Page:A short history of nursing - Lavinia L Dock (1920).djvu/47

Care of Sick in Ancient World 31 Asklepios were surgeons with the Greek army in the Trojan wars. The whole family of Asklepios indeed have the utmost significance for the medical and nursing arts, for, if they were only symbolic, they must have been meant to depict those arts as at that time existent, and, if they were actual persons, they combined in their careers all the main lines of specialism that we consider modem. Of the two sons, Machaon was evidently a sur- geon, as he had "skilful hands to draw out darts and heal sores," and Podalirius may have repre- sented internal medicine, as he " was given cunning to find out things impossible and cure that which healed not." The women of the family com- pletely typify skill in nursing and in health con- servation. The wife, Epigone, was "the soothing one." Among the six daughters there were Hygeia, the goddess of health; Panacea, the restorer of health; and Meditrina, the preserver of health. From her title, we may suppose her to have been the most ancient known forerunner of the modem public health nurse. Asklepios is usually represented with a staff, (showing that he travelled from place to place), and a serpent, the emblem of wisdom, and also of rejuvenescence or immortality (the latter idea derived from its casting its skin). (This symbol