the Ptolemaic school.

[Sidenote: Origin of Greek medicine--Asclepions.]

[Sidenote: Hippocrates destroys the theological theory of disease.]

Greek medicine arose in the temples of Aesculapius, whither the sick were
in the habit of resorting for the assistance of the god. It does not
appear that any fee was exacted for the celestial advice; but the
gratitude of the patient was frequently displayed by optional gifts, and
votive tablets presented to the temple, setting forth the circumstances
of the case, were of value to those disposed to enter on medical
studies. The Asclepions thus became both hospitals and schools. They
exercised, from their position, a tendency to incorporate medical and
ecclesiastical pursuits. At this time it was universally believed that
every sickness was due to the anger of some offended god, and especially
was this supposed to be the case in epidemics and plagues. Such a
paralyzing notion was necessarily inconsistent with any attempt at the
relief of communities by the exercise of sanitary measures. In our times
it is still difficult to remove from the minds of the illiterate classes
this ancient opinion, or to convince them that under such visitations we
ought to help ourselves, and not expect relief by penance and
supplications, unless we join therewith rigorous personal, domestic,
municipal cleanliness, fresh air, and light. The theological doctrine of
the nature of disease indicated its means of cure. For Hippocrates was
reserved the great glory of destroying them both, replacing them by more
practical and material ideas, and, from the votive tablets, traditions,
and other sources, together with his own admirable observations,
compiling a body of medicine. The necessary consequence of his great
success was the separation of the pursuits of the physician from those
of the priest. Not that so great a revolution, implying the diversion of
profitable gains from the ancient channel, could have been accomplished
without a struggle. We should reverence the memory of Hippocrates for
the complete manner in which he effected that object.

[Sidenote: Writings of Hippocrates.]

Of the works attributed to Hippocrates, many are doubtless the
production of his family, his descendants, or his pupils. The
inducements to literary forgery in the times of the Ptolemies, who paid
very high prices for books of reputation, have been the cause of much
difficulty among critics in determining such questions of