Page:Greek Biology and Medicine.djvu/159

 LINKAGE WITH THE MODERN TIME speaking in 191 9, deems that a new birth of medicine is taking place: " What is then the new birth, this revolution in medicine? It is nothing less than its enlargement from an art of observation and empiricism to an applied science founded upon research ; from a craft of tradition and sagacity to an applied science of analysis and law; from a descriptive code of surface phenomena to the discovery of deeper affinities; from a set of rules and axioms of quality to measurements of quantity." Sursum corda! — Lift up your hearts! Before us spreads a fair prospect of the reconcilement of theory and practice, in a final system of scientific medicine! However this may be, we have recently real- ized, as never before, the vast range and com- plexity of the elements entering our mental- ities; and we who may live to witness the new revolution, should also be ready to recognize the indirect, the obscure yet basic, influence of Greek medicine. The modern medical man no longer looks to Galen or Hippocrates for specific instruction; but he well may make his own the spirit of the Hippocratic writings and the wise principles of Hippocratic practice. He may still take to himself many a Hippo- [137]