Chiron, the Centaur, is said to have introduced the art of medicine amongst the Greeks, but the early history of the _art_ is entirely legendary. Æsculapius appears in Homer as an excellent physician of _human_ origin; in the later legends he becomes the god of the healing art. His genealogy is obscure and altogether fabulous. He, however, soon surpassed his teacher, Chiron, and succeeded so far as to restore the dead to life (as the story goes). This offended Hades, who began to fear that his realm would not be sufficiently peopled; complained to Zeus (Jove) of the innovation, and Jove slew Æsculapius by a flash of lightning. After this he was deified by the gratitude of mankind, and was especially worshiped at Epidaurus, where a temple and a grove were consecrated to him. His statue in this temple was formed of gold and ivory, and represents him as a god seated on a throne, and holding in one hand a staff with a snake coiled around it, the other hand resting on the head of a snake; a dog, as an emblem of watchfulness, at his feet (an intimation very appropriate for the medical profession). The Asclepiades, the followers of Æsculapius, inherited and kept the secrets of the healing art; or, assuming that Æsculapius was merely a divine symbol, the Asclepiades must be regarded as a medical, priestly caste, who preserved as mysteries the doctrine of medicine. The members of the caste were bound by an oath—the Hippocratis jusjurandum—not to divulge the secrets of their profession. In Rome, in the year 292 B. C., a pestilence (probably malarial fever) prevailed. The Sibyline books directed that Æsculapius (statue!) must be brought from Epidaurus. Accordingly, an embassy was sent to this place, and when they had made their request, a snake crept out of the temple into the ship. Regarding this as the god Æsculapius, they sailed to Italy, and as they entered the Tiber the snake sprang out upon an island, where afterwards a temple was erected to Æsculapius and a company of priests appointed to take charge of the service and practice the art of medicine. The name Æsculapius, then, is only an impersonation of medicine in the remote ages, or early ages of Grecian history. Hippocrates is the first writer of medicine whose works have come down to us with anything like authority other than fable. Indeed, he was the most celebrated physician of antiquity. He was the son of Heracleides, also a physician, and belonged to the family of the Asclepiades, said to be about eighteen generations from Æsculapius. His mother was said to be descended from Hercules.