0"T' LAERT> "! - USP

HISTORY OF MEDICAL EDUCATION.
INTRODUCTION.
Quis nescit, primam esse historiae legem, ne quid falsi dicere audeat ? dein
ne quid veri non audeat? ne qua suspicio. gratiae sit in scribendo ? ne qua
simultatis ?
CICERO, De oraloie ii, 15.
THE historical development of medical, teaching exhibits
a character similar to that of medical science in general.
Necessity, the inventive Instructor of Mankind, furnished
the occasion, as indeed HIPPOKRATES* says, for the
first attempts at healing. The combative* habits of
rude barbarians, whose favourite pursuits were hunting
and war, entailed the infliction of wounds for which help
was demanded. Sympathizing friends and fellow-soldiers
tended the hurts, washing out the wounds and dressing
them with cooling herbs. Soon there arose a select few,
who investigating the healing properties of plants, turned
their knowledge of this subject to account for the benefit
of- their neighbours. If they were naturally endowed with
the gifts required for observing Nature they no doubt
soon made the attempt, as occasion offered, to study the
fundamental character of the wounds which they undertook
to treat. In this way gradually a kind of medical craft
was formed, the members of which, by empirical methods,
arrived at remarkable dexterity in healing external injuries.
In the case of internal affections, particularly however in
the case of epidemics, the causes of which are not so manifest
as those of external injuries, recourse was had for counsel
to those who, in that early period of civilization, passed
* HIPPOKRATES. Ed. Littre. Paris 1839. ' • l ' P-- 574-
B