3 
PATHOL O G Y. 
pofed. Conftant facrifice and the frequent habit of in- 
fpeftingthe “ /pirantwexta” of tire victims, matt have ma¬ 
terially advanced the progrefs of comparative anatomy; 
and the written records firlh adopted by the priefts at 
lead prevented eftablilhed faffs from falling into oblivion, 
even if further experience in the cure of difeafe was but 
(lowly attained. 
The Egyptians afcribed the invention of medicine to 
Thoth, (the Hermes Trifmegiftus of the Greeks,) to 
whom divine honours were paid ; and they reported that 
he was the founder of all ufeful knowledge. But there 
is fome confufion in this account 5 for, on fome occafions, 
this difcovery was attributed to Ifis or Ofiris, while at 
other times Apis and Serapis laid claim to the merit of 
it. It Ihould be recollected, however, that thefe deities 
werenot like Thoth, mortals who had divine honours paid 
to them after their deceafe, but embodied or perfonified 
agents, by means of which the philofophers of the time en¬ 
deavoured to explain all the laws and operations of matter. 
They were not likely therefore to be commemorated as 
the inventors of medicine, although they were undoubt¬ 
edly invoked as prefiding over health. Athotis, one of 
the Egyptian kings, left writings on anatomy, a fcience 
in which the nation could hardly have been deficient, on 
account of the frequent opportunities they enjoyed of 
acquiring it while engaged in embalming the bodies of 
the dead. But the other branches of medicine remained 
a long time ftationary, fettered by abfurd regulations. 
In the firft place, the chief-priefts confined themfelves 
entirely to the exercife of magic rites and prophefies, 
which they confidered the higher branch of the art, and 
left the exhibition of remedies to th epajiophori, or image- 
bearers. Secondly, the priefts of every denomination 
■were compelled to follow implicitly the medical precepts 
of the facred records contained in the fixhermetical books; 
for, if they deviated from thefe eftablilhed rules, or intro¬ 
duced new modes of pra&ice, their temerity was punifhed 
with death, whether their meafures were fuccefsful or 
not; thus precluding all idea of improvement. We 
know very little of the details of their pradtice, as they 
concealed them with myftic ceremonies ; but that they did 
not interfere much with the operations of nature may be 
inferred from a circumftance mentioned by Ariftotle, viz. 
that they did not adopt adfive treatment till after the 
fourth day of the difeafe. They had, however, a com- 
prehenfive fyftem of diet; for they excluded filh,pork, and 
fuch other aliments as they confidered injurious to health. 
They were alfo acquainted with a few valuable remedies, 
among which may be enumerated fquills, which they ad- 
miniftered to dropfical patients, and iron, which they 
ufed as a tonic in cachedlic difeafes ; but they were la¬ 
mentably deficient in furgery, fince they were unable to 
cure a common luxation of the foot, which Darius the 
foil of Hyftafpes met with in hunting. 
We pafs briefly over the hiftory of this fcience among 
the Jews, becaufe we find little recorded on the fubjedt 
except miraculous cures, which cannot properly be faid to 
apply to natural medicine. Indeed the Jews feem to have 
been wholly ignorant of the art of phyfic until their in¬ 
troduction into Egypt, when they found its principles 
eftablilhed. 
The alleviation of human infirmity, as recorded in Scrip¬ 
ture, forms a fubjedl rather to exercife the faith of the 
theologian than to engage the attention of the patho- 
logift. It is true, Mofes has arranged a code of medi¬ 
cinal and dietetic maxims, and has defcribed feveral va¬ 
rieties of leprofy with the minutenefs of a practical phy- 
fician ; but it does not appear that he attributed much 
to the virtue of medicines in thofe complaints. Indeed 
the adminiftration of remedies could hardly feem necef- 
fary to a people who were informed by a direCt revelation 
from the Lord, that, if they would diligently hearken 
unto his voice, and do that which was right in his fight, 
he would put none of thofe difeafes on them with which 
he had afflidfed the Egyptians. To the tribe of Levi was 
appropriated the adminiftration of the facred remedies. 
