Note 74 — Chapter V · ASCLEPIA AND THE ASCLEPIADES.

“The Father of Medicine” was, of course, one of the asclepiades. He was born, it is believed, in the year 460 B.C., and lived to be very old. His genealogy is preserved in his works. As given in Adams’ edition, he is of the fifteenth generation, in a direct line, from Æsculapius. He was of the Podalirius branch. In this connection I may remark that, if Hippocrates took the oath of the asclepiades, he must have given it a decidedly liberal interpretation, for it looks as if he divulged to the whole world all the mysteries of the healing art of great consequence then known.