Up to the latter part of the nineteenth century of the present era, Japan, so far as medical matters are concerned, differed in no material respect from China. During the last fifty or sixty years, however,--that is, since the visit of Commodore Perry, of the United States Navy, to that country,--wonderful changes have taken place; and now Japan, as a result of her determination to adopt the methods of education, of utilizing steam and electric power, etc., has already taken a leading place in the council of nations. The physicians, many of whom received their training in the best schools of Europe and the United States, are contributing to-day their full share toward advancing the science of medicine. That China is following in the footsteps of Japan is already plainly evident, and no intelligent observer entertains the slightest doubt of her ultimately--probably at no distant day--possessing a corps of medical men as well educated, as efficient in the treatment of disease, and as practical in public hygiene as their European and American confrères. During thousands of years China has suffered severely from the blighting tyranny of superstition, priestcraft and selfish bureaucracy, and, now that the sunlight of truth and genuine liberty is beginning to search every nook and cranny of that great country, we who have had the advantage of this beneficent influence for so many scores of years truly rejoice over the change that is taking place in China. CHAPTER IV GREEK MEDICINE AT THE DAWN OF HISTORY It is from Greece and from Greece alone, says Daremberg, that our modern medicine derives its origin. It has come down to us, in a direct line, through the sheer force of its inherent excellence, and with little or no aid from outside sources. Harvey, Bichat and Broussais are as much the legitimate heirs of Hippocrates, Herophilus, Galen, Berenger de Carpi and Vesalius, as Hippocrates is the heir of Homer, and as this divine singer of the anger of Achilles is himself the product of a civilization that existed before his day and that was in all probability the creation of Hindu influences. It is to the development of medical knowledge in Greece, therefore, that our attention should next be directed, and more particularly to that period which belongs to the dawn of history--the pre-Homeric period.