222 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



There is little in the writings of Hippocrates of direct value to us 

 to-day; yet while crude, imperfect, and visionary, they were of pro- 

 found importance in the development of medicine. They constitute 

 the first systematic literary presentation of pure medical science and 

 art, aside from sacerdotal systems. They were, for the time, a very 

 creditable beginning toward the development of rational medicine; and 

 had progress in the subsequent ages been as substantial as that in the 

 brief time prior to Hippocrates, the history of internal medicine for the 

 ensuing two thousand years would not have been one of stagnation 

 and inefficiency. Hippocrates showed himself to be a keen observer of 

 clinical phenomena, a master clinician, and the part of his work of 

 permanent value was the accumulation of clinical facts by observa- 

 tion, or the empirical method of developing medical knowledge which 

 time has shown to be the only efficient method. Hippocrates displayed 

 the noblest conception of the medical vocation, and in this, with his 

 method of developing clinical knowledge, he set a standard and example 

 for all time. 



The doctrines of Hippocrates did not immediately gain general 

 acceptance; soon after his death they nearly fell into oblivion, but six 

 centuries later they were revived and given a vogue by Galen and then 

 attained a dominant influence which they continued to exercise until 

 the dawn of the modern era. During the interval between Hippocrates 

 and Galen (B.C. 400 to 200 A.D.) a number of medical systems devel- 

 oped and continued in force for varying periods. The principal of 

 these systems were : 



1. The Dogmatic School. — This, based on the theories of Plato 

 (B.C. 427-347), was developed by the immediate successors of Hippo- 

 crates, but it survived for only a few decades. The doctrines of this sect 

 were highly speculative, and the humoral pathology was a fundamental 

 tenet. 



2. The school or following of Herophilus, originally located in 

 Alexandria, flourished about B.C. 290 to A.D. 100. Herophilus, its 

 founder, lived about 335-280 B.C., was one of the earliest anatomical 

 investigators, and in part followed Hippocrates. 



3. The school of Erasistratus, a famous contemporary and rival of 

 Herophilus, also of Alexandria. His following flourished about B.C. 

 280 to A.D. 200. 



4. The Empirical School, which existed about B.C. 280 to A.D. 117, 

 was based on the skeptical philosophy of Pyrrho (B.C. 376-288). It 

 rejected hypothetical speculations on the underlying causes and nature 

 of phenomena, and recognized as valid only such knowledge as was 

 derived from observation and experience. This school, therefore, had 

 the only successful method of developing knowledge, identical with the 

 modern inductive and scientific method, but it was not acceptable to the 

 ancient and medieval habits of thought. 



