physicians, who were versed in all knowledge and skilled in searching out the hidden nature of diseases. And it was his custom, on the four Uposatha days of every month, to visit that hall together with his ministers. And being endued with a heart full of kindness, he would look at the sick with an eye of pity, and being eminent in wisdom and skilled in the art of healing, he would call before him the physicians that were employed there, and inquire fully of the manner of their treatment. And if so be that the treatment they pursued was wrong, the king, who was the best of teachers, would point out wherein they had erred, and would make clear to them the course they should have pursued according to science, and to some sick persons he would give physic with his own hands. Likewise also he would inquire of the health of those that were sick, and to such as were cured he would order raiment to be given. Thus did this merciful king, free from disease himself, cure the sick of their divers disorders from year to year. But there yet remains another marvel to relate, the like of which had neither been seen or heard of before. A certain raven that was afflicted with a canker on his face, and was in great pain, entered the king's hospital, and, as if bound by the spell of the king's great love for suffering creatures, quitted it not, but remained there as if its wings were broken, cawing very piteously. Thereupon the physicians, when they had found out what his disease was, took him in by the king's command and treated him; and after he was healed, the king caused him to be carried round the city on the back of an elephant, and then set him free. Verily kindness such as this, even when shown unto beasts, is exceeding great. Who hath seen such a thing, and where or when hath it been heard of before? "7

NOTES.

1 Duncker, History of Antiquity, vol. iv., pp. 281, 323.

According to Susruta, "Even a Sudra, if of legitimate birth and otherwise qualified, may be taught the art (of medicine) except the Mantras, i.e., Vedic incantations".

The later legend of the Hindus speaks of an original Ayur-Veda composed by Brahma himself in 100 sections and 100,000 stanzas (slokas),

ORIGIN OF HINDU MEDICINE.

33 but afterwards shortened to adapt it to the limited life and capacities of man, and some see the remains of such a work in the poetical parts of Susruta. But we find exactly the same story applied to the so-called "Laws of Manu," and it seems to be merely an Oriental way of saying that Law and Medicine are sciences of great antiquity, extent, and importance.

4 Vishnu-Purana, translated by Wilson, 1840.

5 This, which seemed the one recognised fact in the chronology of the subject, has recently been questioned by Dr. Haas in two interesting papers: "On the Origin of Hindu Medicine" and "Hippocrates and the Hindu Medicine of the Middle Ages "(Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländische Gesellschaft, vols. xxx. and xxxi.). His conclusions are (1) that the work of Susruta was unknown outside India before A.D. 1500, when it was translated into Persian; (2) that the original is probably not very much older than this; (3) that all Hindu medical science worthy of the name is merely a faint reflection of that of the Greeks, seen through an Arabic medium. Nay, Susruta is himself none other than Hippocrates, whose name has been confounded with that of Socrates and corrupted thus, Bucrata—Sucrata—Susruta. He is said to have been born at Benares (Kasi) because Hippocrates was a native of Cos, and to have been ruled by his wife, because Socrates was hen-pecked by Xanthippe. Some other learned German will probably shortly tell us that Charaka is merely a corruption of Pythagoras, but meanwhile the reader may take the view given in the text as the one still generally accepted. The chapter above translated is from the German of Dr. Haas. He translates the first half from the Persian only; but, with the doubtful exception of the astrologer, the version is very exact, as may be seen by comparing it with the Latin rendering of Hessler (2 vols., 1844-7). According to Haas, the second half is merely an Oriental expansion of the famous passage in Hippocrates. "The art (of medicine) depends on three things, the disease, the patient, and the physician. The physician is the servant of the art (or of nature). The patient must overcome the disease by the aid of the physician.”

"Burnouf, Introduction a l'histoire du Buddhisme, 1844, and Le Lotus de la Bonne Loi, 1852.

7 Mahavansa, Tournour's translation, revised and completed for the Ceylon Government by C. J. Wigesintha (Colombo, 1889), caps. 32, 37, 73. Other authorities are Royle, Antiquity of Hindu Medicine, 1837; Wise, Commentary of the Hindu System of Medicine, 1860, and Review of the History of Medicine (2 vols., 1867); Webb, Historical Relations of Ancient Hindu with Greek Medicine, 1850; Weber, History of Indian Literature (translation), 1878; Wilson's Essays on Sanskrit Literature, 1864; Manning, Ancient and Mediæval India, 1869. The first eight chapters of Susruta have been translated into English by Anna Moreswara Kunte, Calcutta, 1877.

VI. CHALDEAN AND PERSIAN MEDICINE.

IN the opinion of Herodotus, the ancient Babylonians showed great wisdom in their treatment of the sick, for they had no physicians, but if any one was ill he was put out in the public square, and etiquette demanded that every passerby should ask him to describe his symptoms. If the stranger had heard of a similar case, or had himself had the disease, he was expected to give advice as to treatment.

