AN ESSA Y
HtIP P OC R A T ES$
M. D. KALOPOTHAI:ES, M. D.
FEBRUARY, 1857.!
18  5 7.
K  I N G & Xki A lD At   P R I N T E R S,  i








AN ESSAY
ON
I P P O C RATES
BY
M. D..,KALOPOTHAKES, M. D.
FEB-RUARY, 1857.
PHILADELPHIA:.
KING & BAIRD, PRINTERS,
185 7.




TO THE
VENERABLE REV. R. BAIRD, D.I).
AS A TOKEN OF
RESPECT AND GRATITUDE,
THIS PAMPHLET
IS INSCRIBED BY THE
AUTHOR.




OF MEDICINE BEFORE HIPPOCRATES.
THERE were both physicians and medicine before the
time of Hippocrates. The natural tendency or instinct in
man to preserve self, and to avoid every thing injurious to
health and destructive of life. on the one hand, accident, observation, and the analogy of the same circumstances on the
other, were the first sources of medicine. So that we may
with propriety and truthfulness affirm that it is synchronous
with man himself. And, as it would have been with man's
appearing upon the face of the earth, and with his immediate
descendants, had it not been for the Revelation of God, so
it is with the beginning of this science-it is enveloped in
the darkness and mystifications of the so called Mythological
ages. Osiris, Isis, Thoth, Mercury, Or, Apollo, gods, demigods, and heroes of the Phoenicians, Egyptians and Greeks,
constitute the first mythological epoch of medicine, which
extends' itself down to the time of Esculapius, whose sons
Podalirius and Machaon, skilful physicians, accompanied the
Greek army against the City of Troy. (Iliad II, 732.)
Two things are worth mentioning concerning the whole of
this period. 1. The custom that existed among some ancient
nations, and especially the Babylonians, of exposing their
sick in -the streets, markets and thigh-ways, for the purpose
of ascertaining the curative means from those who might
have previously suffered or witnessed similar diseases; and
2. The condition of medicine in Egypt. (See Herod., book
II. ch. I. Diod. of Sicily, book II.) By these means materials of empiricism were little by little collected; practical
medicine followed these first steps of empiricism according
to observation, accident, and analogy; and these at last became the foundations upon which the Greek mind built the
science which is designated by the name of medicine.
Among the hero physicians is numbered Chiron the




4
Centaur, (1350-1370, B. C.) skilled in herbs and the
cure, of wounds. His disciple was the famous Esculapius,
(1321-1343,) who acquired greater skill in Botany, Practice
of medicine and Surgery, than his teacher Chiron. So great
was his reputation, that temples all over Greece were erected
and dedicated to him; and, according to the fashion of those
times, he himself was declared and adored;as the God of
medicine. His priests afterwards like those in Egypt practiced medicine to the exclusion of all others, exercising great
influence over the masses because of the reputation of this
God. The sick who resorted to them for medical counsel
and treatment, when. restored to health, were in the habit of
writing upon tablets the name of the disease from which
they had suffered, and the medicament by the use of which
they had been cured, and. hang them in the temples. On
the greater or smaller number of these tablets depended the
reputation of the temples which at last became the resort
for the scure of all varieties of diseases. These temples that
may be justly and properly termed the first hospitals, were
denominated Asclepiia from Asclepius to whom they were
dedicated; and the priests, who were at the same time his
vice-gerents in medicine, were called Asclepiadce.  They,
like the priests of Egypt, monopolized medicine, and transmitted it to posterity by initiating their sons or immediate
relations, into the mysteries of.the healing art.
In proportion to the spread of this worship of the God of
medicine new Asclepiia were erected everywhere in Greece;
and in the lapse of time, they were transformed into medical
schools, in which, however, none but the relatives of Asclepiadae had tickets of admission.
The most famous of these Asclepiia were those in Rhode,
Cyrene in Libya, Cnidos and Cos. The two first, however,
died out not long afterwards; but those of Cnidos and Cos
were for a long time in great reputation for their illustrious
Asclepiade, and the rich collections of practical observations, in which the empiric system of medicine of those times
consisted. Hippocrates the Great himself, was educated in
one of these schools, viz., that of Cos.




