ABSTRACT
Asklepios had two daughters, Hygeia and Panakeia. Panakeia was a true healing goddess, learned in the use of drugs derived either from plants or from the earth; her cult is alive and well today in the universal search for a panacea. Hygeia, inspiration for numerous reforms of the past has found new allies who consider preventive measures to have greater social value than curative treatments and who believe health to be a product of social and economic organization. A modern Hygeia would not only advise her people to be cautious of her sister Panakeia and to adopt a hygienic life-style but she would also see to it that life in the city was as creative, convivial, and fair as possible. In the realm of health, the issue at stake for the future is the rees-tablishment of a balance between Hygeia and Panakeia, which has been tilted in favour of latter over the course of three decades of dramatic biomedical development.
