birth. He is frequently quoted by
Galen, but none of his writings are extant.

_Aretaeus, the Cappadocian_, practised in Rome in the first century of
our era, in the reign of Nero or Vespasian. He published a book on
medicine, still extant, which displays a great knowledge of the symptoms
of disease very accurately described, and reliable for purposes of
diagnosis. He was the first to reveal the glandular nature of the
kidneys, and for the first time employed cantharides as a
counter-irritant (Portal, vol. i, p. 62). It is not surprising that
Aretaeus followed rather closely the teaching of Hippocrates, but he
considered it right to check some of "the natural actions" of the body,
which Hippocrates thought were necessary for the restoration of health.
He was not against phlebotomy, and used strong purgatives and also
narcotics. He was less tied to the opinions of any sect than the
physicians of his time, and was both wonderfully accurate in his
opinions and reliable in treatment. Aretaeus condemned the operation of
tracheotomy first proposed by Asclepiades, and held "that the heat of
the inflammation becomes greater from the wound and contributes to the
suffocation, and the patient coughs; and even if he escapes this danger,
the lips of the wound do not unite, for both are cartilaginous and
unable to grow together." He believed, also, that elephantiasis was
contagious. The writings of Aretaeus consist of eight books, and there
have been many editions in various languages. Only a few chapters are
missing.

_Archigenes_ was a pupil of Agathinus, and is mentioned by Juvenal. He
was born in Syria and practised in Rome in the reign of Trajan, A.D.
98-117. He introduced new and very obscure terms into his writings. He
wrote on the pulse, and on this Galen wrote a commentary. He also
proposed a classification of fevers, but his views on this subject were
speculative theories, and not based upon practical experience and
observation. To him is due the credit of suggesting opium for the
treatment of dysentery, and he also described accurately the symptoms
and progress of abscess of the liver. By some authorities he is thought
to have belonged to the sect of the Pneumatici.

_Dioscorides_ was the author of a famous treatise on Materia Medica. At
different times there were several physicians of this name. He lived
shortly after Pliny in the first century, but there is some doubt as to
the exact time. His five books were the sta