Abstract
In the Eastern Mediterranean, where the history of Western thought begins with the first accounts committed to writing, there are two cultures that show evidence of having engaged in systematic study of the human body, based on a tradition of practical experience.
The practice of medicine is divided among them [the Egyptians], so that each physician is a healer of one disease and no more. All the country is full of physicians, some of the eye, some of the teeth, some of what pertains to the belly, and some of the hidden diseases.
Herodotus, II, 84
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
The 2.25 m high stele of Hammurabi was discovered at Susa in 1901-1902, and is now in the Louvre Museum.
This papyrus was found as Luxor in 1862 by Edwin Smith. It was translated into English in 1930 by James H. Breasted, who states that the document was found to contain both the original text, dating from 3000-2500 B.C., and 69 commentaries or glosses added several centuries later. There are four medical papyri existent: the Edwin Smith, the British Museum’s, the Berlin Museum’s, and Ebers’.
Georg Ebers, German Egyptologist (1837-1898). The papyrus which bears his name dates from the 16th century B.C. The writer’s name was Neb-Sext, and it was written at one of the shrines of Imhotep. For the history of the various Egyptian medical texts, see Lefèbvre [228].
Or Aesculapius; legend makes him a kind of Thessaly, both warrior and healer.
I.e. having the same geometric shape. Man is a microcosm containing all the elements of the Macrocosm on a reduced scale. Modern concepts of “tropism” and “biochemical affinities” basically amount to the same thing, though these terms borrowed from the exact sciences naturally confer an added aura of scientific validity.
Alcmeon, 500 B.C. See Freeman [136], Guthrie [169], Kayserling [205] and Schumacher [363].
Souques ([374a], p. 14) suggests that Alcmeon may have seen the narrow divide that separates the pial sheath from the dural in the optic nerve.
Theophrastus (369-288 B.C.), Peripatetic philosopher.
Democritus of Abdera (460?-370? B.C.).
Parmenides of Elea (6th cent. B.C.).
Heraclitus of Ephesus (born early 5th cent. B.C.).
Anaxagoras of Clazomenae (5th cent. B.C.).
Empedocles of Agrigentum (484-424?B.G).
Diogenes of Apollonia was a contemporary of Anaxagoras and knew his system.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1991 Plenum Press, New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bouton, C.P. (1991). Early Beginnings. In: Neurolinguistics Historical and Theoretical Perspectives. Applied Psycholinguistics and Communication Disorders. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-9570-0_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-9570-0_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4615-9572-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-9570-0
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive