"
The first lessons came to primitive man by injuries, accidents, bites
of beasts and serpents, perhaps for long ages not appreciated by his
childlike mind, but, little by little, such experiences crystallized
into useful knowledge. The experiments of nature made clear to him the
relation of cause and effect, but it is not likely, as Pliny suggests,
that he picked up his earliest knowledge from the observation of
certain practices in animals, as the natural phlebotomy of the plethoric
hippopotamus, or the use of emetics from the dog, or the use of enemata
from the ibis. On the other hand, Celsus is probably right in his
account of the origin of rational medicine. "Some of the sick on account
of their eagerness took food on the first day, some on account of
loathing abstained; and the disease in those who refrained was more
relieved. Some ate during a fever, some a little before it, others after
it had subsided, and those who had waited to the end did best. For the
same reason some at the beginning of an illness used a full diet, others
a spare, and the former were made worse. Occurring daily, such things
impressed careful men, who noted what had best helped the sick, then
began to prescribe them.
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