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52 52 A Short History of Nursing the whole programme of health preservation and preventive medicine, and is at odds with hygiene and sanitation. An early heresy was the doctrine of the Manichaeans, who held that the body was the product of demons, as against the soul, which was the work of God. The inference of extreme asceticism is that the body is vile, or at least neg- ligible, and from this point of view scientific re- search would be forbidden and the whole modern science of vital statistics would be useless. In its pure and symbolic essence, on the other hand, asceticism meant training in self-discipline for the attainment of unselfishness, or, in the words of a modern teacher, "the complete conquest of the spirit over the world and the senses. " That such training is essential for service to humanity is self- evident. The point of difference came in methods — practical ascetics lived with people and led use- ful lives, instead of withdrawing to solitary cells to meditate. The age-old custom of hospitality which had prevailed in the nations of antiquity was prac- poor. Their houses were opened wide to every Charitable work under the church tised with religious fervour by the early Christians. Their aim was to hold all things in common. The rich were to give or share all they had with the