dical school of Alexandria, which was thus originally based upon
dissection, in the course of time lost much of its scientific spirit.
But the influence of the first teachers may be traced through many
subsequent ages. Thus Galen divides the profession in his time into
Herophilians and Erasistratians. Various sects had arisen in the course
of events, as the Dogmatists, who asserted that diseases can only be
treated correctly by the aid of a knowledge of the structure and
functions, the action of drugs, and the changes induced in the affected
parts; they insisted, therefore, upon the necessity of anatomy,
physiology, therapeutics, and pathology. They claimed a descent from
Hippocrates. Their antagonists, the Empirics, ridiculed such knowledge
as fanciful or unattainable, and relied on experience alone. These
subdivisions were not limited to sects; they may also be observed under
the form of schools. Even Erasistratus himself, toward the close of his
life, through some dispute or misunderstanding, appears to have left the
Museum and established a school at Smyrna. The study of the various
branches of medicine was also pursued by others out of the immediate
ranks of the profession. Mithridates, king of Pontus, thus devoted
himself to the examination of poisons and the discovery of antidotes.

What a fall from this scientific medicine to the miracle-cure which soon
displaced it! What a descent from Hippocrates and the great Alexandrian
physicians to the shrines of saints and the monks!

* * * * *

[Sidenote: The Jewish physicians.]

To the foregoing sketch of the state of Greek medicine in its day of
glory, I must add an examination of the same science among the Jews
subsequently to the second century; it is necessary for the proper
understanding of the origin of Saracen learning.

[Sidenote: Their emancipation from the supernatural.]

In philosophy the Jews had been gradually emancipating themselves from
the influence of ancient traditions; their advance in this direction is
shown by the active manner in which they aided in the development of
Neo-platonism. After the destruction of Jerusalem all Syria and
Mesopotamia were full of Jewish schools; but the great philosophers, as
well as the great merchants of the nation, were residents of Alexandria.
Persecution and dispersion, if they served no other good purpose,
weakened the grasp of the ecclesiastic. Perhaps, too, repeated
disappointme