" Empedocles delivered the people of Selinus
from a pestilence by draining a marsh, and was hailed as a Demigod. We are
told that a coin was struck in his honor, representing the Philosopher in
the act of staying the hand of Phoebus.
We scarcely realize, I think, how much we owe to Doctors. Our system of
Medicine seems so natural and obvious that it hardly occurs to us as
somewhat new and exceptional. When we are ill we send for a Physician; he
prescribes some medicine; we take it, and pay his fee. But among the lower
races of men pain and illness are often attributed to the presence of evil
spirits. The Medicine Man is a Priest, or rather a Sorcerer, more than a
true Doctor, and his effort is to exorcise the evil spirit.
In other countries where some advance has been made, a charm is written on
a board, washed off, and drunk. In some cases the medicine is taken, not
by the patient, but by the Doctor. Such a system, however, is generally
transient; it is naturally discouraged by the Profession, and is indeed
incompatible with a large practice.
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