In the following Triad (one of the poetical histories of the Welsh bards) we learn that,—“The three pillars of knowledge, with which the Gwyddoniaid were acquainted, and which they bore in memory from the beginning: the first was a knowledge of Divine things, and of such matters as appertain to the worship of God and the homage due to goodness; the second, a knowledge of the course of the stars, their names and kinds, and the order of times; the third, a knowledge of the names and use of the herbs of the field, and of their application in practice, in medicine, and in religious worship. These were preserved in the memorials of vocal song, and in the memorials of times, before there were bards of degree and chair.”[668] The Welsh do not appear to have had any gods of medicine or to have pretended to derive their knowledge of the healing art from any divinities. In the reign of Prydian the Gwyddoniaid were divided into three orders, Bards, Druids, and Ovates. The Ovates occupied themselves especially with the natural sciences. In the Laws of Dyvnwal Moelmud, “medicine, commerce, and navigation” were termed “the three civil arts.”[669] This legislator lived about the year 430 B.C., at which early period it would seem that the art of medicine was encouraged and protected by the State.[670] As Hippocrates lived 400 B.C., it has been thought possible that the British Ovates may have learned something of his teaching from the Phoceans, who traded between Marseilles and Britain. Later we have proof that the physicians of Myddvai held the Father of Medicine in great esteem. It is customary amongst the English to ridicule the pretensions of the Welsh to the high antiquity of their knowledge of the arts and sciences, but classical writers bear witness to the wisdom and learning of the Druids. Strabo speaks of their knowledge of physiology. Cicero was acquainted with one of the Gallic Druids, who was called Divitiacus the Æduan, and claimed to have a thorough knowledge of the laws of nature. Pliny mentions the plants used as medicines by the Druids, such as the mistletoe, called _Oll iach, omnia sanantem_, or “All heal,” the selago (_Lycopodium selago_, or Upright Fir Moss), and the Samolus or marshwort (_Samolus valerandi_, or Water Pimpernel).[671] One of the Medical Triads in the Llanover MS. is that by Taliesin; it runs thus:— “There are three intractable substantial organs: the liver, the kidney, and the heart. “There are three intractable membranes: the dura mater, the peritoneum, and the urinary bladder. “There are three tedious complaints: disease of the knee joint, disease of the substance of a rib, and phthysis; for when purulent matter has formed in one of these, it is not known when it will get well.” Howel Dda (or the good) in the year 930 A.D. compiled the following laws of the Court Physician:— “Of the mediciner of the household, his office, his privilege, and his duty, this treats.