erous. The risks they ran in Babylonia may account for
their ultimate disappearance in that country.

No doubt patients received some benefit from exposure in the streets
in the sunlight and fresh air, and perhaps, too, from some of the old
wives' remedies which were gratuitously prescribed by passers-by. In
Egypt, where certain of the folk cures were recorded on papyri, quite
effective treatment was occasionally given, although the "medicines"
were exceedingly repugnant as a rule; ammonia, for instance, was taken
with the organic substances found in farmyards. Elsewhere some
wonderful instances of excellent folk cures have come to light,
especially among isolated peoples, who have received them interwoven
in their immemorial traditions. A medical man who has investigated
this interesting subject in the Scottish Highlands has shown that "the
simple observation of the people was the starting-point of our fuller
knowledge, however complete we may esteem it to be". For dropsy and
heart troubles, foxglove, broom tops, and juniper berries, which have
reputations "as old as the hills", are "the most reliable medicines in
our scientific armoury at the present time". These discoveries of the
ancient folks have been "merely elaborated in later days". Ancient
cures for indigestion are still in use. "Tar water, which was a remedy
for chest troubles, especially for those of a consumptive nature, has
endless imitations in our day"; it was also "the favourite remedy for
skin diseases". No doubt the present inhabitants of Babylonia, who
utilize bitumen as a germicide, are perpetuating an ancient folk
custom.

This medical man who is being quoted adds: "The whole matter may be
summed up, that we owe infinitely more to the simple nature study of
our people in the great affair of health than we owe to all the later
science."[269]

Herodotus, commenting on the custom of patients taking a census of
folk cures in the streets, said it was one of the wisest institutions
of the Babylonian people. It is to be regretted that he did not enter
into details regarding the remedies which were in greatest favour in
his day. His data would have been useful for comparative purposes.

So far as can be gathered from the clay tablets, faith cures were not
unknown, and there was a good deal of quackery. If surgery declined,
as a result of the severe restrictions which hampered progress in an
honourable profession, magic flourished like tropical fungi. I