st is hidden in the uncertain
days of prehistoric ages and the period continues down to early
Christian times--perhaps the end of the second century when Galen
died. The second period extends from this time to the fifteenth or
sixteenth centuries, and the third period embraces the last three or
four centuries. The second period was almost wholly stationary, and
this, we are ashamed to say, was largely due to the prohibitive
attitude of the church. The science of medicine, then, is almost
wholly the result of the investigations and study of the last period.
This means that medicine is one of the youngest of the sciences, while
from the very nature of the case it is one of the oldest of arts.

From the beginning of the art of therapeutics, mental healing has been
a large factor in the cure. This was not recognized, of course, for
only in the last century has the psychic element been admitted to any
extent as a therapeutic agent. We can read back now, however, and see
what a large element this really was. The cruder the art, the more
powerful was the mental influence. The ways of primitive therapeutics
are completely hidden from us except what we can gather from the races
which retained their primitive practices in historic times. We can
well understand, though, that the concoctions of medicine-men and
witch-doctors could have little effect except in a suggestive way.
Snakes' heads, toads' toes, lizards' tails, and beetles' wings have a
small place in the pharmacopoeia of to-day, except as placebos, and
it is extremely doubtful if they were ever valuable for any other
purpose.

The object of the primitive practitioner seems to have been to make an
impression upon the patient either by the explanation of his disease
or by the effort made to effect a cure. The explanation most
frequently given was that demons were responsible for the trouble, and
the cure of the disease was an attempted exorcism of the demon. The
more fantastic the ceremony, the more likely the cure, on account of
the mental influence upon the patient. The primitive man's religion
and therapeutics were inextricably interwoven and, unless we make an
exception of the past few years, this has always been an unprofitable
union for one or both. All the early civilizations with the exception
of the Greeks, as well as the Christian nations up to the sixteenth
century, were handicapped by this partnership, and it was only by
divorcing the two that therapeutics was