too had several persons 
to whom they attributed the invention 
of physic, particularly Prometheus, Apollo 
or Psean, and iEsculapius ; which last 
was the most celebrated of any; but 
here we must observe, that as the Greeks 
were a very warlike people, their physic 
seems to be little else than what is now 
called surgery, or the cure of wounds, 
fractures, &c. ; hence jEsculapius, and his 
pupils Chiron, Machaon, and Podalirius, 
are celebrated by Homer only for their 
skill in curing these, without any mention 
of their attempting tire cure of internal 
diseases. We are not, however, to sup- 
pose that they confined themselves entirely 
to surgery ; they no doubt would occasion- 
ally prescribe for internal disorders, but as 
they were most frequently conversant with 
wounds, we may naturally suppose the 
greatest part of their skill to have consisted 
in knowing bow to cure these. If we may 
believe the poets, indeed, the knowledge of 
medicine seems to have been very general- 
ly diffused. 
VOL. IV. 
Almost all the heroes of antiquity are 
reported to have been physicians as well as 
warriors. Most of them were taught physic 
by the Centaur Chiron, from him Hercules 
received instructions in the medicinal art, 
in which he is said to have been no less ex- 
pert than in feats of arms. Several plants 
were called by his name ; from whence 
some think it probable that he found out 
their virtues, though others are of opinion 
that they bore the name of this renowned 
hero, on account of their great efficacy in re- 
moving diseases. Aristaeus, King of Arcadia, 
was also one of Chiron’s scholars, and sup- 
posed to have discovered the use of the 
drug called silphium, by some thought to 
be asafoetida. 
Theseus, Telamon, Jason, Peleus, and 
his son Achilles, were all renowned for their 
knowledge in the art of physic, the last is 
said to have discovered the use of verdigris 
in cleansing foul ulcers. All of them, how- 
ever, seem to have been inferior in know- 
ledge to Palamedes, who prevented the 
plague from coming into the Grecian camp, 
after it had ravaged most of the cities of 
Hellespont, and even Troy itself. His 
method was to confine his soldiers to a 
spare diet, and oblige them to use much 
exercise. 
The practice of these ancient Greek 
physicians, notwitlistanding the praises be- 
stowed upon them by their poets, seertis to 
have been very limited, and in some eases 
even pernicious. All the external remedies 
applied to Homer’s wounded heroes were 
fomentations ; while, inwardly, their phy- 
sicians gave them wine, sometimes mingled 
with cheese scraped down; a great deal 
of their physic also consisted in charms, 
incantations, amulets, &c. of which, as they 
are common to all superstitious and igno- 
rant nations, it is superfluous to take any 
further notice. In this way the art of 
medicine continued among the Greeks for 
many ages. As its first professors knew 
notliing of tlie animal economy, and as 
little of the theory of diseases, it is plain, 
tliat wliatever tliey did must liave been in 
consequence of mere random trials, or 
empiricism, in the most strict and proper 
sense of tiie word. Indeed, it is evidently 
impossible that this, or almost any other 
art, could originate from any other source 
than trials of this kind : accordingly, we 
find, tiiat some ancient nations were accus- 
tomed to expose their sick in temples, and 
by the sides of highways, that they might 
receive the advice of every one who passed. 