Modern discoveries confirm these statements in so far that it is very difficult to find a class of Chaldean physicians distinct from astrologers and soothsayers, and Prof. Sayce tells that the same word was used to express "physician," "scribe," and "seer". But the state of medicine revealed by the cuneiform texts by no means justifies the good opinion of the historian, for it is probably the lowest form that ever existed in a civilised community. The Chaldeans appear to have contributed absolutely nothing to the general stock of medical knowledge, and we shall, therefore, notice them very briefly. Primitive theories predominate throughout: there are the usual demons causing disease, and the usual invocations against them, both of which the reader will find fully discussed in Lenormant's Chaldean Magic; but Prof. Sayce has recently translated fragments of a Babylonian work on medicine, which formed part of the library of Assurbanipal (Sardanapalus), 669-626 B.C., and which appears to indicate some progress towards a more rational practice. In it the patient sometimes has his choice whether he will use charms or medicines, and the prescriptions given comprise a considerable variety of drugs, though their precise nature cannot often be determined.

The following are examples: "For a diseased gall bladder, mix water and strong wine; drink quantities of calves' milk; calves' milk and bitters drink in palm wine; garlic and bitters drink in palm wine ". As the translator observes, these prescriptions are in a sense homoeopathic, the "bitter"

THE ZEND-AVESTA.

or gall bladder being cured by bitters.

35

"For the attack of a

demon, which after seizing a man cuts the top of his heart, for his preservation, the slice of a bird, sisi, siman, kharkar, bîmu, the very great snake, the seed of the bîmu, and the seed of the cedar must be drunk in palm wine."

It is also interesting to learn that the Babylonians were forbidden to use medicines on the sacred seventh day.2

While, however, taking this unfavourable view of Chaldean medicine, it is well to remember that much yet remains to be discovered, and that the mounds of Mesopotamia may possibly still contain medical writings worthy to be compared with those of ancient Egypt.

The medicine of the Medes and Persians somewhat resembled the Chaldean, but had a still closer analogy to that of their near relatives, the Hindus, with the important difference that it produced no Susruta or Charaka. In place of the Vedas we have the Zend-Avesta, a work ascribed to Zoroaster, but of very doubtful date and authorship. It is said to have consisted of twenty-one books, containing no less than 2,000,000 verses, and to have been written upon 1200 cowhides. The healing art seems to have been very frequently mentioned; for Pliny, who had seen a Greek abstract of the entire work, declares that the religion of the Persians was evidently founded on medicine. Little of the Avesta has survived except the nineteenth book, the Vendidâd, or code of purifications-literally, "The law against demons". Here we find the famous dualistic doctrine of the government of the world by a good and an evil deity, whom, until Orientalists are more agreed in their orthography, we may still venture to call Ormuzd and Ahriman.

Ahriman, according to the Vendidâd, created by his evil eye 99,999 diseases, apparently in the form of demons, whereupon Ormuzd appealed for aid to Aryaman, “the friend," a god of heavenly light, who is mentioned in the Vedas. Aryaman destroys diseases by reciting the Holy Word; but Ormuzd also took the 10,000 healing herbs which grew around the tree of everlasting life, and brought

them to Thrita, an ancient sage and sacrificer (another Vedic personage), to whom also Kshathra-Vairya, Lord of Metals, gave a knife, of which the point and base were set in gold. Thrita thus became the Persian Esculapius, and physicians are urged to follow in his footsteps, and, like him, fight valiantly against the demons of impurity and disease. This story indicates the triple division of Persian medicine. "When physicians compete, O pure Zoroaster," says Ormuzd, in another passage, “knife-doctors, herb-doctors, and word-doctors, then shall the believer go to him who heals by the Holy Word, for he is a healer of healers, and benefits the soul also."

If a Persian wished to practise medicine, he must first experiment upon unbelievers; should three of these die under his hands he is for ever incapable; should he cure three, he is qualified to act as physician to the worshippers of Ormuzd "for ever and ever," says the Vendidâd, though some learned commentators held that the qualification might be lost.

The Vendidâd also fixes the amount of medical fees. A priest must be healed for his blessing; the head of a house, a village, or a town for the price of an ox, of low, average, or high value respectively, while the lord of a province must pay the price of a chariot and four. The physician is also to treat animals, especially the dog, for which he must receive the value of the animal next in rank, and in the case of a sheep, the lowest on the list, his payment is the price of a "good meal”. Dogs must receive the same drugs which are given to rich men; and to Zoroaster's inquiry, what is to be done if the dog refuses to take medicine, Ormuzd replies that in such a case it shall be lawful to bind him, and force open his mouth with a stick.

One would have thought that a land where fees were fixed on so liberal a scale, and secured by the sanctions of religion, would have been a very paradise of physicians. But this was far from being the case. The medicine of the Medes and Persians seems to have been as conservative as