The Contribution of Hippocrates to Medicine

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The Contribution of Hippocrates to Medicine

Greek doctors tried to understand what caused disease through careful

observation of people who were ill. They saw that when someone was ill

there was usually a liquid coming out of the body, for example phlegm

from nose or vomit from the stomach. They decided that these liquids

(which they called humours) must somehow be the causes of illness. The

liquid or humour must be coming out of the body because there was too

much of it. The humours had got out of balance with each other.

Hippocrates, the most famous Greek doctor, who developed the theory of

the four humours, told all of his students that illnesses could be

treated without the use of magic. He said all they had to do was

discover the nature of each disease. Then they would be able to treat

it.

The Hippocratic Oath

The Hippocratic Oath is still used today. It makes clear that doctors

do not use magic. They have to keep high standards of treatment and

behaviour and work for the benefit of patients rather than making

themselves rich. This also offered patients the right to

confidentiality.

Books

The Hippocratic collection contains books which doctors used for

centuries. Hippocrates may not have written all of these books and

historians cannot tell who did write them. This collection is

important because it is the first detailed list of symptoms and

treatments. Doctors continued to use the theories of Hippocrates as

the basis of their own work for hundreds of years.

Recording and Observing

Hippocrates showed how important it was to observe and record

carefully the symptoms and development of diseases. This had two

advantages. Doctors were more likely to choose the right cure if they

took care to find the cause of the problem. These notes could also be

used to help with the diagnosis and treatment of future patients.

Causes of disease & natural treatments

Hippocrates developed the theory of the four humours to explain the

causes of disease.

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