Introduction
Hippocratic medicine remains one of Ancient Greece's lasting contributions to the field of science. Lacking the equipment physicians today take for granted when diagnosing and healing their patients, Hippocratic physicians were forced to create a novel system for explaining and curing disease based upon the prevalent scientific theories of their era. This system became known as the humoral theory of disease. Humoral theory incorporated the theories of Presocratic philosophers in order to explain disease and offer help for a cure. Two themes characterizing Presocratic philosophical thought dramatically influenced humoral theory. The humoral theory approach of Hippocratic medicine was based upon Presocratic philosophical musings about the relationship of man to the world. By the time humoral theory was vogue, philosophers had concluded that both man and the world were governed by the same natural laws. Humoral theory also was based upon Presocratic theories about change and how it occurred in the world; humoral theory depended upon the assertion that contrasting elements constantly contradicted each other, leading to continuous change on one level and stability on another. These two Presocratic theories shaped humoral theory and allowed the physician to develop a rational and empirically based approach to medicine.
Hippocrates - Separating the Man from the Myth
Before we can trace the development of these theories by the Presocratics we must first consider Hippocratic medicine and humoral theory. Most of what is known about the historical figure Hippocrates, the supposed founder of the Hippocratic medical approach, must be evaluated with caution. Hippocrates lived c. 460-370 BC, but further reliable information about his life is difficult to obtain.(1) Two passages from Plato are seen as legitimate sources of information about Hippocrates' life. Plato lived from 427-348 BC, making him a contemporary of Hippocrates. A passage from Plato's work Protagoras suggests that Hippocrates was a physician, associated with the island of Cos, who taught medicine to students for a fee. Another passage from a work of Plato, the Phaedras, alludes to a "method" by which Hippocrates gained an understanding of medicine. These sources provide some means by which to evaluate the impact of Hippocrates upon ancient medical practice.
The Corpus Hippocraticum
Many other texts attributed to Hippocrates shed light upon the Hippocratic method of medicine. None of these texts may be identified as Hippocrates' own work, however. These works are called the Corpus Hippocraticum and number upwards of sixty.(2) Scholars have suggested that the texts may have been part of a library collection, originally from Cos, that was subsequently moved to Alexandria and then added upon, building the collection of medical texts we have today.
Beginning around 460 BC, the concept of humoralism emerged throughout the written works of Hippocrates. These early works, some of the only medical works of this detailed nature to survive this period, delineated one of the first ways scholars and physicians viewed the body and more importantly illness. Shaped by the Hippocratics’ version of humoralism and his own interpretations of their written works, Galen resolutely supported the fundamental four-element theory, the notion of the four humors, and the essential practice of healing by applying opposites by physicians. However, Galen’s education in anatomy proved an effective advance in his medical reasoning away from a non-ontological view of illness into a considerably more ontological and
Hippocrates. On Regimen in Acute Diseases. Trans. Adams, Francis. Ca 400 BC. MS. The Internet Classics Archive: 441 Searchable Works of Classical Literature. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Web. 11 Apr. 2015.
He wrote the first complete medical books, called, Hippocratic Corpus, a collection of approximately 70 different works that described his medical theories and practices (“Hippocrates”, 1998). He also created the Hippocratic Oath, a document that outlines the ethics and morals of medicine. Although not in their original forms, both Hippocratic Corpus and the Hippocratic Oath are used today. During commencement, graduating medical students around the United States recite a modernized version of the Hippocratic Oath. This oath upholds physicians to the ethical code of medicine, allowing the patient to receive the best possible medical care.
Twenty four centuries ago, Hippocrates created the profession of medicine, for the first time in human history separating and refining the art of healing from primitive superstitions and religious rituals. His famous Oath forged medicine into what the Greeks called a technik, a craft requiring the entire person of the craftsman, an art that, according to Socrates in his dialogue Gorgias, involved virtue in the soul and spirit as well as the hands and brain. Yet Hippocrates made medicine more than a craft; he infused it with an intrinsic moral quality, creating a “union of medical skill and the integrity of the person [physician]” (Cameron, 2001).
