The following custom seems to me the wisest of their institutions next to the one lately praised. They have no physicians, but, when a man is ill, they lay him in the public square, and the passers-by come up to him, and if they have ever had his disease themselves or have known any one who has suffered from it, they give him advice, recommending him to do whatever they found good in their own case, or in the case known to them; and no one is allowed to pass the sick man in silence without asking him what his ailment is.[2] The Babylonians held some rather strange beliefs regarding the construction of the human body and the manner in which its functions are performed. The living being, as they maintained, is composed of soul and body. The intellect has its seat in the heart, the liver serving as the central organ for the blood, which they considered to be the true life principle. They divided this fluid into two kinds--blood of the daytime (bright arterial) and that of the night (dark venous). Although the blood was held by them to be the basis of life, they evidently attached a certain value to respiration, for one of their prayers begins with these words: “God, my creator, lead me by the hand; guide the breath of my mouth.” Disease was always looked upon as something (usually personified as a demon) that entered the body from without and that consequently had to be expelled. There were special demons for the different diseases. Thus, Asakku brought fever to the head, Namtar threatened life with the plague, and Utukku attacked the throat, Alu the breast, Gallu the hand, Rabisu the skin, and so on. The most dreaded demons were the spirits of the dead. Special amulets were employed as protective remedies. Prayer formulae were also used. Here is one among several that I find mentioned in Neuburger’s treatise:-- Wicked Consumption, villainous Consumption, Consumption which never leaves a man, Consumption which cannot be driven away, Consumption which cannot be induced to leave, Bad Consumption, in the name of Heaven be placated, in the name of Earth I conjure thee! The genuine remedial agents employed in Babylonia were of a most varied nature: a mixture of honey and syrup of dates; medicinal herbs of different kinds for internal administration; bloodletting; the use of cups for drawing blood to the surface of the body; warm baths and cold shower baths; rubbing oil over the body; medicated clysters; the use of various salves; the use of secret remedies which were composed of various ingredients and which bore such names as “the Sun God’s remedy,” “the dog’s tongue,” “the skin of the yellow snake,” “the medicine brought from the mountain of the human race,” etc. Some of the predictions made by the Babylonian astrologers are of sufficient interest to be placed on record. Here are a few examples:--