As regards the treatment of disease Erasistratus held certain views which were decidedly at variance with those maintained by the majority of his associates. Thus, for example, Straton, a distinguished disciple of this master, praises him for having banished bloodletting from the list of remedial measures, and adds that he can testify to the fact that Erasistratus had, by other means, cured all the diseases in which the ancients commonly employed bloodletting as the chief remedial agent. His favorite substitutes for the latter procedure were fasting, dieting, physical exercise, and--in cases of hemorrhage--placing ligatures around the arms and legs. Caelius Aurelianus is authority for the statement that, in certain very exceptional cases, Erasistratus did resort to bloodletting. Another of the latter’s tenets was his strong objection to the employment of purgatives and composite remedies. On the other hand, he appears to have attached considerable importance to the employment of chicory in the treatment of all disorders of the abdominal organs. One of the evidences of his preference for this drug is to be found in the care which he takes in describing how the plant should be prepared for remedial purposes. “Boil a bunch of the plant in water until the mass is thoroughly cooked; then cast it into a fresh supply of boiling water (to drive out still more of its bitter quality); and finally, upon removing it from the boiling water, place it for conservation in a receptacle containing oil. When it is required for use add a small quantity of weak vinegar.” Galen, in commenting jocosely upon the stress which Erasistratus lays upon these details, makes the remark: “As if our domestics did not know how to cook a bunch of chicory!” Speaking of the effects produced by venom when one is bitten by a poisonous snake, Erasistratus remarks that “from the effects which the poison introduced in this manner produces, we may derive a general indication as to how a cure may be obtained. The poison, it will be noted, destroys very quickly the parts with which it comes in contact, and then, by spreading throughout the body, causes death. The thing to do, therefore, is to draw it as quickly as possible out of the body and thus arrest its further spread. To this end the wound should first be enlarged and its sides scarified; then, after it has been sucked, a cupping glass should be applied over it; and, finally, it should be cauterized.”