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58 ANCIENT TIMES.
very exactly described and even minute particulars noticed
about them which only strike one on very careful examination.
That human bones served chiefly as objects for study
appears certain from the descriptions. If the examination
of the human body or of parts of the same was the privilege
only of certain prominent investigators, nevertheless the
dissection of animals, which, as ARISTOTLE more than once
observes, formed the principal source of anatomical knowledge,
was accessible to everyone. This no doubt formed
an essential assistance in anatomical teaching. Perhaps
artificial imitations of skeletons were used for this purpose
like that one which was preserved as a votive offering at
Delphi and originally, according to UPORT, came from
HIPPOKRATES.* Broadly, anatomical teaching consisted
in this, that the teacher imparted to his pupils what he
himself knew or thought about the structure and composition
of the human body. It was the same with instruction
in physiology, which consisted of a loose fabric of unfounded
hypotheses and unsupported speculations. Training in the
examination and treatment of the sick promised much
greater results. The doctors of ancient Greece were masters
in the art of observing the symptoms of diseases and in
controlling them in ways conformable to nature. To the
complaints of the sick and even to their dreams they paid
great attention; but they attached the greatest weight to a
close examination of the ailing body. In performing this
the colour and condition of the skin and mucous membrane
were observed, as also the state of the abdomen and the
form of the thorax ; the temperature was tested by application
of the hand; and the excretions were subjected to a
.careful examination. By the touch they were able to
recognize the size of the liver and spleen: nay, even the
change in form of the latter which occurs in certain diseases.f
Succussion served them at the same time for diagnosis and
for therapeusis as pus might thus be caused to break through
* PAUSANIAS X, 2, 4.
t HIPPOKRATES op. cit. T. vii, 244. —PLATO : Timaeos, c. 33.