Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
Nov.,  1921.  ) 
Notes  on  Ancient  Medicine. 
777 
NOTES  ON  ANCIENT  MEDICINE* 
By  P.  V.  Tuttle, 
Lieutenant,  Medical  Corps,  United  States  Navy. 
The  science  of  medicine  had  its  beginning  in  the  mists  of 
antiquity,  and,  in  the  absence  of  recorded  facts  concerning  the  very 
early  times,  it  is  not  surprising  that  a  mythology  should  have  been 
developed  with  fanciful  tales  regarding  such  imaginary  individuals 
as  Apollo,  iEsculapius,  and  Chiron.  We  know  that  the  Egyptians 
transmitted  to  the  Greeks  much  of  the  science  they  had  used  with 
advantage  in  the  healing  of  the  sick  and  wounded.  Oracles  were 
supposed  frequently  to  indicate  cures  for  diseased  conditions,  and 
temples  were  often  places  for  the  exchange  of  medical  information; 
the  priesthood  of  Greece  caused  tablets,  certifying  to  cures,  to  be 
suspended  in  the  temples  where  he  that  suffered  might  learn  what 
had  bettered  .the  condition  of  another  with  a  like  affliction.  Avail- 
able literature  tells  us  also  that  much  was  learned  in  early  times  by 
watching  animals  when  laboring  under  disease :  The  goats  of  Crete 
are  credited  with  having  indicated  the  healing  power  of  Dictamnus 
(wild  marjoram)  ;  dogs,  when  indisposed,  were  noticed  to  seek 
triticum  repens  (couch  grass — dog  grass),  and  men  were  thus  led 
to  apply  this  drug  to  treatment  of  bladder  inflammations;  to  the 
behavior  of  dogs  mankind  can  also  trace  the  first  acquaintance  with 
and  use  of  purgatives ;  sheep  known  to  have  liver  worms  sought 
saline  substances ;  cattle  suffering  from  dropsical  conditions  were 
found  to  be  benefited  by  drinking  chalybeate  waters ;  the  hippopot- 
amus is  supposed  to  have  taught  the  operation  of  phlebotomy  (blood- 
letting), how,  we  are  not  informed;  and  from  the  sacred  bird  of 
Egypt,  the  ibis,  the  usefulness  of  enemata  was  learned.  Among  the 
Chaldeans  and  Babylonians  a  sick  man  was  carried  to  a  roadside 
where  the  passer-by  might  see  him  and  tell  what  worked  axbenefit 
in  the  like  condition  in  himself,  his  neighbor,  his  friend,  or  his  aunt. 
It  would  appear  that,  in  this  respect,  the  ancients  were  pretty  much 
like  the  people  of  today. 
Much  that  is  myth  and  fable  concerning  the  science  exists,  but 
the  first  actual  history  goes  back  no  further  than  the  fourth  cen- 
tury B.  C.    Hippocrates,  a  native  of  Cos,  is  thus  the  fountain  head 
*From  the  Supplement  to  the  Naval  Medical  Bulletin. 