5
Meanwhile the Philosophers commenced to turn their
attention to the study of Botany, Anatomy, Physiology, and
Hyginics; and, by their long-continued travels through
Egypt and elsewhere they acquired an extensive knowledge
of empirical medicine. In this way a new set of physicians
sprung up, the so called "Philosopher Physicians," and medical schools on this new footing were opened. A kind of
rivalry thence arose between these and the Asclepiadae, the
consequence of which was the gradual reformation of medicine, the latter being compelled to rend asunder the veil of
secrecy that characterized their proceedings, to cast away
their impostures and sorceries, to throw open their Asclepiia
to the inspection of the world, and to depend upon experience and proof more than upon charms, amulets, incantations
and the supernatural aid of Esculapius. The descendants of
Nebrus especially; that is, the ancestors of Hippocrates
the Great, distinguished themselves in this reformation.
Paying their attention to experience and observation, purging their profession from prejudice and deceit, and faithfully
following nature both in its normal phenomena and morbid
deviations and issues, they.greatly assisted in preparing the
way for the father of medicine to elevate it from simple, rude,
elementary empiricism to a systematic logical science.
From what has been said, it is obvious that medicine developed itself gradually and slowly; that there were both
skilful physicians and medical schools before the time of
Hippocrates the Great-and that, to -use the language of the
learned Sprengel (Histoir de la Medicide, Vol. I., p. 215)
"we must seek the first traces of logical and epistemonical
study of all human learning, neither in Egypt nor in India,
neither in Persia, nor in Rome nor Palestine, but beneath
the beautiful blue sky of Greece. Its peculiar geographical
and topographical position, surrounded by sea, abounding
in bays, harbors, and fertile islands, and its sweet, refreshing
and invigorating climate, gave strength and developement
to the mind, the imagination and the sense of the beautiful;
training on the other hand, and the intercourse with the




neighboring nations, assisted to a considerable degree to the
perfection of different sciences, and especially that of medicine.
OF HIPPOCRATES THE GREAT.
What an uncertainty and doubt there is of the time in
which Hippocrates the Great lived, and of the genuineness
of the writings that have come down to us under his name,
may be demonstrated by the' great multitude of conflicting
treatises that have been published on this subject, and by
the silence of his contemporary writers. Avoiding the
hyperbole of both those who accept all, and those who reject
all, we shall treat in this essay of Hippocrates of the following topics:1st. Whether Hippocrates the Great ever lived, and in
what epoch.
2d. Whether he wrote all the books that bear his name,
or some of them only, or none at all.
3d. Whether he deserves the appellation of the Great.
I. Did.Hippocrates the Great ever live, and in what epoch.
The first part of this inquiry may be decided by a single
glance at the list of the Hippocrateses with which the older
writers have furnished us.
There are mentioned in history twenty-three Hippocrateses, of whom seven only were AscIepiadse physicians
of Cos, the following1. Hippocrates the son of Gnosidicus the grand-father of
Hippocrates the Great.
2. Hippocrates the 2d, the son of Heraclides and Phsenareta.
3. Hippocrates the son of Thessalus, against whom, it is
supposed by some, Antiphon the orator wrote.
4. Hippocrates the son of Draco.
5 and 6. The two sons of Thymbeaus of Cos.
7. Hippocrates the son of Praxianax, a physician of Cos.
Now, the most famous and illustrious of them all, was,




according to historical records, Hippocrates the Second, son
of Heraclides and Phaenareta; and, on this account he was
called Hippocrates the Great; and also the father of medicine;
not because he first invented medicine, but, because he
arranged the already existing sporadic and rude materials
of medicine into a systematic form.
Respecting the latter part of the inquiry, viz., in what
epoch he did live, there is a little difference of opinion.
Plato in his Phaedon, speaks of Hippocrates as teaching
medicine, ~lt p0w, and as being acknowledged skilful in the
observation of nature and in medicine.
Soranus goes even so far as to specify the very year of
his birth, by saying that he was born in the first year of the
eightieth Olympiad, Movcapxotvro'Af3pp&id, jmpo''Ayptobvv.
Aulus Gallus, (Noct. Att., xxii. 21,) speaking of the
Peloponesian war, mentions Hippocrates as being contemporary with Sophocles and Euripides. " Itaque inter haec
"tempora nobiles celebresque erant Sophocles ac deinde
"Euripides, tragici poetae, and Hippocrates medicus, et
"Democritus philosophus, quibus Socrates Atheniensis natu
"quidem posterior fuit, sed quibusdam temporibus iisdem
"vixerunt."
But the most complete of all historical records we possess
of Hippocrates is a biography of his written by one called
Pseudo-soranus. Biography.
"Hippocrates by birth was of Cos, the son of Heraclides
"and Phmenareta, tracing his ancestry to Herculis and Escu.
"lapius, the twentieth descendant from the first, and the
"twenty-ninth from the latter. Eratosthenes, Pherecydes,
"Apollodorus, and Arius of Tarsus make mention of his
"genealogy. He became a pupil of Heraclides, his own
"father, then of Herodicus, and according to some he studied' under Gorgias of Leontini, the orator, and Draco the Abde"rite, the philosopher. He flourished during the period'of
"the Peloponesian war, having been born, as says Histo.
" machus in his first book of the Hippocratean school, in the
" first year of the eightieth Olympiad, during the monarchia




