Excerpt from A History of Medical Education: From the Most Remote to the Most Recent Times The historical development of medical teaching exhibits a character similar to that of medical science in general. Necessity, the inventive Instructor Of Mankind, furnished the occasion, as indeed hippokrates* says, for the first attempts at healing. The combative habits of rude barbarians, whose favourite pursuits were hunting and war, entailed the infliction of wounds for which help was demanded. Sympathizing friends and fellow-soldiers tended the hurts, washing out the wounds and dressing them with cooling herbs. Soon there arose a select few, who investigating the healing properties of plants, turned their knowledge Of this subject to account for the benefit of their neighbours. If they were naturally endowed with the gifts required for Observing Nature they no doubt Soon made the attempt, as occasion Offered, to study the fundamental character of the wounds which they undertook to treat. In this way gradually a kind of medical craft was formed, the members of which, by empirical methods, arrived at remarkable dexterity in healing external injuries. In the case of internal affections, particularly however in the case of epidemics, the causes Of which are not so manifest as those of external injuries, recourse was had for counsel to those who, in that early period of civilization, passed. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.