Solomon was celebrated for his knowledge of plants and 
animals ; and he compofed a treatife on the cure of dif¬ 
eafes which was deltroyed by Ezekias, left it fliould caufe 
the facred remedies, rendered more efficacious by the fa- 
crifices of the priefts, to fall into difufe. Ifaiah the pro¬ 
phet was likewife famed for medical knowledge : he re- 
itored Ezekias to life by applying to his wounds cata- 
plafms of figs. Soon after this period the Jews were dif- 
perfed in Media and Aflyria, and fubmitted to the yoke 
of Babylon. 
It is fuppofed that medicine was cultivated at a very 
early period among the Hindoos. Of this there can be 
little doubt. Whether this people were originally de¬ 
rived from the Egyptians, or the Egyptians from them, 
the fimilitude in arts, manners, and religion, clearly in¬ 
dicates that the one nation arofe from the other. Ac¬ 
cordingly we find the art (food in former times nearly on 
the fame footing in Hindooftan as it (food in Egypt. The 
brahmins held the two offices of priefts and phyficians; 
and, as among the Egyptians, allotted a few difeafes only 
to the notice of each individual among themfelves. 
In China, the progrefs of this art feems to have fol¬ 
lowed a retrograde courfe. For this we are at a lofs to 
account: certain it is, however, that the authority of the 
Chinefe'on medical fubjeCts was formerly held in much 
greater eftimation than it isatprefent. Thejefuits have 
informed us, that the kings of China paid particular at¬ 
tention to the encouragement of medicine ; and that Eu¬ 
ropeans were wont to put greater confidence in the phy¬ 
ficians of this country than in thofe of any other. More¬ 
over this fcience was taught in their public fchools, in 
conjunction with aftronomy. Thefe fchools no longer 
exift : the Chinefe phyficians implicitly follow the direc¬ 
tions of the medical code of Hoang-Ti, written, as they 
aflert, 4000 years ago; and their knowledge is fo fmall 
and inaccurate, that the emperor Cam-hi commanded 
Parenhi totranflate the anatomical treatife of Dionis in¬ 
to the Tartarian language. 
In Greece, medicine was profecuted with greater ar¬ 
dour, and its collateral fcience anatomy was inveftigated 
more fully, than had been the cafe in any country before. 
The Greeks, like the Egyptians, afcribed the introduc¬ 
tion of this art to divine revelation: their Apollo and 
Minerva anfwered to the Ifis and Ofiris of the latter 
nation ; and Orpheus, the prieft, poet, and phyfician, 
ufurped the place of Thoth ; and the fable of his bringing 
his wife Eurydice from Hell probably applies to his fkill in 
difeafes. But the priority has been given by fome to Me- 
lampus, who was a phyfician of great celebrity at Pylos. He 
cured the daughters of Praetos king of Argos, who were 
afflidfed with leprofy and madnefs; and he removed like¬ 
wife the impotence of Iphiclus, by which cure he alfo 
faved his own life. 
The next on record i3 the centaur Chiron, who was 
preceptor to moll of the warriors and great men of his age, 
but with the greateft fuccefs to Aifculapius, or Afclepias, 
a king of Theffaly (and reputed fon of Apollo), who 
made fo great proficiency, that the fable fays Jupiter was 
obliged to remove him from the earth to preferve his 
brother Pluto’s kingdom from depopulation. His fons, 
Podalirius and Machaon, received from their father the 
art of healing, which they exereifed with fuccefs at the 
fiege of Troy, and tranfmitted to their defcendants the 
Afclepiades. At firft, the Afclepiades promulgated their 
doCtrines as priefts in the temples of the god of health; 
but, as fchifms arofe among the different fe&s, each tem¬ 
ple became in time a diftinCt medical fchool. Thus the 
fchool of Ceredos and Cos were founded, in which for 
fome time the defcendants of Asfculapius alone were per¬ 
mitted to pra&ife : but it was afterwards judged necef- 
fary to admit a limited number of pupils from other fa¬ 
milies, who bound themfelves by oath to obferve the 
rules 
