Eminent medical men of Asia, Africa, Europe and America, who have advanced medical science; for the use of students and for the Vydians and Hakims of India / by Edward Balfour.

  • Balfour Edward (Edward Green), 1813-1889.
Date:
1876
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Eminent medical men of Asia, Africa, Europe and America, who have advanced medical science; for the use of students and for the Vydians and Hakims of India / by Edward Balfour. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    iESCTJLAFIUS. Cyrene and Apollo, the god of all the fine arts, of medi cine, music, poetry and eloquence, of all of -which he m deemed the inventor, ^sculapius is alleged to have bee a pupil of Chiron, but to have so much improved on hii teacher's knowledge of the Medical Art, that lie was deifiec by the Greeks, yet whether during his life-time or after hu death is uncertain : Pausanias s^iys it was before his death Numerous legends have been put forward regarding th( person or persons of this name, for there are said to hav( been several, and the name has also served to designate i class or family whose members for several centuries prao tised medicine under the designation of Asclepiadro. Thej ■were the priests of the shrines raised in honor of their an. cestor and the sick were brought to the temples for advice His two sonsMachaon and Podalirius by his wife Bpione are said to have accompanied the army of Greece to th( EiegeofTroyB 0.1184. From circumstances mentione( in Homer's Iliad, it would appear that their practice wa almost entirely confined to the treatment of wounds, an( that charms and incantations formed a considerable por tion of the curative means they employed, a he temple of ^sculapius in Greece were erected in salubrious place on hill sides, outside of towns or near mineral wells lamej for their medicinal properties. The chief temple at whicl he was worshipped was at Epidnurus in Argo is, lu tb figure Of a serpent, and at this shrine originated the custom of the sick on recovery hanging up as votive table s, fic^ure of the injured part. An accurate register was kep there of the more grave diseases and their remedies Othe important temples were at Pergamus, Athens and Smyrm Medals of ^sculapius usually represent him as an elder^ man, crowned with laurel, with a cup m his hand iroi| which a serpent is drinking; or as an old man with Cg beard holding in his left hand a staff l^f^'^^'P^'] w^mng round it, and with his right hand holdmg h, beard or pressing the head of a serpent, a serpent amongE the idolatrous Greeks as amongst the hindus of the prese. day being regarded as a beneficent deity. The several pei sons ^^bo took the name of ^sculapius are said to hav^ indented the use of the probe, the mode of bandaging wounds, tl^e use of purgatives, and tje art of e.tractin Z^h The Greeks had other gods and godde.sses of med