ressings alone, using with them certain
appropriate prayers and incantations, recited over the injured member at
the time of applying the dressings.

Even the very early Greeks had learned something of anatomy. The daily
contact with wounds and broken bones must of necessity lead to a crude
understanding of anatomy in general. The first Greek anatomist, however,
who is recognized as such, is said to have been Alcmaeon. He is said
to have made extensive dissections of the lower animals, and to have
described many hitherto unknown structures, such as the optic nerve and
the Eustachian canal--the small tube leading into the throat from the
ear. He is credited with many unique explanations of natural phenomena,
such as, for example, the explanation that "hearing is produced by the
hollow bone behind the ear; for all hollow things are sonorous." He was
a rationalist, and he taught that the brain is the organ of mind. The
sources of our information about his work, however, are unreliable.

Democedes, who lived in the sixth century B.C., is the first physician
of whom we have any trustworthy history. We learn from Herodotus that he
came from Croton to aegina, where, in recognition of his skill, he was
appointed medical officer of the city. From aegina he was called to
Athens at an increased salary, and later was in charge of medical
affairs in several other Greek cities. He was finally called to Samos by
the tyrant Polycrates, who reigned there from about 536 to 522 B.C. But
on the death of Polycrates, who was murdered by the Persians, Democedes
became a slave. His fame as a physician, however, had reached the ears
of the Persian monarch, and shortly after his capture he was permitted
to show his skill upon King Darius himself. The Persian monarch was
suffering from a sprained ankle, which his Egyptian surgeons had been
unable to cure. Democedes not only cured the injured member but used
his influence in saving the lives of his Egyptian rivals, who had been
condemned to death by the king.

At another time he showed his skill by curing the queen, who was
suffering from a chronic abscess of long standing. This so pleased the
monarch that he offered him as a reward anything he might desire, except
his liberty. But the costly gifts of Darius did not satisfy him so long
as he remained a slave; and determined to secure his freedom at any
cost, he volunteered to lead some Persian spies into his native country,
promising to use his