0"T' LAERT> "! - USP

MEDICINE AMONG THE GERMANS. 185
in the Roman Army, as joyfully welcomed allies, or as
hostages, they had the opportunity of enjoying the advantages
of Roman civilization and of acquiring knowledge
which they transmitted to their countrymen who remained
at home. The germs of a noble civilization in the German
race, which excited the astonishment and praise of TACITUS,
were brought to greater perfection and to further development
by the higher education.
When the tribes of the Goths and other German peoples
were driven from their homes by hordes of Huns pressing
in upon them from the East, and when, thirsting for
action and longing for riches and power, they began their
world-famed wanderings, they possessed already a literary
language, an orderly system of government, an assured
administration of justice, and manifold acquirements in
the various spheres of intellectual life. In medicine they
held the view that diseases are produced by supernatural
powers, which should be propitiated by prayers and magic ;
but they did not neglect the use of healing herbs and other
means, the favourable action of which experience had taught.
It was especially incumbent upon the women, who played a
very prominent part in the life of the Germans, to bind up
wounds and to nurse the sick.* Only by degrees and
chiefly under the influence of Roman civilization a special
medical profession became developed among this people.
The Greek and Roman doctors, who in the capacity of
military surgeons came among them or, like ORIBASIUS and
ANTHIMUS, stayed in their country in exile or as envoys,
must have contributed to this in no small degree.
GuiZOT t remarks that it is difficult to picture the intellectual
condition of the Germans before the migration of
the nations, and we may add that in regard to their medical
acquirements this is especially the case. It is clear from
comparative philology however that they had special
* TACITUS op. cit. c. 7, 8, 18.
t GUIZOT : Cours d'histoire moderne. Histoire de la civilization en France,
Bruxelles 1829, i, p. 204.