CHAPTER XVI
THE INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY UPON THE EVOLUTION OF MEDICINE
The religion established by Jesus Christ in Judea during
the early part of the first century remained confined within
the limits of that region for a number of years, but already
during the latter half of that period groups of Christians
were to be found in every part of the Roman Empire, and
in certain localities the membership of the new church had
increased so greatly in numbers as to excite the alarm and
hostility of the temple priests and of the governing officials.
Persecutions, especially in the city of Rome and at the
instigation of Nero, became more and more frequent and
more and more pitiless, but they failed utterly to destroy
the new religion, so firmly was it rooted in the followers
of Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact its spread was
checked for only a few years, and then its adherents
increased in numbers more rapidly than ever. Neuburger,
in his "History of Medicine," makes the following quotation
from the account which Dionysius of Alexandria gives
of the great plague that occurred during the third century
A. D.:
The majority of our brethren in their love for their neighbors
did not spare themselves, but acted as a unit in their efforts to
assist. They visited the sick without the slightest fear and gave
them the very best of care, for the sake of Christ. . . . Among
the non-Christians, however, the very opposite was true. As soon
as any of their number fell ill they pushed them to one side, even
those who were dearest to them, and, before they were more than
half-dead, they threw them out into the street and took no care to
bury the dead bodies.
