MEDIATORSHIP. s. (from mediator.) The office of a mediator.

MEDIA/TRIX. s. A female mediator

(Ains).

MEDICA'GO, in botany, a genus of the class diadelphia, decandria. Legume compressed, spiral, forcing back the heel of the corol from the banner. Thirty-seven species, almost all natives of the south of Europe; four common to the pastures and sandy soils of our own country. They are thus subdivided: A. Legumes crescent-shaped, more or less twisted; comprising nine species, all denominated moon-trefoil.

B. Legumes spirally twisted, comprising the rest, and denominated medich. Of all these the only species particularly worthy of notice is M. sativa, lucerne. It pertains to the former division, and is specifically characterised by having its peduncles racemned; legumes sinooth, spirally twisted; stipules very entire; leaflets oblong, toothed. As a green fodder it has of late years been very generally recommended and very successfully cultivated by our graziers. MEDICAL. a. (medicus, Lat.) Physical; relating to the art of healing (Brown). MEDICALLY, ad. (from medical.) Physically; medicinally (Brown).

MEDICAMENT. 8. (medicamentum, Lat.) Any thing used in healing; generally topical applications (Hammond).

MEDICAMENTAL. a. (from medicament.) Relating to medicine, internal or topical.

MEDICAMENTALLY. ad. After the manner of medicine (Brown).

To MEDICATE. v. a. (medico, Lat.) To tincture or impregnate with any thing medicinal (Arbuthnot).

MEDICATION. s. (from medicate.) 1. The act of tincturing or impregnating with medicinal ingredients (Bacon). 2. The use of physic (Brown).

in a

the substances employed in the art of healing, and to the article PHARMACY for the mode of compounding them, and their respective results state of combination. Thus limited, we shall consider the subject of medicine under the following heads: its History; its Theory; its Scope (usually called Nosology); and its Pracderably avails himself of an article upon the same tice and in so doing the present writer consisubject, which, by particular request, he drew up two or three years ago for another highly respectable work of a similar kind; to which, however, he will make two or three important additions, so as to render it as complete as the narrow scope to which we are necessarily confined will allow us. PART I.

History of Medicine.

The commencement of the medical profession, whether regarded as an art or a science, or both, is lost in the darkness of the earliest ages. The diately from their gods; and even among the fabulous history of the ancients derives it immemoderns, some writers of established reputation are of opinion that it may justly be considered as of divine origin: but without adopting any supposition, of which no probable evidence can be given, we may conclude, that mankind were naturally led to it from casual observations on the diseases to which they found themselves subjected; and that therefore, in one sense at least, it is as ancient as the human race; but at what period it began to be practised as an art, by particular individuals following it as a profession, is not known. The most ancient physicians we read of were those who embalmed the patriarch Jacob by order of his son Joseph. The sacred writer styles these physicians servants to Jos pb, whence we may be assured that they were not priests, as the first physicians are generally sup posed to have been; for in that age we know the Egyptian priests were in such high favour, that they retained their liberty, when, through a public calamity, all the rest of the people were made slaves to the prince. It is not probable, therefore, that, among the Egyptians, religion and medicine were originally conjoined; and if

MEDICINABLE.a.(medicinalis,Latin.) we suppose the Jews not to have invented the

Having the power of physic (Baron).

MEDICINAL. a. (medicinalis, Latin.) 1. Having the power of healing; having phy sical virtue (Milton). 2. Belonging to physic (Butler).

MEDICINALLY. ad. Physically (Dry

den).

