Encyclopaedia Britannica, or, a Dictionary of arts, sciences, and miscellaneous literature : enlarged and improved. Illustrated with nearly six hundred engravings > Volume 13, MAT-MIC

Hiftory. M E D I
Erafiftra- Galen, he entirely banifhed venefeftion from medi-
tus. cine ; though fome affirm that he did not totally dif-
1 'r~~J card it, but only ufed it lefs frequently than other
phyiicians. His reafons for difapproving of venefec-
tion are as follow : It is difficult to fucceed in vene-
fe£lion, becaufe we cannot always fee the vein we in¬
tend to open, and becaufe we are not fure but we
may open an artery in dead of a vein. We cannot
afcertain the. true quantity to be taken.. If we take
too little, the intention is by no means anfwered : if
we take too much, ive run a rifle of dellroying the
patient. The evacuation of the venous blood alfo is
fucceeded by that of the fpirits, which on that occa-
fion he fuppofes to pafs from the arteries into the veins.
It mud like wife, he contends, be obferved, that as the
inflammation is formed in the arteries by the blood
coagulated in their orifices, venefeclion muft of courfe
be ufelefs and of no effeff.
As Erafillratus did not approve of venefeftion, fo
neither did he of purgatives, excepting very rarely,
but exhibited clyfters and vomits 5 as did alfo his ma¬
iler Chryfippus. He was of opinion, however, that
the clyllers ffiould be mild ; and condemned the large
quantity and acrid quality of thole ufed by preceding
practitioners. The reafon why purgatives were not
much ufed by him was, that he imagined purging and
venefeClion could anfwer no other purpofe than dimi-
nilhing the fulhefs of the velfels and for this purpofe
he alferted that there were more effectual means than
either phlebotomy or purging. He afferted that the
humours difeharged by cathartics were not the fame in
the body that they appeared after the difeharge ; but
that the medicines changed their nature, and produced
a kind of corruption in them. This opinion has fince
been embraced by a great number of phyficians. He
did not believe that purgatives aCted by attraction
but fubftituted in the place of this principle what Mr
Le Clerc imagines to be the fame with Ariftotle’s
fuga vacui. The principal remedy fubftituted by him
in place of purging and venefeCtion was abitinence.
When this, in conjunction with clyfters and vomits,
was not fufficient to eradicate the difeafe, he then had
recourfe to exercife. All this was done with a view
to diminiffi plenitude, which, according to him, was
the molt frequent caufe of all difeafes. Galen alfo in¬
forms us, that Erafiftratus had fo great an opinion of
the virtues of fuccory in difeafes of the vifeera and lower
belly, and efpecially in thofe of the liver, that he took
particular pains to deferibe the method of boiling it,
■which was, to boil it in water till it was tender 5 then
to put it into boiling water a fecond time, in order to
deftroy its bitternefs ; afterwards to take it out of the
water,^ and preferve it in a veffel with oil ; and laftly,
when it is to be ufed, add a little weak vinegar to it.
Nay, fo minute and circumftaniial was Erafiftratus with
regard to the preparation of his favourite fuccory, that
he gave orders to tie feveral of the plants together, be¬
caufe that was the more commodious method of boil¬
ing them. ^ The reft of Erafiftratus’s practice confifted
almoft entirely of regimen 5 to which he added fome
topical remedies, fuch as catapfalms, fomentations, and
unCtions. In ftiort, as he could neither endure com¬
pounded medicines, nor fuperftitious and fine-fpun rea-
fonings, he reduced medicine to a very fimple and com¬
pendious art.
c
I N E.
With regard
, . 199
_ to furgery, Erafiftratus appears to Heropbilus.
have been very bold j and as an anatomift he is faid to ' '
have been exceedingly cruel, infomuch that he is re-
prefented by fome as having diffeCted criminals while
yet alive*. In a feirrhous liver, or in tumors of*SeeAra-
that organ, Coelius Aurelianus obferves, that Erafiftra-tomy, Hijl,
tus made an incifion through the Ikin and integu¬
ments, and having opened the abdomen he applied
medicines immediately to the part affeCted. But though
he was thus bold in performing operations on the liver,
yet he did not approve of the paracentefis or tapping in
the dropfy ; becaufe (faid he) the waters being eva¬
cuated, the liyer, which is inflamed and become hard
like a Itone, is more preffed by the adjacent parts
which the waters kept at a diftance from it, fo that
by this means the patient dies. He declared alfo
againft drawing teeth which were not loofe ; and ufed
to tell thofe who talked with him on this operation,
1 hat in the temple of Apollo there was to be feen an
inftrument of lead for drawing teeth ; in order to infi-
nuate that we muft not attempt the extirpation of any
but fuch as are loofe, and call for no greater force for
their extirpation than what may be fuppofed in an in¬
ftrument of lead.
Herophilus, the difciple of Praxagoras, and eontem-Herophiks.
porary of Erafiftratus, followed a lefs fimple practice :
he made fo great ufe of medicines both fimple and
compound, that neither he nor his difciples would un¬
dertake the cure of any diforder without them. He
feems alfo to have been the firft who treated accurately
of the dodtrine of pulfes, of which Hippocrates had but
a fuperficial knowledge. Galen, however, affirms, that
on this fubjedt he involved himfelf in difficulties and ad¬
vanced abfurdities; which indeed we are not greatly to
wonder at,* confidering the time in which lie lived.
He took notice of a difeale at that time pretty rare,
and to which he aferibes certain fudden deaths. He
calls it apai/y of the hearty and perhaps it may be
the fame dileafe with what is now termed the angina
pe St or is.
According to Celfus, it was about this time that
medicine was firft divided into three branches, viz. the
dietetic, the pharmaceutical, and the cbirurgical medi¬
cine. 1 he firft of thefe employed a proper repimen
in the cure of difeafes j the fecond, medicines } and
the third, the operation of the hands. Ihe fame au¬
thor informs us, that thefe three branches became
non the bufinefs of as many diftmdt claffes of men j
fo that from this time we may date the origin of the
three profeffions of phyficians, apothecaries, and fur-
geons.—Before this divition, thofe called physicians dif¬
eharged all the feveral offices belonging to the three
profeffions ; and there were only two kinds of them,
viz. one called osgg;m>cT«»«c0<, who gave only their ad¬
vice to the patients, and directions to thofe of an infe¬
rior clafs, who were called and worked with
their hands either in the performing operations, or in
the compofition and application of remedies.
Tdie firft grand revolution which happened in the The Lnipi-
mcdicinal art, after the days of Herophilus and Erafi-r*cs*
ftratus, was occafioned by the founding of the empiric
feCt by Serapion of Alexandria about 287 years before
Chrift. ihe diyifion into dogmatifts and empirics Serapwn.
had indeed fubfifted before ; but about this time the
latter party began to grow ftrong, and to have cham¬
pions