Asclepiades of Bithynia

Pliny the Elder, who tells the anecdote,[8] adds that he won his wager, for he reached a great age and died at last from an accident.

"[11] Asclepiades began by vilifying the principles and practices of his predecessors, and by asserting that he had discovered a more effective method of treating diseases than had been before known to the world.

He decried the efforts of those who sought to investigate the structure of the body, or to watch the phenomena of disease, and he is said to have directed his attacks, particularly, against the writings of Hippocrates.

[7] A part of the great popularity which he enjoyed depended upon his prescribing the liberal use of wine to his patients,[13] and upon his attending to their every need, and indulging their inclinations.

Cito tuto jucunde (meaning to treat his patients "swiftly, safely, and sweetly") was a motto that he followed.

[17] Asclepiades was heavily influenced by Pythagoreanism and the early work of Democritus on herbal powers and remedies.

[18] Asclepiades used music therapy to treat mentally ill patients in order to maintain "psychogenic equilibrium".

While Asclepiades was not the first to use music therapy, he used it to treat mental illness along with other ailments including viper bites and scorpion stings.

[19] The medical writers Galen and Aretaeus, both of whom lived in the 2nd century AD, credited Asclepiades with being the first individual to perform an elective (non-emergency) tracheotomy.

[20][21] Asclepiades advocated humane treatment of mental disorders and had insane persons freed from confinement and treated them with natural therapy, such as diet and massages.