medIcine

[Fr. médecine=physic; Prov. me dec in a, medic in a, metzina, mezina; Sp., Port., & Ital. medic in a, from Lat. medic in a=medicine.] I. Ordinary Language: 1. Literally : (1) Physic, a remedy, a remedial agent, an antidote to disease; any substance prescribed for the alleviation or removal of disease. Medicines are administered, as a rule, by the mouth, but sometimes also by the rectum, by inhalation into the lungs, by hypodermic injection into the cellular ti ue, or in some rare cases by injection into the veins. Garrod makes three divisions of medicines: (1) Internal remedies, administered for their effects upon the system, both before and after absorption into the blood; (2) external remedies, which act locally, and are not intended to affect the constitution; (3) chemical agents used for other than their medicinal properties. Under the first division are four cla es, with nine subcla es; the second and third have only orders. (2) A science and art directed first to the prevention of diseases, and secondly to their cure; the practice of medicine as distinguished from that of surgery or midwifery, but not entirely separable from either, involving also a sound knowledge of anatomy, physiology, pathology, chemistry, and allied subjects. 2. Fig .: Anything which removes mental woe. "The miserable have no other medicine than only hope."- Shakesp .: Measure for Measure, iii. 1. II. Technically : 1. Science: In the same senses as I. 1 & 2. 2. Anthrop.: This word is used in translating certain terms in the languages of the American aborigines which denote not only "medicine" proper, but anything the operation of which they do not comprehend; that is, anything mysterious, supernatural, sacred. Hence we have medicine- man = the doctor and conjuror of the American Indians; medicine - bag =the bag in which his remedies and charms are contained; medicine - feast a sort of religious festival, consisting of singing, feasting, and dancing, and attended only by men; medicine hut the hut in which these feasts are held; medicine-pipe=the ornamented pipe smoked on these occasions. ( Bartlett .) "They may have been handed down through succe ive generations as great medicines."-Wilson: Prehistoric Man , i. 130. 3. Hist ., .: The first attempts at medical and sanitary practice seem to have been made by, or under the direction of, priests. Perhaps the wearing of amulets was one of its earliest forms. Το this day, in India, many children go to school with a bit of string round their wrist, which has had incantations muttered over it by Brahmins, and is considered a preservative against fever. Such a string (intrinsic value not a farthing) is charged half a rupee or a rupee (about 12c.or 25c.), according to the time for which its virtues are guaranteed. With this superstition are joined actual remedies discovered by observation. Part of the Vajur Veda treats of medicine. The Egyptians are credited with some proficiency in the art; their embalming of bodies must have taught them the elements of anatomy. The medical and sanitary arrangements of the Mosaic law are well known (Lev. xiii., xiv. 1-8; Deut. xxiii. 13, .). Chiron, the fabled Centaur, is said to have brought some knowledge of medicine from Egypt to Greece. His pupil was Esculapius, said to have lived previously to the Trojan war [about 1500 B. C. (7)]. He was so eminent a physician that he was, on his death, deified, and became the Greek god of medicine, under whose auspices all further researches were made. Pythagoras, about 529 B. C., studied the human frame; but the "father" of Greek medicine was Hippo crates, B. C. 460-442. He is by some considered the founder of the dogmatic school. About 332 B.. the Alexandrian school arose, under Era tost nenes and Hierophilus. The latter was opposed by Chrysippus, and the empiric school arose. The Romans were long in entering the field. The greatest Roman physician was Galen, A. D. 165. The Methodics had arisen shortly before, and the Eclectics were ramifications of the former. From the seventh to the twelfth century the Arabs cultivated medicine; their greatest name was Avicenna, about 1020 A. D. The Italians next a umed the lead. The dogmatic school of medicine was a ailed by Para cels us (1493-1541) and Vesalius (1514-1564). The discovery by Harvey, in 1628, of the circulation of the blood, gave a great impulse to medical science. IMG:content-1052.png:[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small] "When every breeze shall medicine every wound." Shenstone: Elegy XX. měd-I-çın-I-er, s. [Fr. médicinier. So named from its purgative virtues. (Littré.)] Bot.: A name for the genus Jatropha. medicinier-oil, s. Chem.: A white, odorle oil, obtained from the seeds of Jatropha curcas . It has a sweet taste, is slightly soluble in alcohol, and does not alter on exposure to the air. Its density is 091 at 19°, and it solidifies to a buttery ma at -8°. When heated with ammonia in a sealed tube, it is converted into i so cet amide. me-dick, tme-dic, subst. [Lat. medic a; Gr. medike.] [MEDICAGO. Bot .: The genus Medicago (q. v.). Black Medick is Medicago lupulin a ; Purple Medick, M. falcata . med-1-co-, adj . [Lat. medic us.] Of or pertaining to medicine. medico-legal, a. Pertaining to medical jurisprudence, or law as affected by medical facts. *měd-Ics, s. [Lat. medic us =a physician.] The IMG:content-1053.png:[blocks in formation] *mě-di-ětě, s. [Fr. médiété , from Lat. medietatem, acc us. of me diet as the middle, a half; Ital. medietà.] The middle state or part; a half, a moiety. "The human mediety variously placed, not only above but below." - Browne: Vulgar Errors , bk. v., ch. xix. měd-i-e-val, měd-i-e-val-Ism, . [MEDIEVAL, MEDIEVALISM, .] *mě-dim-nus ( pl . mě dim'-ni), s. [Lat., from Gr. medimnos.] A Greek measure of corn; a bushel. "They brought with them 50,000 Sicilian medimni of wheat, of which half had been purchased at a very low price."-Lewis: Cred. Early Rom . Hist . (1855), ii. 94. mẽ dî-nô, mě dine, s. [Turkish.] A small coin and money of account in Egypt, value about one-ninth of a cent.