MEDICINE. (medicina, Lat. of uncertain derivation; perhaps from pudor, pendopez, cura, consilium ; curam gerere, consulere ; though this root was seldom or never, among the Greeks, applied to the study or cure of diseases, but generally ban or revw, the latter of which has never been anglicised, but from the former of which we obtain the word therapeutics.) The art or science of healing. In this extensive and general sense it includes the materia medica, or substances employed in medicine; pharmacy, or the mode of compounding them; and praxis, or the phænomena of diseases and practice of medicine. In a more limited, and perhaps a more correet sense, however, the term is confined to the last division; and in this sense alone we shall understand it in the present instance, referring the reader to the article MATERIA MEDICA for

art, but received it from some other nation, it is were their physicians as those of Egypt. That as little probable that the priests of that nation the Jewish physicians were absolutely distinct from their priests, is very certain. Yet as the Jews resided for such a long time in Egypt, it is probable they would retain many of the Egyptian customs, from which it would be very diffi. cult to free them. We read, however, that when king Asa was diseased in his feet, he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians. Hence we may conclude, that among the Jews the medicinal art was looked upon as a mere human invention; and it was thought that the Deity never cured diseases by making people acquainted with the virtues of this or that herb, but only by his miraculous power. That the same opinion prevailed among the heathens, who were neighbours to the Jews, is also probable from what we read of Ahaziah king of Judah, who having sent messengers to inquire of Baa'zebub, god of Ekron, concerning his disease, he did not desire any remedy from him or his priests, but simply to know whether he should recover or not. What seems most probable on this subject therefore is, that religion and medicine came to

be mixed together only in consequence of that degeneracy into ignorance and superstition which took place among all nations. The Egyptians, we know, came at last to be sunk in the most ridiculous and absurd superstition; and then, indeed, it is not wonderful to find their priests commencing physicians, and mingling charms, incantations, &c. with their remedies. That this was the case, though long after the days of Joseph, we are very certain; and indeed it seems as natural for ignorance and barbarism to combine religion with physic, as it is for a civilized and enlightened people to keep them separate. Hence we see, that among all modern barbarians, their priests or conjurors are their only physicians.

We are so little acquainted with the state of physic among the Egyptians, that it is needless to say much concerning them. They attributed the invention of medicine, as they did also that of many other arts, to Thoth, the Hermes or Mercury of the Greeks. He is said to have written many things in hieroglyphic characters upon certain pillars, in order to perpetuate his knowledge, and render it useful to others. These were transcribed by Agathodemon, or the second Mercury, the father of Tat, who is said to have composed books of them, that were kept in the most sacred places of the Egyptian temples. The existence of such a person, however, is very dubious; and many of the books ascribed to him were accounted forgeries as long ago as the days of Galen. There is also great reason to suspect, that those books were written many ages after Hermes, and when physic had made considerable advances. Many of the books attributed to him are trifling and ridiculous; and though sometimes he is allowed to have all the honours of inventing the art, he is, on other occasions, obliged to share it with Osiris, Isis, and Apis, or Serapis. After all, the Egyptian physic appears to have been little else than a collection of absurd superstitions. Origen informs us, that they believed there were thirty-six demons or gods of the air, who divided the human body among them; that they had names for all of them; and that by invoking them according to the part affected, the patient was cured. Of natural medicine we hear of none recommended by the father of Egyptian physic, except the herb moly, which he gave to Ulysses, in order to secure him from the enchantments of Circe; and the herb mercury, of which be first discovered the use. His successors made use of venesection, cathartics, emetics, and clysters. There is no proof, however, that this practice was established by Hermes: on the contrary, the Egyptians themselves pretended, that the first hint of those remedies was taken from some observations on brute animals. Venesection was taught them by the hippopotamus, which is said to perform this operation upon itself. On those occasions, he comes out of the river, and strikes his leg against a sharp-pointed reed. As he takes care to direct the stroke against a vein, the consequence must be a considerable effusion of blood; and this being suffered to run as long as the creature thinks proper, he at last stops up the orifice with mud. The hint of clysters was taken from the ibis, a bird which is said to give itself clysters with its bill, &c. They used venesection, however, but very little, probably on account of the warmth of the climate; and the exhibition of the remedies above mentioned, joined with abstinence, formed most of their practice. The Greeks too had several persons

