Unconventional medicine would have appeared in prehistoric times when plants were used for healing.

It’s at 18^stcentury before JC, under the reign of the king of Babylon, Hammurabi, that appear the first written laws referring to the activity of the doctor. These laws are written into the “Hammurabi Code”. This code is established long before the biblical laws and regulates the right and the non-right of the citizens, under penalty of very strict sanctions. It identifies the rules of life in Babylonian society and consequently, establishes the notion of medical malpractice. Finally, it mentions the salary of the health practitioner.

It was in ancient Greece that the “concept” of conventional medicine was born. Greek scholars separate Western medicine from esoteric (= relating to magic) practices. At 5^st century, the Hippocratic oath brings an ethical and moral dimension to scientific medicine: it is the principle of deontology. Today, this oath is still taken in French medical universities. It has of course been rewritten since then, but it remains inspired by the original.

Medicine the dispensary of nature, inserm.