ty hospital, however, is a Christian institution.
Besides, deformed and ailing children were cared for and homes for
foundlings were established. Before Christianity the power even of life
and death of the parents over their children was recognized, and
deformed or ailing children, or those that for some reason were not
wanted, were exposed until they died. Christianity put an end to this,
and in two classes of institutions, the hospitals and the asylums,
abundant opportunity for observation of illness was afforded. Just as
soon as Christianity came to be free to establish its institutions
publicly, hospitals became very common. The Emperor Julian, usually
known as the Apostate, who hoped to re-establish the old Roman Olympian
religion, wrote to Oribasius, one of the great physicians of this time,
who was also an important official of his household, that these
Christians had established everywhere hospitals in which not only their
own people, but also those who were not Christians, were received and
cared for, and that it would be idle to hope to counteract the influence
of Christianity until corresponding institutions could be erected by the
government.

From the very beginning, or, at least, just as soon as reasonable
freedom from persecution gave opportunity for study, Christian interest
in the medical sciences began to manifest itself. Nemesius, for
instance, a Bishop of Edessa in Syria, wrote toward the end of the
fourth century a little work in Greek on the nature of man, which is a
striking illustration of this. Nemesius was what in modern times would
be called a philosopher, that is, a speculative thinker and writer, with
regard to man's nature, rather than a physical scientist. He was
convinced, however, that true philosophy ought to be based on a complete
knowledge of man, body and soul, and that the anatomy of his body ought
to be a fundamental principle. It is in this little volume that some
enthusiastic students have found a description that is to them at least
much more than a hint of knowledge of the circulation of the blood.
Hyrtl doubts that the passage in question should be made to signify as
much as has been suggested, but the occurrence of any even distant
reference to such a subject at this time shows that, far from there
being neglect of physical scientific questions, men were thinking
seriously about them.

Just as soon as Christianity brought in a more peaceful state of affairs
and had so influ