By Chris Dalrymple, D.C., F.I.C.C
Life has always been a risky business. The perils of war, disease, famine and childbirth have contributed to a life span markedly shorter than humankind currently experiences. Humans in antiquity were no less concerned about the prevention and cure of maladies than they are now. Cults, sanctuaries and professions dedicated to the restoration and preservation of health dotted the spiritual, physical and professional landscapes of the ancient world as they do today.
During the Stone Age, physicians were familiar with bone setting. The origin of the therapeutic movement of joints is lost in the mist of antiquity, but in the historical development of medicine there are many references to the practice. In addition to the use of manipulation as a method of setting fractures, reducing dislocations, and restoring mobility to an injured or diseased joint, there is considerable evidence that many attempted to treat disease by manipulating the joints.
This was especially true among those groups and civilizations that routinely employed massage in their treatment methods.
From ancient writings we learn that humans have long considered healing to be a profession. In Babylonia, the Code of Hammurabi, as early at 1754 B.C. established patient fees and punishment for negligent treatment. Writings also show that generic physicians of the era knew that wound care, lancing, draining and cleaning infected wounds promoted healing and that certain herbs had healing and disinfecting properties.
Archaeology has further illuminated medical practices in the ancient world. Certain skeletons demonstrate evidence of rather astonishing surgical successes and sophisticated dental practices, including dental root canal, and gold fillings, from ancient societies dating back as long as 12,000 years ago.
Humans have long sought those who new the appropriate measures to take for a given circumstance. The ancient words for “taking appropriate measures” included the protoindoeuropean root *med; the word medeor meant “to know the best course for” something. Medeor came to refer to the concept of “to cure, to heal” and from it was derived the Latin word medicus meaning “healing, medicinal” and one who heals. Humans turned to the medicus seeking advise for physical needs.
In Latin the word for “natural science”– the study and nature of physical things – is physica. From this word is derived the word physical and also the word physician which, like the word medeor meant someone who knows the best course for that which is known about the nature of physical things.
The word generic is also from Latin, meaning “of a general kind, not special”, thus a generic physician is a member of a larger set of people who know the best course for that which is known about the nature of physical things. Humans have specialized their knowledge over the millennia and there are now any number of specialty physicians who have “particular affection or special attachment or favor, partiality,” to a particular area, e.g. medical physicians, family physicians, obstetric physicians, veterinary physicians, podiatric physicians, chiropractic physicians, etc.
In early human societies the gods – personifications of unknown forces – played an integral role in human life and health. In the Greek world Asklepios was the god, the force, of healing. Sanctuaries called Asklepions drew the ill and injured, who would often travel to seek the healing that they believed these ancient sanitariums could provide. They provided baths, healthy foods and sanctuary rooms intended specifically for sleep and meditation. By the fifth century B.C., the concept of the physician and the god of healing had become intrinsically linked and Asklepios became the divine patron of those who professed to be physicians. By the seventh century, medicine as a science that was independent of religious restrictions had virtually disappeared in the west. Herbs known for their anesthetic properties were promoted and physicians stressed the effects of diet and environment on health. Tenth century physician Abu ‘Ali al-Husayn ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn Sina wrote The Canon of Medicine that codified existing medical knowledge. By the 13th century his work had become the standard medical reference text throughout Western Europe.
Governments have always had an interest in controlling the application of health care. Political medicine has long been a part of the human race. Archaeological evidence from 5000 years ago demonstrates that in the ancient Egyptian civilization, workers were offered a variety of healthcare benefits, including paid sick days and free visits to physicians. They even had three tiers of providers – state-sponsored physicians (the reactive-practitioners who responded to the demands of the state); religion-sponsored scorpion charmers (the magical or pharmaceutical practitioners); and popular-sponsored folk healers (the practical healers).
The physician was a member of the state’s workforce, while treating patients he was excused from work and was paid rations by the Egyptian state. Dealing primarily with responsive or reactive medicine, he treated his patients with ointments and prescriptions and was the primary healthcare provider.
In ancient Egypt, the lines between magic and medicine were often blurred. The scorpion charmer was compensated by state religious institutions. The scorpion charmer mainly treated poisonous bites and stings, but he also served as an intermediary between his patients and the deities by practicing forms of preventative medicine, such as making amulets and charms for his patients.
The wise woman, a kind of folk practitioner, helped diagnose the divine causes of illnesses. She would help her patients determine which god or goddess needed to be supplicated in order to cure a particular illness. There are indications that this practitioner lived outside of the community and was not supported by the state. Individuals privately paid for her expertise.
Have things really changed much in the last 5000 years?
