THE HELLENIC PERIOD 51 



is also the love of the profession." These recommenda- 

 tions are the more significant, because in the absence 

 of all supervision by the State, they formed the only 

 official rule for the practice of medicine. They are 

 taken from a collection of writings which bear the 

 name of Hippocrates, but were certainly not all written 

 by him. In fact these writings form a very varied 

 collection ; they contain fragments from the school of 

 Cnidus, which was on many points in opposition to that 

 of Cos ; in them there are also observations of the sick, 

 noted day by day, which were never intended to be 

 made public ; and violent criticisms against super- 

 naturalism and mystical arithmetic. For example, in 

 a manuscript entitled : On ancient medicine, the author 

 holds up to derision those who postulate arbitrarily a 

 single primary cause and pretend to explain all maladies 

 by heat or cold, moisture or dryness. Such a pro- 

 ceeding is excusable in the speculations of philosophers, 

 but when health and life are at stake, it is inadmissible. 

 Every substance that gives out heat possesses special 

 properties, which act very differently on man ; it is 

 these different effects which must be known in each 

 particular case. General theories, such as those of 

 Empedocles, belong to philosophy, they have no value 

 in medical science. Doubtless the physician must 

 strive after a knowledge of nature, but in detail. This 

 aim can never be attained by empty speculations ; 

 experience and observation of individual cases alone 

 are fruitful. But the task is hard, most physicians are 

 like inexperienced pilots, who know how to navigate 

 in calm weather, but whose incapability is revealed 

 by the tempest at the cost of a shipwreck. Fortun- 

 ately, slight maladies are more common than serious 

 ones, in which any mistake has swift and fatal conse- 

 quences. 1 



The Collection of Observations shows us the con- 

 1 15 Heiberg, Naturwiss., p. 15. 



