GREEK BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE 



of the patient's reaction or the persistence of 

 the noxious agent. And, finally, he showed 

 himself true to the Hippocratic spirit in refus- 

 ing blind obedience to any authority (even 

 that of Hippocrates himself, whose reputed 

 works he had studied diligently) and in testing 

 everything by observation. His spirit is re- 

 flected in a passage from one of his letters 

 referring to his own medical writings: 



" I have been very careful to write nothing 

 but what was the product of faithful observa- 

 tion, and neither suffered myself to be deceived 

 by idle speculations, nor have deceived others 

 by obtruding anything upon them but down- 

 right matter of fact." '* 



With Sydenham and the turn toward Hip- 

 pocratic methods, we may leave this romance 

 of the conflict and alliance between medical 

 theory, or medical science, and medical prac- 

 tice. To continue it exceeds my space as it 

 does my powers. We have the word of the 

 veteran of medical science and medical history 

 that Hippocrates and Sydenham " did useful 

 work for mankind in the twilight." Sir Clifford 

 Allbutt has loved them well, these great for- 

 bears of his, kin to each other though two 

 thousand years apart. But now Sir Clifford, 



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