The Greeks were the first to evolve rational systems of medicine almost entirely free from magical and religious elements and based upon natural causes. The importance of this revolutionary innovation for the subsequent history of medicine cannot be overstressed. In this book, James Longrigg describes the origin and development of this rational medicine in ancient Greece and examines its complex relationship with philosophy down to the 3rd century BC. He assimilates the latest material discoveries and scholarship. The emancipation of medicine from superstition was the outcome of the same...