Hippocrates of Cos
c. 460-c. 375 B.C.
Greek Physician and Philosopher
Hippocrates is rightly called the "Father of Medicine. " His own writings and writings attributed to him, as well as legends about him and the oath of medical ethics that bears his name, continue to be important aspects of Western medicine today.
Hippocrates. (Library of Congress. Reproduced with permission.)According to Greek mythology, Asclepius, the god of medicine, settled his mortal son Podarios on the island of Cos in the Aegean Sea just after the Trojan War. Hippocrates is said to be a direct descendant of Podarios. All males in this line were physicians, and were known as Asclepiads. Hippocrates learned medicine from both Herodicus of Cnidus and Heraclitus. He probably lived and taught on Cos his entire life, but died in Larissa, Thessaly.
Hippocrates was esteemed during his lifetime as a medical practitioner, theorist, and scientist. His methods were gentle, simple, and often effective. His belief that many common diseases were caused by digestive disorders led him to prescribe simple dietary modification or mild herbal therapy for the majority of his cases.
Central to the Hippocratic teachings on physiology, or the functions of the body, is the humoral theory. Recorded by Aristotle and transmitted by Galen (A.D. 129-c. 216), it dominated Western medical thinking for 2,000 years. According to this theory, the body is healthy when the four fundamental liquids that govern it are balanced, but disease results when they get out of balance. These four liquids, or humors, are: yellow bile, which is hot and dry; black bile, which is dry and cold; phlegm, which is cold and moist; and blood, which is moist and hot. The humors derive from the four elements: fire, which is hot and dry; earth, which is dry and cold; water, which is cold and moist; and air, which is moist and hot; and from the four essential qualities: dryness, from a combination of fire and earth; cold, from a combination of earth and water; moistness, from a combination of water and air; and heat, from a combination of air and fire. The humors give rise to the four temperaments: choleric, when yellow bile predominates; melancholic, when black bile predominates; phlegmatic, when phlegm predominates; and sanguine, when blood predominates. The whole schema corresponds to the four seasons: summer, which is hot and dry; autumn, which is dry and cold; winter, which is cold and moist; and spring, which is moist and hot. When he treated a patient, Hippocrates sought to cure by restoring the balance between the humors.
The Hippocratic Oath, in which modern physicians still swear to uphold the ethics of their profession, was almost certainly not written by Hippocrates. It seems to be the product of a slightly later Pythagorean philosophy of medicine.
About 60 surviving works are attributed to Hippocrates, although it is impossible to decide which of the 60 were actually written by him. Ancient sources say that he wrote about 70. His topics cover every aspect of medicine—anatomy, physiology, and other medical sciences; clinical questions about internal medicine, diagnostic techniques, pathology, gynecology, pediatrics, pharmacology, and nutrition; medical ethics; and medical philosophy. Historians generally agree that the collection of works attributed to Aristotle at one time made up the library of a medical school, probably the library at Cos. The works were brought to the library in Alexandria, Egypt, during the second or third century B.C., where they were edited and made available to the medical community throughout the Hellenistic and Roman worlds.
The works of Hippocrates are marked by a deliberate and fatherly concern for his patients and his art, as well as an enlightened but serene assessment of the entire nature of things. In the Aphorisms, he wrote that life is short, art is long, opportunity is fleeting, experience is dangerous, and judgment is difficult. Authors as diverse as the Roman Stoic dramatist Seneca (ars longa, vita brevis), and the medieval English poet Geoffrey Chaucer ("The lyfe so short, the craft so long to lerne") have used this theme.
Hippocrates's ideas about medical treatment can be summed up by advice he gave in the Epidemics. He said that if physicians cannot cure adisease, then they should at least be sure not to make it worse. Mistranslated into Latin as Primum non nocere, this is usually interpreted as "First, do no harm."
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