8
"of Abriadas, the twentieth of the month of Agrianus accord"ing to Sovanus who had searched the archives of Cos, on
"which account, he says, the inhabitants of Cos offer sacrifices
"to Hippocrates on this same day until the present time. Hav"ing made himself familiar with medicine and the arts and
"sciences in general, after thie death of his parents, he
"removed from his country, as Andreas slanderously relates
"in his book on Medical Genealogy on account of having set
"fire to the Hall of Records at Knidos, as others say for the
"purpose of beholding the customs and manners of various
"places, and thus qualifying himself in a more diversified
" manner. But as Soranus of Cos relates, because he had a
"dream directing him to inhabit Thessaly. In pr aicing
"his profession through the whole of Greece, he a-tined
"such reputation that he was publicly invited by Perdicas,
"the King of the Macedonians, who was supposed to be
"consumptive.  After he went to him with Europhond who
"was older than himself, he noticed that the malady was a
"mental one; for the King, after the death of his father,
I' Alexander, fell in love with Phila, his mistress, to whom
" having revealed the matter, since he had observed that whilst
"she was in sight he was in excitement, he cured the disease
" and restored the King to health. He was also requested
"by the Abderites to come to them and cure Democritus,
"who was thought to be insane, and save the whole city
"from the pestilence. Besides, when the pestilence made
"its appearance in the land of the Ilyrian and Paeonian bar"barians, and the kings of those countries requested him to
"come to them, having ascertained from the ambassadors
"what were the prevailing Wiinds there, he sent them away
"without accepting the call; and conjecturing that the dis"ease would come to Attica, he foretold it, and thus ren" dered himself serviceable both to the cities and'to his pupils.
"And so patriotic he was, that when his fame had reached
"as far as the Persians, and on this account Artaxerxes had
"through Istanis, the Governor of Hellespont, requested
" him to come to him, promising him great gifts, he declined




"because of his modesty and freedom from avarice, as is
"manifest from his letter to Artaxerxes. He saved also his
" native city which was about to be attacked by the Athe"nians by invoking the assistance of the Thessalians, on
"which account he obtained signal honors among the inha-'bitants of Cos. So, likewise among the Thessalians, the
"Argives, and the Athenians, who publicly initiated him'the second from Herculis, into the Eleusinian mysteries,
"enrolled him as a citizen, and granted him and his descen"dants the privilege of being entertained at the public
"expense in the Prytanium. He liberally taught his friends
" his profession together with the becoming oath. He died' among the Larissians at the same time that Democritus is
" said to have died, according to some, ninety years of age,
"according to others eighty-five, according to others one
"hundred and four, and according to some one hundred
"and nine. He was buried between Gyrton and Larissa;
" and his monument is shown to the present day. Upon
"this there was for a long time a swarm of honey-bees
" making honey, with which the nurses anointing children
"that suffered from aphthke, at the tomb easily cured them."
" In most of his portraits he is represented, with his head
" covered, as some say, with a hat, as an emblem of nobility
"like Ulises and as others say with his cloak; and among
" these some suppose that it was done for the sake of come"liness, since he was bald; others to express that the lead" ing part of the body should be guarded; others that it was
" an evidence of his roving disposition, or of the obscurity of
" his writings, or of the necessity of warding off even in health
" what is injurious, and others that he placed upon his head the
"loose part of his cloak, folding it together in order to enjoy
" freedom of his hands."
"Concerning his writings there has been a diversity of'opinion, some having one opinion and others another.
"Hence, it is not easy to determine respecting them, on
"account of many causes obscuring the decision first, the
" title; second, the ability of preserving the same phraseology




