HIPPOCRATES. 475 



blood which abounds in feeble, melancholy con- 

 stitutions, with black bile. It is equally certain, 

 that what he called red blood, was what we term 

 arterial blood, the abundance of which is marked 

 by a vigorous, sanguine temperament. And 

 there is good reason to believe, that the yellow 

 bile of Hippocrates was only another name for 

 the coagulating lymph, or fibrine; as he sup- 

 posed that it imparted a yellow colour to the 

 watery portion of the blood ; for the bile secreted 

 by the liver never produces this effect, unless 

 when the system is in a diseased state.* 



The pathological views of Hippocrates were 

 founded on the above doctrines. He taught, 

 that whatever alters the natural condition of the 



* Several passages were published in the Lancet of Septem- 

 ber, 1835, by Mr. Girtin, from the writings of Hippocrates, 

 which, taken separately, would seem to shew that he was ac- 

 quainted with the circulation. For example, in his treatise de 

 Insomniis, as quoted by Mr. Girtin from the Vander Linden 

 edition of his works, he observes, that " rivers return to their sources 

 in an unaccountable and extraordinary manner, like the circula- 

 tion of the blood." (Tom. i. p. 460.) In another treatise, he 

 says, " I protest I know not where it begins, nor where it ends, 

 for in a circle there is neither beginning nor ending." (Idem, de 

 Alimento, torn. i. p. 596.) " The heart and veins are always in 

 motion/' (Idem, de Principiis, torn. i. p. 116.) But there are 

 many passages in the writings of Hippocrates, Plato, and Aris- 

 totle, which prove that they regarded the arteries as destined to 

 convey spirits and heat to all parts of the body, and the veins as 

 blood vessels. When describing the use of different parts of the 

 body, Galen says, that air was supposed to be taken into the 

 lungs, where the most pure and subtile portion was separated from 



