Page:A short history of nursing - Lavinia L Dock (1920).djvu/48

32 32 A Short History of Nursing of the staff and serpent has, since that time, always been used by physicians, and was adopted as the caduceus of the army medical service in the recent war.) The Asklepios myth became highly evolved and had a dream-cure, based upon the worship of the serpent, as its leading characteristic. As time went on the priests of Asklepios specialized in two branches, one purely medical, the other occult. From the former branch there developed a recog- nized class of physicians who were known as the Asklepiades, and these men founded centres for the teaching of medicine where in time important medical schools with hospitals and related institu- ' tions grew up. Among the most famous of these centres was Epidauros, and as its remains may be seen now by travellers, it is easy to get an idea of the Greek medical world in that day. The temple and all the buildings were of white marble, built in the classic style, and on an ample ^, scale. There were hospital wards and A Greek health corridors, baths, gymnasia, libraries, resort rooms for visitors and attendants, houses for the priests and physicians, and a beau- tiful outdoor theatre, the whole set in a location of ideal beauty among pine-covered hills. The patients on arriving at the hospital were given beds on a long open portico, where, in their sleep,