10' third, the fact that the same person writes now vigorously' and at another time more feebly, on account of his age,
"and other causes besides these might be given. He was
"free from  avarice, modest in his deportment, and a lover
" of the Greeks, in as much as he cured his countrymen with
"all dilligence, so as to deliver whole cities from pestilence,
"as has been mentioned, whence, also, he obtained signal'"honors, not only among the inhabitants of Cos, but also
"among the Athenians and Argives. At his death he left
"two sons, Thessalus and Draco, and very many disciples; and
"it is said that he left his sons in a most illustrious position."
From these and other testimonies which we forbear mentioning, it is evident that Hippocrates the great was a native
of Cos, a descendant of Asclepiadae, and the son of Heraclides and Phaenareta, that his father too, was called Hippocrates, the son of Gnosidicus; that he learned medicine from
his father (as it was customary with all the Asclepiadae to
initiate their sons into the mysteries of the healing art)
Rhetoric from Georgias of Leodini, and Philosophy from
Democritus the Abderite; that he was known at the time of
the Peloponesian war, and according to Celsus he was " vir et
arte et fancundia itsignis," that he left his country for the
purpose of improving his medical knowledge, that, as is
shown from his writings, he travelled through Seythia,
Macedonia, Thessaly, the islands of Archipelago, Thasos,
Smyrna and Athens; and that he visited the most illustrious Asclepiae of his time, where he studied both diseases
and their therapeutics, and collected the materials upon
which he built his system of medicine.
II. Are all the books that have come down to us under
the name of Hippocrates his own works, or some of them
or none at all?
Books ascribed to Hipppocrates.
1. The Oath.
2. The Law.
3. Of the Art of Medicine.
4. Of the Art of Medicine in former times.




5. Of the Physician.
6. Of Decency and Decorum.
7. Precepts.
8. The Book of Prognostics.
9. On the Humours.
10. On Crises.
11. On Critical Days.
12. Predictions' Book, 1.
13. Predictions' Book, 2.
14. The Coan Prognostics.
15. Of the Nature of Man.
16. Of Generation.
17. Of the Fcetal Nature.
18. Of the Origin of Man.
19. Of the Seventh Month Birth.
20. Of the Eighth Month Birth.
21. Of Superfcetation.
22. Of Dentition.
23. Of the Heart.
24. Of the Glands.
25. Of the Nature of the Bones.
26. Of Airs, Waters, and Localities.
27. Of Flatus.
28. Of Epilepsy.
29. Of Healthy Diet.
30. Of Regimen, books 1, 2, 3.
31. Of Dreams.
32. Of Aliment.
33. Of Diet and Acute Diseases.
34. Of the Different Parts of Man.
35. Of the Use of Liquids.
36. Of Diseases.
37. Of Affections.
38. Of Internal Affections.
39. Of the Diseases of Virgins.
40. Of the Nature of Women.
41. Female Diseases, books 1, 2.




12
42. Of Barrenness.
43 Of Vision.
44. Of the Office of the Physician.
45. Of Fractures.
46. Of Joints.
47. Of the Reduction of Fractures and Luxations.
48. Of Ulcers.
49. Of Fistulse.
50. Of HIemorrhoids.
51. Of Wounds of the Head.
52. Of the Extraction of the Dead Foetus.
53. Of Dissections.
54. Epidemics, books 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
55. Of Pestilential Constitution.
56. The Book of Aphorisms.
57. Of Mania.
58. Of Medicines.
59. Of Horse Diseases.
60. Of the Use of Veratrum.
61. Twenty-two Epistles.
Time that spares nothing, revolutions, wars and emigrations, the selfishness and egotism  of ancient philosophers
and sophists, the conflagration of libraries, and the expensiveness of copying, how much all these causes have contributed to the loss, mutilation, plagarism and spuriousness
of the ancient writings before the invention of printing, is
already and well known to those who occupy themselves
with the history of letters. No wonder, then, if the writings
of Hippocrates, too, met with a similar fate. And it seems
probable that this took place, especially at the time of the
Kings of Pergamus and Egypt.," r1is?~x,}ovu5 ivcqttorfiAovAEVVO, ~E  X,O n r'2a5  ~C@x&,v, (as Galen remarks,) v 4EpI r&,
A~ypa't&a xca &MEva p5 rptao 7,VE0rcW  cLa8tovoZvpyb."  An examination of the writings themselves, however, and a comparison
with each other, will at once convince one that they have
not all come out of the same hand. All the ancient commentators of Hippocrates without exception and among




