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HippocratesAncient Greek doctor
Country:
 Greece |
Content:
Biography of Hippocrates
Hippocrates, an ancient Greek physician, is renowned for being the first to establish medicine on scientific grounds, moving away from the dark empiricism and dispelling false philosophical theories that often contradicted reality. Every doctor, at the beginning of their professional journey, inevitably remembers Hippocrates. When they receive their diploma, they recite an oath dedicated to him. Apart from another Greek physician, Galen, who lived several centuries later, no one else has had such a significant influence on the development of European medicine.
Early Life and Education
Hippocrates was born on the island of Kos around 460 BC. The civilization and language of this colonized Dorian island were Ionian. He belonged to the Asclepiads family, a corporation of physicians claiming to descend from Asclepius, the great healer of Homeric times (Asclepius was only considered a god after Homer). Within the Asclepiads, medical knowledge was passed down from father to son, from teacher to student. Hippocrates' sons, son-in-law, and numerous disciples also became physicians.
The Asclepiads, also known as the School of Kos, maintained purely religious forms and customs in the 5th century BC, like any other cultural corporation of the time. For example, they had an oath that bound the students to their teacher and fellow professionals. However, this religious aspect of the corporation did not limit the search for truth, which remained strictly scientific. Hippocrates initially received medical education from his father, the physician Heraclides, and other physicians on the island. In his youth, he traveled extensively to enhance his scientific knowledge, studying medicine with local doctors and consulting the votive tablets that were posted in the temples of Asclepius.
Legacy and Works
The history of Hippocrates' life is not well known, and the legends and stories related to his biography have a mythical character. The name of Hippocrates, like Homer, later became a collective name, and many of the approximately seventy works attributed to him actually belong to other authors, primarily his sons, Thessalus and Dracon, and his son-in-law, Polybus. Galen recognized only eleven of Hippocrates' works as authentic, Galler recognized eighteen, and Kowner identified only eight unquestionably authentic works from the Hippocratic corpus. These works include treatises on "Winds," "Air, Waters, and Places," "Prognostics," "Diet in Acute Diseases," the first and third books of "Epidemics," and the "Aphorisms" (the first four sections). Additionally, there are several ethical writings, such as the "Oath," "Law," "On the Physician," "On Good Manners," and "Precepts," which transformed Hippocratic medicine into medical humanism in the late 5th and early 4th centuries BC.
During Hippocrates' time, it was believed that diseases were caused by evil spirits or witchcraft. Therefore, his approach to understanding the causes of diseases was innovative. He believed that diseases were not sent by gods but arose from various, entirely natural causes.
Hippocrates' great contribution lies in being the first to establish medicine on scientific foundations, moving it away from the dark empiricism and dispelling false philosophical theories that often contradicted reality and dominated over the experimental side of medicine. Viewing medicine and philosophy as inseparable sciences, Hippocrates sought to both combine and separate them, defining the boundaries of each. His writings vividly demonstrate his genius as an observer and the logical reasoning behind his conclusions. All of his conclusions are based on thorough observations and strictly verified facts, from which the conclusions themselves seem to naturally emerge. His accurate predictions of the course and outcome of diseases, based on the study of similar cases and examples, brought Hippocrates widespread fame during his lifetime. The followers of Hippocrates formed the so-called School of Kos, which flourished for a long time and determined the direction of modern medicine.
Hippocrates' writings contain observations on the spread of diseases depending on external influences such as climate, seasons, wind, water, and their physiological effects on a healthy human body. These works also provide data on the climatology of different countries, with detailed studies of the meteorological conditions in one area of the island and the relationship between these conditions and diseases. Hippocrates divided the causes of diseases into two classes: general harmful influences from climate, soil, heredity, and personal conditions of life and work, as well as diet. He believed that the proper influence of these conditions on the body leads to the correct mixture of bodily fluids, which he considered to be health.
Hippocrates' approach to examining patients is characterized by his tireless thirst for knowledge. He observes carefully and takes notes. His extensive collection of seven volumes called "Epidemics" is a series of notes made by the physician at the bedside of the patient. These notes contain cases discovered during medical rounds that have not yet been systematized. Occasionally, general thoughts unrelated to the presented facts are interwoven into the text, as if the physician recorded a passing thought that continuously occupies his mind.
One of these inquisitive thoughts touched upon the question of how to examine a patient, and immediately, a conclusive, revealing, and precise statement follows, showing much more than simple observation and portraying the scientist's mindset: "Examination of the body is a whole task: it requires knowledge, hearing, smelling, touching, language, reasoning."
Another reflection on the examination of the patient from the first book of "Epidemics" reads: "As for all the circumstances in diseases, based on which the diagnosis should be established, we learn all this from the general nature of all people and the specific nature of each person, from the disease and from the patient, from everything that is prescribed and from the one prescribing, for patients either feel better or worse from this; in addition, from the general and particular condition of celestial phenomena and any country, from habits, diet, lifestyle, age of each patient, from the patient's speech, manners, silence, thoughts, sleep, lack of sleep, dreams, their nature and frequency; from twitches, itching, tears, paroxysms, eruptions, urine, sputum, vomiting. It is also necessary to observe the changes in diseases, how they occur and progress, as well as the deposits leading to death or destruction, and also sweat, chills, cooling of the body, cough, sneezing, hiccups, breaths, belching, silent or noisy flatulence, bleeding, hemorrhoids. The examination should be based on all these signs and what happens through them."
It is worth noting the extensive range of requirements. During the examination, the physician takes into account not only the patient's current condition but also their past illnesses and the consequences they may have left behind. The patient's lifestyle and the climate of their place of residence are also considered. The physician does not forget that, as the patient is also a human being like everyone else, understanding other people is necessary for their knowledge. The physician examines their thoughts. Even the patient's "omissions" serve as indications for the physician! It is an arduous task that would confuse any mind lacking breadth.
As we would say today, this medicine is distinctly psychosomatic. In simpler terms, it encompasses the whole person (body and soul) and is connected to their environment and way of life, as well as their past. The consequences of this broad approach are reflected in the treatment, which, in turn, requires the patient to participate fully in their recovery, engaging both their body and soul under the guidance of the physician.
By closely observing the course of diseases, Hippocrates attached significant importance to different periods of diseases, particularly febrile and acute ones, establishing specific days for crises and turning points in illnesses when, according to his teachings, the body attempts to rid itself of undigested humors.
In his other works, such as "On Joints" and "On Fractures," detailed descriptions of surgeries and surgical interventions are provided. The descriptions of Hippocrates reveal that surgery in ancient times reached a very advanced level, with the use of instruments and various methods of bandaging that are still applied in modern medicine. In his treatise "On Diet in Acute Diseases," Hippocrates laid the foundation for rational dietetics and emphasized the need to feed patients, even those with fevers (which was later forgotten), establishing diets specific to different forms of diseases - acute, chronic, surgical, etc.
During his lifetime, Hippocrates achieved great fame. Plato, who was a generation younger than him but his contemporary in a broader sense, compared medicine to other arts in one of his dialogues, drawing a parallel between Hippocrates from Kos and the greatest sculptors of his time, Polyclitus from Argos and Phidias from Athens.
Hippocrates died around 370 BC in Larissa, Thessaly, where a monument was erected in his honor.