The Ancient Greeks began to believe that illnesses had a natural cause – in about 400 BCE, a doctor named Hippocrates suggested that theories on supernatural causes were wrong, he came up with the idea of the Four Humours, saying that humans became ill when these humours became unbalanced. The Four Humours consisted of black bile, yellow bile, blood and phlegm. He believed that an imbalance in the humours should be corrected – for example, if he thought that a patient had too much blood, he would carry out a blood-letting to balance out the humours.
As a junior in high school, I am considering medicine as a possible career choice. Through my research in this field, I discovered the Hippocratic Oath. The Hippocratic Oath is the most famous of the Hippocratic documents; it has served as an ideal for the professional attitude and ethics of physicians to the present; the historical origin of the oath is so obscure that even the date of its composition is placed from the 6th to the 1st century B.C.
Although he lived four centuries before the birth of Christ, a man named Hippocrates recorded the symptoms of diseases we still see to this day. Known as the “Father of Medicine” (Hippocrates), Hippocrates was an ancient physician who studied and recorded his observances of the body’s infections and physiology. He set forth the foundation for future physicians, and in doing so, is accredited for our knowledge of infectious diseases in earlier centuries. During this time however, many believed the earth and its inhabitants were composed of four general elements: air, water, fire, and dirt. They also believed that any one person who fell ill was being punished by the gods. As a foresighted thinker though, Hippocrates encouraged the idea that humans became ill due to natural causes. In that wisdom, he recorded all his observances of his patients and their illnesses, taking careful note of the bodily symptoms and their progression.
The purpose of the Hippocratic Society, hereafter referred to as the Society, shall be to foster and broaden the intellectual perspectives of those with an interest in medicine; to facilitate this end, the club shall hold regular meetings, sponsor, when possible, academic and social pursuits such as guest speakers, attendances at state and national conventions of interest, and interaction with students at other colleges akin interests.
Tiner, John Hudson. Exploring the History of Medicine: From the Ancient Physicians of Pharaoh to Genetic Engineering. Green Forest: Master, 2009. Print.
The Roman medical system was also adopted from the Greeks. The concept of roman medicine focused on the teaching of Hippocrates. Hippocrates was known as the father of medicine. He and his followers who were called empiricist believed that disease should be looked at from a natural perspective. He replaced the concept of empedoclean elements with ...
Wrong theories of the anatomy have been assumed to be correct for thousands of years. Theories of using a scientific base were not used by the Europeans until the Renaissance period (“Medicine”). These theories, made by a Greek Physician named Galen, were supported by the Catholic Church. The Middle Ages were a difficult time to achieve medical advances because Galen’s theories were not to be questioned or tested(“The Impact of the Renaissance on Medicine”).Even after these theories appeared to be inaccurate, the support from such a high authority made it extremely difficult to change the medical practices and training(“Rennaissance medicine”).
Hippocrates succeeded Alcmaeon and rejected the superstitious ideas of priests being the only healers. He founded a medical school and taught his students that since disease came from something natural, it must be treated by natural means. He believed that the body was able to heal itself by the power of healing of nature...
As the centuries unrolled and new civilizations appeared, cultural, artistic, and medical developments shifted toward the new centers of power. A reversal of the traditional search for botanical drugs occurred in Greece in the fourth century BC, when Hippocrates (estimated dates, 460-377 BC), the "Father of Medicine," became interested in inorganic salts as medications.
Paracelsus (1493-1541). (2008). Brought to Life: Exploring the History of Medicine. Retrieved from Science Museum Online http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/people/paracelsus.aspx
Hippocrates was a Greek physician that left a legacy that existed during his lifetime in Classical Greece and continues today. His moral and ethical standards were the foundation of his teachings, along with his meticulous writings concerning the study of the human body. He firmly believed that poor health and disease were the result of a natural process that could be discovered and cured through careful clinical reasoning and observations. Hippocrates travelled throughout Greece teaching and describing disease symptoms, and taught doctors how to analyze and treat specific illnesses or diseases. Hippocrates’s accomplishments give him the respect from doctors and medical professionals around the world that continues even today.