The emergence of medicine
Studies of Paleolithic sites suggest that our distant ancestors were dying young. Only a few survived to the age of 40 - young, but not healthy. On their remains, it is possible to find both traces of numerous wounds (a way of life of the hunter on a large animal it is difficult to name healthy) and signs of monstrously started illnesses.
Allegedly incomprehensible strength and health of the ancient man was a myth. But tens of thousands of years ago, people tried to help the wounded and sick compatriots. And not always unsuccessfully. Still, Neanderthals knew about the useful properties of plants.
Achievements of ancient people in the treatment of injuries were unexpectedly great: many skeletons are visible traces of well-healed fractures. At that time, the broken limbs were fixed with clay rather than with wooden bits. Sometimes there are suggestions that the arm or leg was simply buried in the ground of weeks. But this barbaric method worked.
Thus, at the dawn of mankind there were two types of medical workers: a witch doctor and a bone marshal. The first one treated with spells, herbs, and amulets, and the second one with hands. In the villages, these "positions" remained unchanged until the spread of scientific medicine.
Inequalities were immediately apparent. The witch doctors were revered as wise men and were universally respected. As a rule, bonesetter was unpopular among their fellow tribesmen and had no special status in the community. They were only remembered when it was no longer possible to inspire oneself as if conspiracies and infusions were helping. It was also necessary to pull out teeth.
The effectiveness of "folk therapy" did not increase over time. Both in caves and in villages of the 19th century the treatment with herbs and magic led to insignificant and mostly random results. In most cases, it was impossible to determine whether the shaman's efforts had made it easier or not. But the failure or success of the bone-shop was discovered immediately. The inexperienced were, of course, punished, which greatly contributed to the progress of craftsmanship.
Already in the Neolithic Age, when the intertribal clashes became tougher and the throwing weapon was replaced by a crushing one, the healers learned to trepan the fractured skulls. What is not so surprising, given the experience of people of that era in bone processing.
Medicine in the ancient world
In the era of barbarism, "military" and "civil" medicine were not yet distinct in the organization. In battle, the wounded had to take care of themselves, or they had to be taken care of by their comrades-in-arms. Then the care of the wounded began to be given to women.
With the emergence of states, there were also prerequisites for the registration of physicians in a separate professional caste. Therapy remained at the cave level. The Egyptian priests differed from the primitive healers only in the complexity of the spells and the exotic ingredients in the potions. But the surgeons of the Nile Valley, having got the opportunity to learn, accumulate and generalize the experience, reached an amazing (taking into account the primitiveness of the tools) skill. Egyptian dentists, who had only stone instruments, even managed to drill and fill their teeth.
But the art of experienced healers remained accessible only to the Pharaoh and the highest nobility. A sharp contrast in this regard was represented by Assyria, where the training of medical personnel was carried out not in the temples, but at the court. The first task of doctors, of course, was to protect the health of the tsar, but they were also obliged to serve the army, accompanying him in his campaigns. The Assyrians were the first to create a perfectly organized military medical service.
In Greece, at first qualified physicians were trained in the temples of Aesculapius - the Egyptian healer, classified by the Hellenes as a group of gods. Later, secular schools of medicine were established. But the organization was not the strength of the Greek people. Medics, often self-appointed and inexperienced, followed the army on their own initiative in search of earnings.
The Greeks succeeded in the other. They managed to lay the first stones in the foundation of scientific medicine. Following the precepts of Hippocrates, Greek doctors tried to understand how the human body functions, to search for natural causes of diseases and eliminate them. They tried to accumulate and use empirical experience of treatment, i.e. to give the patient the medicine that had already helped others with similar symptoms.
To be continued...