13
them Galen who devoted himself particularly to the scrutiny
of the iippocratean writings, declares that most of them
were written by writers either anterior or posterior to Hippocrates. He observes that he could distinguish the spurious from the genuine ones from their phraseology, and the
theories they advocated; and promises in his commentary
on "H _umours," to write a special work on this point. If
he did in fact fulfil his promise, that work like many others
is lost. The same author declares that he had seen in the
Royal Library of Pergamus manuscripts of Hippocrates'
writings that were written three hundred years previous
to that time; and this is not improbable; for we can trace
historical records of Hippocrates' writings as far back as the
time of: Aristotle. This point, then, being decided, the
question next arises, which of these writings are the genuine
writings of Hippocrates the Great?
From the Alexandrian epoch down to the present day
there has been a difference of opinion among the Philologists
and Critics in regard to the genuine works of Hippocrates.
All of them however, both ancient and modern, admit that
the following works were written by Hippocrates himself.
1. The first seven books of Aphorisms.
2. The Book of Prognostics.
3. Of Diet and Acute Diseases.
4. The first and third Books of Epidemics.
5. Of Fractures of the Head.
The rest are attributed, some to his sons Thessalus and
Draco, some to his son-in-law Polybus, others to Hippocrates
the first, and others to others.
III. Does iHipprocrates deserve the appellation of the Great?
If we take into consideration the moral and religious condition of the World and the comparatively dimmed and
obscure lights of sciences at the time of Hippocrates; and
then peruse the system he was able to form in spite of them
all, we would not deny him this title given him by his pos



14
terity; for the fewer and more imperfect the means he
possessed, the greater must be the cause for our admiration
and esteem that he wrote so well. Had he lived in our
time with all the means we possess at his disposal for his
co-operation, he might have outshone all and every one of
the brightest stars that adorn and illuminate the medical
horizon. Htis observing character, his disposition to order
and arrangement, and his unprejudiced and sound judgment led him to place the facts he has obtained by his own
observation and the experience of his predecessors, on a
basis that has heroically borne the large superstructure laid
upon it by the investigations of more than two thousand
years. Nay, he has done more than that, he has given us
such general rules, theories and precepts, that thoug h they
admit expansion, shall still hold true as long as earth exists.
Who can actually peruse his writings without finding in them
a complete encyclopedia of all the elementary knowledge
both practical and theoretical of medicine, sufficient to evince
him of the greatness of the man?  Who can read his oath
without feeling the full power of the noble qualities of his
soul, or his prognostics without admiration at the philosophical conclusions to which his close observations had led
him? Which of the medical men would not acknowledge
the correctness of the axiom-like aphorisms of this great
man, and wonder at the almost perfect way of treatiig, dislocations fractures and wounds?  What can be aldded to
the advice he gives to the physician, that he should take
into consideration the age, sex, temperament, climate, localities, seasons of the year, prevailing epidemics and to sympathies existing between different organs of the systemthat he should derive his symptoms from every source;
from the countenance, the eyes, the mode of decubitus, the
motions of the arms and hands, the talkativeness and silence
of the individual, his respiration, the condition of the skin
and tongue, watchfulness or somnolency, his excretions of
all kinds, such as faces, urine, sweat, crepitus, saliva, sputa,
tears &c., both in relation to quantity and quality; and




15
above all that he should endeavor by all means to trace and
find out the cause of the disease and cure it?  Who can
deny this great truth he laid down more than two thousand
years ago, viz: that it is not medicine that cures disease, but
Nature; and that the physician should employ such means
that should strengthen and facilitate its operations to the accomplishment of this end? And yet there are not a few in
the medical circle who know but the name of this man!
And there are many more who unfortunately believe that
all they find in the medical books of our day are the
achievements of modern times, and that the writings of such
men as Hippocrates and Galen are to be considered but as
monuments worthy of being preserved in the files of Public
Libraries rather than to be taken up and consulted by men
so much advanced in the knowledge of medicine!
In closing this brief and imperfect treatise on Hippocrates,
I cannot but wish and hope that the day is not far off when
some one of the young American physicians would undertake to translate the writings not only of Hippocrates, but
also of Galen. The work at first sight appears of little or no
importance; but when done it will amply repay him for all
his labors, and give to the American medical world the benefit of the experience of those men whom they are taught to
respect and admire for their high medical attainments and
for the scientific shape they have given to the all-important
art —Medicine. Before that time, however, we would advise
all who occupy themselves with the art of medicine to read
the excellent volume of Dr. Coxe on Hippocrates and Galen.
We were very much pleased with the accurate outline given
by its learned author of Hippocrates and Galen and their
writings, and think that it should have a place in the library
of every medical man.




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