to whom they attributed the invention of phy
sic, particularly Prometheus, Apollo or Pæan,
and sculapius; which last was the most cele-
brated of any. But here we must observe, that
as the Greeks were a very warlike people, their
physic seems to be little else than what is now
called surgery, or the cure of wounds, fractures,
&c. Hence Esculapius, and his pupils Chiron,
Machaon, and Podalirius, are celebrated by Ho-
mer only for their skill in curing these, without
any mention of their attempting the cures of in-
ternal diseases. We are not, however, to sup-
pose that they confined themselves entirely to
surgery. They no doubt would occasionally
prescribe for internal disorders; but as they
were most frequently conversant with wounds,
we may naturally suppose the greatest part of
their skill to have consisted in knowing how to
cure these. If we may believe the poets, indeed,
the knowledge of medicine seems to have been
very generally diffused. Almost all the heroes
of antiquity are reported to have been physi-
cians as well as warriors. Most of them were
taught physic by the centaur Chiron. From
him Hercules received instructions in the medi-
cinal art, in which he is said to have been no
less expert than in feats of arms. Several plants
were called by his name; from whence some
think it probable that he found out their vir-
tues, though others are of opinion that they bore
the name of this renowned hero on account of
their great efficacy in removing diseases. Aris-
tæus king of Arcadia was also one of Chiron's
scholars, and supposed to have discovered the
use of the drug called silphium, by some thought
to be asafoetida. Theseus, Telamon, Jason, Pe-
leus, and his son Achilles, were all renowned for
their knowledge in the art of physic; the last is
said to have discovered the use of verdegris in
cleansing foul ulcers. All of them, however,
seem to have been inferior in knowledge to Pa-
lamedes, who hindered the plague from coming
into the Grecian camp after it had ravaged most
of the cities of Hellespont, and even Troy itself.
His method was to confine his soldiers to a spare
diet, and oblige them to use much exercise. The
practice of these ancient Greek physicians, not-
withstanding the praises bestowed upon them by
their poets, seems to have been very limited,
and in some cases even pernicious. All the ex-
ternal remedies applied to Homer's wounded
heroes were fomentations; while, inwardly, their
physicians gave them wine, sometimes mingled
with cheese scraped down. A great deal of their
physic also consisted in charms, incantations,
amulets, &c. of which, as they are common to
all superstitious and ignorant nations, it is su-
perfluous to take any farther notice.
In this
way the art of medicine continued among the
Greeks for many ages. As its first professors
knew nothing of the animal economy, and as lit-
tle of the theory of diseases, it is plain, that
whatever they did must have been in conse-
quence of mere random trials, or empiricism, in
the most strict and proper sense of the word.
Indeed, it is evidently impossible that this, or al-
most any other art, could originate from any
other source than trials of this kind. Accord-
ly, we find that some ancient nations were
accustomed to expose their sick in temples, and
by the sides of highways, that they might re-
ceive the advice of every one who passed. Among
the Greeks, however, Esculapius was reckoned
the most eminent practitioner of his time, and

his name continued to be revered after his death. He was ranked amongst the gods; and the principal knowledge of the medicinal art remained with his family to the time of Hippocrates, who reckoned himself the seventeenth in a lineal descent from Esculapius, and who was truly the first who treated of medicine in a regular and rational manner.

Hippocrates, who is supposed to have lived four hundred years before the birth of Christ, is the most ancient author whose writings have descended to the present day: and he is hence justly regarded as the father of medicine. In this period, and indeed till a century or two ago, the distinct branches of medicine and surgery were studied and practised by the same person : Hippocrates, therefore, has been universally regarded as having contributed equally to our physiological and anatomical knowledge of the human frame, and the few anecdotes relating to him for which we can find room have been already communicated to the reader under the article Anatomy. We shall here therefore only add those opinions of the Coan sage which more immediately apply to the science of general therapeutics, and which are most entitled to general attention.

diseases which are hereditary, or born with us, and those which are contracted afterwards; and likewise between those of a kindly, and such as are of a malignant nature, the former of which are easily and frequently cured, but the latter give the physicians a great deal of trouble, and are seldom overcome by all their care.

