BOOKS OP THE DAY:

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2013, 21 March 1914, Page 9

BOOKS OP THE DAY:

EREEK AND ROMAN MEDICINE. 'A work of considerable interest, not ■ »nly to the medical profession, but to the well educated reading- public, has been written 1 by a young New Zealander, Dr. James- Sands Elliott, of this city. Tho titlo is! "Outlines of Greek and Roman Medicine" (Bale, Sons, and Daniellson; per Whitcombe and Tombs). Dr. Elliott tells us, in. his preface, that he was stimulated to, write a book on Greek and Roman medicine by a recent sojourn, in tho south-eastern part • of Europe/ his desire being to give taorely a general outline of the most important stages in'the advancement of the healing art.in the two Empires to which, modem 'civilisation is most deeply indebted. The medical profession, he points out, is deserving of censure for neglect of its own history. It is a pity, he, thinks, that "so many practitioners known nothing of their own art." It is for this reason that "many reported discoveries are only rediscoverielT." Of lat,e, howoVer, the History of Medicine has been coming into its kingdom. Universities are establishing courses of lectures on tl» subject, and the Royal So'ciety of Medicine has recently instituted a historical section. _ Beginning with "Early Roman Medicine," and "Early Greek Medicine," Dr. Elliott proceeds to devote' a chapter to the life and works of him who has been called the Father, of Medicine, Hippocrates, the Greek, who was born 460 years before Christ. According to tradition, Hippocrates could trace his ancestors on the male side to, Aesculapius, and on the female side to Hercules. Ho is • said to have learnt medicine from his father and to have been.taught philosophy by Gorgias, the,-Sophist,. and .by Democritiis,::;whoni,'he afterwards cured of mental derangement. . Many of the writ? injj's' attributed/ to Hippocrates are said to.-have been forgeries.;: Amongst other subjects dealt.with in those, of.-bis books .which are;- considered 'genuine, were Fistulae,, TJlcors,; 'Haemorrhoids, and ''The-SacredDisease",("Epilepsy"). He was-.-able to...trace', disease- -to a natural;and.: intelligible, cause, to recognise.:, '.as .•all-sufficient 'for, healing;'arid.physicians as'only'her servants!.. ;■ When .-.the he lived-.-are! considered, it r "is difficult," says .the author, "tokuow-which of his qualities -to.- admire most, his love of*' knowledge, his powers of observation, his logical faculty, or his courage and truthfulness." He had. a defective knowledge of anatomy, hot know-ing the difference, between the arteries and the veins, but his writings "display' a correct knowledge of the anatomy of the j joints and tho brain." ' I

■ flio, idea, sajs'Dr. "Elliott, 'that almost'! all- medical .and surgical -knowledge is modern, though flattering to our selfcomplacency, is disturbed by the study of the state of knowledge in the time ot- Hippocrates.-' To him,.it appears wo are 'indebted- for "the classification of cliiseases into sporadic, epidemic, and endemic, and ho also separated acute from chronic-'.disease's:'';-.Ho also, divided ttt§ causes of disease into tSvbiclasses:' general, such as climate,' water,' and salutation.,- and personal, such a's im?J!ffl?fefo9d:~and neglect-..0f exercise;"' lW'sffi&B! 0 ts° ™PP°My'Ws ''the adthaiVihatthe Father'of Medicine incirrectly 'inspired Laennic. td invent the stetogscope:...'.-rrepaniung the .skull which so ; Bfany^neoplc—at any rate, so many iaj-nieiiTriiavo'. imagined to be quite a modern .discovery, appears.to have been a common, operation iii his' day, and %R°crates n was well acquainted l T i °f t dlsease > a nd underlljat the Father ot Medicine held a very high .view'of.the standards which should gqvern the-'practice of medicine is pro-" ed-by.-fto-oat, which he .drew up and by, .which ■all tho Aesculapians of Ids age were.bound: (Professional secrecy is in-sisted-upon, and there is a special disKri , ™k of as , slstin „S abortion in any way. .lho.Bqmulus of Medicine," as Sydenham called him, died in Thessaly, credited ;by different'.authors with a lifetime ot. from - eighty-favo to a hundred andi nine years. ..-.; ' . • \

.After a reference to the influence* exercised upon Plato and Aristotle bv the teaching of Hippocrates, the author proceeds to, deal with the teachings of the Alexandrian School, where anatomy' seems to too been first properly studecl. Ot two members of this school, it as. recorded that, they; did not confine their investigations to.tho dissection of VL 6 » a & Mt '■ a * > vi ™.ected criminu r H, on f-S I ' eat 'Physician .:af this school, Clepmbrotus,, it .is recorded that lis received-the. decidedly, agreeable fee A smn™*™r tal< i nt3 \ W ml to about £10,000 sterling, .for his ■ treatment of King Antiochus.. The author next traces the'history, of medicine during the reigns ot the Caesars giving many interesting details as to, the maladies, from- whicii these potentates.suffered,: (MTlicssalus one ot Zero's physicians, it-is said that although he never had' any medicd training, this did not prevent him, however, from, acquiring a great reputation as a doctor and making a fortuno from medical practice... Quack as he probably was, he was clever enough to use colchicum for gout. Gout, by the way seems to have been a very common malady m ancient Komo, the "high living" ot the patricians no doubt being a contributory factor. Thoso who' remember the account, by Petronius, in "The Satyncon, of Trimalehio's banquet, will easily ■unds.Mtaiid this. A full chapter Js devoted to the great Galen, ono of the most copious of all the ancient writers on medicine. Dr. Elliott refers to Galen as a master of the art of anatomy. Laier chapters of a book 'deserving ot much longer notice than I can a fordspace lor this week, deal witli llie Practice ot Medicine during the later .Iteman and Byzantine period." the "Infiuencoof Christianity on Altruism, and tiei Healing ■ Art," "Gymnasia and Baths, and "Sanitation." Many of our public health regulations had,' the author tells us, their counterpart in ancient times. For. instance, any' factory' or workshop'in Bomo which created a public nuisance had to bo removed outside tfco city. •

It is-interesting, especially to. tho layman, to learn that medical fees varied as much in ancient times as they do today.. Some of tho leading physicians wero paid very-large fees, but "t'iio rank and file did not make any more money than was equal to keeping them in decency." ■ But probably their expenses were lower. A. costly motor-car was no necessary, or indeed possible, pos- , session of tho fashionable Athenian or Horaan-medico! One lucky practitioner tho surgeon Alcon, is credited witli having made.a fortune- of nearly £100,000 "'.by a few years' practice in Gaul. I'liny Btates that Maniius Cormilius paid his doctor £2000 for curing him of a skin disease, and Galen's fee for curing tho wifo of a'consul was about £400 of our money. Evidently high fees wero not invented in -Harley Street. Some wellchosen illustrations are given in tho took, the frontispiece representing Asklepips, the anoient Greek deity of learning. Dr. Elliott's book, though, primarily intended, no doubt, for tho medical ' profession, contains inucn which cannot Jail to instruct, and occasionally entertain the general reader.