56 



HIPPOCRATES. 



storm by negotiation, and sage remonstrances on the 

 baneful tendency of ambition. The exertions both of 

 the father and the son were successful. The Thessa- 

 lians, the Messenians, and the states of the Peloponne- 

 sus, engaged to espouse the interests of the island of 

 Cos; and the Athenians, partly out of regard for Hip- 

 pocrates, and partly from the apprehensions which so 

 much resistance created, abandoned their hostile de- 

 signs. 



Hippocrates entertained a deep sense of the import- 

 ance of the duties of the professional character. He 

 spared no pains which were necessary for his own im- 

 provement, and the successful practice of his art. He 

 was aware that medicine requires more assiduous at- 

 tention than other employments; he exacted of all 

 his pupils an oath, binding them to certain rigid prin- 

 ciples of duty, and, among other things, to engage, 

 that they would enter no house whatever except for 

 the purpose of relieving those who needed their assist- 

 ance. This rule, if taken according to the strict mean- 

 ing of the words, appears somewhat fantastic, as it sup- 

 poses that the number of patients and of practitioners 

 should always be nicely accommodated to one another. 

 It shews, however, the abhorrence which Hippocrates 

 had of any degree of negligence and frivolity in the 

 medical character. He was ready at all hours to attend 

 on a call ; and submitted with as much willingness to 

 all those minute attentions which were necessary for 

 the welfare of his patients, as to professional offices 

 which were apparently the most dignified. It also re- 

 dounded to his honour, that his attention was not less 

 directed to the gratuitous object of preventing, than to 

 the lucrative employment of curing disease. Of this 

 he has left a testimony in his writings, by treating on 

 the subject of diet and of water. These features of 

 disinterestedness would not merit great praise in mo- 

 dern times, in which they are so common, and are re- 

 quisite to establish a character, and are therefore of- 

 ten either mimicked for this express purpose, or avoid- 

 ed if they interfere with false and fashionable notions 

 of dignity. They acquire greater lustre from the con- 

 sideration of the different sort of manners which pre- 

 Tailed in the days of Hippocrates, as well as the com- 

 plete superiority to intrigue by which, in his conduct, 

 they were accompanied. 



His zeal for science and humanity was rendered ef- 

 ficient by his excellent talents, and the weight of his 

 personal character. His sagacity in observing nature 

 was a resource to him on every emergency ; and the 

 accuracy of his judgment led him to resist the useless 

 frivolities which superstition had introduced into medi- 

 cal practice. Inviolable secrecy, justice, and good faith, 

 marked the whole of his conduct. Uniting dignity with 

 humanity in his deportment, he employed firmness or 

 complacency on such occasions as called for the exer- 

 cise of either quality. He spoke but little ; and his 

 language was masculine and concise. His actions were 

 never conducted with agitation ; no prescription was 

 given with precipitance ; no circumstances were ne- 

 glected ; nor was the result ever left in any degree to 

 accident. If at any time he failed of success from want 

 of previous experience adapted minutely to any indivi- 

 dual case, he acknowledged his failure in the most in- 

 genuous manner. In his writings, he sometimes warns 

 his readers against mistakes and errors which he him- 

 self had committed, and which were attended with fa- 

 tal consequences. He exhibited in all respects a bright 

 example of the qualities which he himself enumerates, 

 with so much eloquence and good sense, as contributing 



to the perfection of the medical character. Hence his 

 precepts on that subject acquire a double authority. 



Hippocrates lived to a j;reat ape; some say 109, 

 others, however, make it much less. He died at La- 

 rissa, and was buried between that city and Gyrtona. 

 He left among numerous other disciples, his two sons, 

 Thessalus and Draco, both eminent physicians, and his 

 son-in-law Polybus, who had been a favourite pupil, and 

 afterwards became a celebrated teacher, and arranged 

 and published the works of his friend and master. In 

 statues and paintings Hippocrates is represented with 

 his head covered, which is different from the usual 

 manner of the Greeks, and was probably done on ac- 

 count of his having been so great a traveller, as that 

 was the only description of individuals who were uni- 

 formly thus distinguished. 



Hippocrates has always been regarded as the father 

 of his art. The honour in which he was held, both 

 during his life and after his death, was very high. 

 The inhabitants of Argos erected a statue of gold to 

 him. The Athenians more than once voted him a 

 crown of gold, and initiated him in their great reli- 

 gious mysteries. This last was a favour very seldom 

 conceded to strangers. Although he did not cultivate 

 general philosophy except as subservient to medicine, 

 he exemplified so ably its spirit, that Plato, Aristotle, 

 and others, looked up to him as a master, and some- 

 times commented on his opinions. Aristotle even fol- 

 lowed him as a model of stile. His works have been 

 held in high esteem in all subsequent ages ; they have 

 been translated or commented on by Galen, Celsus, 

 and numerous other physicians of the most eminent 

 genius, both in ancient and modern times. 



The treatises which have gone under his name are 72 

 in number ; but they are not all of equal authenticity. 

 Doctrines so contradictory are sometimes contained in 

 them, as shew them plainly to have been the works of 

 distinct authors. Some are probably of much more an- 

 cient origin than Hippocrates himself. Some are thought 

 to have been written by his grandfather, who bore the 

 same name : and several have been either much altered 

 and interpolated, or entirely written by subsequent 

 authors. Those which are universally allowed to be 

 genuine are, " the Aphorisms," " the Prognostics," 

 the first and third book "on Epidemics;" and the 

 book " on the influence of air, water, and local situa- 

 tion." Some are regarded as supposititious, because 

 they deviate from the character of Hippocrates, as 

 shown in the works now enumerated, both in solidity, 

 method, and correctness of language ; while others 

 bear only in part the character of this master, and in- 

 cline the critical reader to suspend his judgment of 

 their authenticity. These last seem to have been such 

 as Hippocrates left in an unfinished state, or the sub- 

 stance of notes or copies taken from his prelections by his 

 pupils. Such are " The Four Prognostics;" " the Pre- 

 dictions ;" the 2d, 5th, 6th, and 7th books " on Popular 

 Diseases ;" that " on Diet in acute Diseases ;" the books 

 " on the Parts of the Human Body ;" " on Aliment ;" " on 

 the Recoveries that happen on critical Days ;" and " on 

 the Humours." There is considerable difficulty, how- 

 ever, in deciding in the negative respecting the works said 

 to belong to a particular author. We may give a judg- 

 ment on the positive authenticity of certain perform- 

 ances, which bear the stamp of the genius and manner 

 of a masterly writer. But such writers often produce 

 works which are not equal to their genius, works which 

 have been written under inauspicious circumstances, 

 which have diminished their attachment to their sub- 



Hippo- 

 crates. 