A foundation for the theory and practice of medicine being thus laid, the science was pursued with great avidity by Praxagoras, who nevertheless ventured, in some respect, to oppose the practice of Hippocrates, and by Erasistratus and Herophilus, of whom the last, as a disciple of Praxagoras, inclined rather to the Praxagorean than the Hippocratic school. Erasistratus, how. ever, acquired a higher fame, though a more steady adherent to the older and Hippocratic doctrines, and to him we are indebted for the first regular indications of the pulse. About this period the profession of medicine began to be divided into the three branches of dietetic, pharmaceutic, and chirurgic; or those who pretended to cure by regimen alone, disregarding and even despising pharmacy; those who undertook to cure chiefly by pharmaceutic preparations, (of which number was Erasistratus himself); and those who devoted their whole time and attention to the chirurgical department of the medical art.

The next division of medical practitioners was into that of dogmatists and empyrics; the latter having commenced with Serapion, of Alexandria, about the year 287 before Christ, who, according to Galen, retained the mode of practice of Hippocrates, but pretended to despise his mode of reasoning. In reality, the sect to which Serapion belonged, and of which if not the founder, he was a very zealous supporter in its earliest infancy, depended upon their own personal experience alone, whether progressive or fortui

tous.

On the contrary, the dogmatists affirmed, that there is a necessity for knowing the latent as well as the evident causes of diseases, and that physicians ought to understand the natural actions and functions of the human body, and consequently its internal organs.

As far as Hippocrates attempts to explain the causes of disease, he refers much to the humours of the body, particularly to the blood and the bile. He treats also of the effects of sleep, watchings, exercise, and rest; and all the benefit or mischief we may receive from them. Of all the causes of diseases, however, mentioned by Hippocrates, the most general are diet and air. On the subject of diet he has composed several books, and in the choice of this he was exactly careful; and the more so, as his practice turned almost wholly upon it. He also considered the air very much; he examined what winds blew ordinarily or extraordinarily; he considered the ir regularity of the seasons, the rising and setting of the stars, or the time of certain constellations; also the time of the solstices, and of the equinoxes: those days, in his opinion, producing great alterations in certain distempers. He does not, The physicians of chief fame who flourished however, pretend to explain how, from these subsequently to this division were Asclepiades, causes, that variety of diseases arises which is who opposed the Hippocratic theory of natural daily to be observed. All that can be gathered power and sympathy or attraction, by engraftfrom him with regard to this is, that the differ- ing upon medicine the physical principles of the ent causes above mentioned, when applied to Epicurean philosophy; Themison, the founder of the different parts of the body, produce a great the methodic sect, whose doctrines evinced equal variety of disorders; some of these he accounted hostility to the dogmatists and empyrics, and dimortal, others dangerous, and the rest easily vided diseases into the two classes of hypertonic curable, according to the cause from whence they and atonic, a division, which, in various modifispring, and the parts on which they fall In cations, has descended to the present day; Thessa several places also he distinguishes diseases, from lus, contemporary with Nero, a man of some the time of their duration, into acute, or short, merit, but of inordinate vanity; and Celsus, deand chronical, or long; he likewise distinguishes servedly denominated the Latin Hippocrates, diseases by the particular places where they pre- whose work is equally valuable for the purity of vail, whether ordinary or extraordinary: the its language, and the knowledge it communicates first, that is, those that are frequent and familiar of the state of medicine at the time he wrote. to certain places, he called endemic diseases; and the latter, which ravaged extraordinarily sometimes in one place, sometimes in another, which seized great numbers at certain times, he called epidemic, that is, popular dis ases; and of this kind the most terrible is the plague: be likewise mentions a third kind, the opposite of the former; and these he calls sporadic, or straggling diseases these last include all the different so.ts of distempers which invade any one season,

which are sometimes of one sort, and sometimes of another. He distinguished between those

About the year after Christ 131, in the reign of Adrian, appeared the celcbrated Galen, whose rame makes so conspicuous an appearance in the history of physic. Practitioners were at this time divided into the three sections of methodists, dogmatists, and empyrics; Galen inclined to the second party, but with a true eclectic spirit undertook to combine with its doctrine whatever existed of real worth in the two adverse systeins, and hence to reform and give a finish to the science of medicine, beyond what it had ever pos sessed b.fore. For the most part, he was a fol