HIPPOCRATES. 



57 



ject, impaired their confidence in themselves, and ob- 

 structed the full exercise of their talent. Great dif- 

 ferences may also depend on the period of life. Juve- 

 nile peitominrn may be comparatively lame or vola- 

 tile, and old age brings along with it a decay of the 

 intal power*, which may appear in the " 

 fssiassu i 1 to which it gives origin, 

 time of life will sometimes also account tor 

 cies of doctrine produced by rhanges of opinion which 

 have taken place between the times at which different 

 works have been composed. 



The principal editions of the works of Hippocrates 

 in the original are, those of Aldus at Venice in 1586; 

 and of Frobenius at Basle in 1538, both in folia 



The editions of Greek accompanied by Latin transU- 

 tions are, those of Hieronymus Mercurialis, at Venice, 

 in 1578; of Zwinger, at'Batlo, in 1579 ; of Anutius 

 Fbeeins, at Francfort, in 1595 ; of J. A. \ andtr Linden, 

 at Leyden, in 1665; of Renatus Chartrier, with the 

 works of Galen, at Paris; and of Stephen Mack at 

 Vienna, in 17*a, 1749, and 1759- 



The editions of Lathi tramlarinna, without the origi- 

 nal, are that of CraUnder at Basle, by several trans- 

 lators, in 1546; of M. F. Calous, at Rome, in 

 from MSS. in the Vatican ; of J. Cornarius. at Venice, 

 in 1545 ; and that of Anotius Foesias. at Francfort, in 

 1 396, in 8vo, by WecheL 



As Hippocrates was the fret author whs) applied phi- 

 losophical reasoning to medicine, the sect or the Dog- 

 matists looked up to him as their be. ' 

 not cultivate theory to the exclusion of 

 he was one of the 



U..t I.,- .1, I 



, and his reasonnsg has i 



r, and the want 



i li,- r.*r. 



to the doctrine 



i "of the human body, "n 

 of health and disease, be ac- 

 I active principle, which be "- 1 



-^M* 



by attracting what is good, re- 

 it, and MJijTHnu what M saprr- 

 in which he accounts 

 for the formation of the brain, the bones, the mem- 

 branes, and all the various parts, hat that air of ab- 

 wbich is universal in the physical philosophy 



taining and 



economy, 





very rally contained in the wo 



mm^A m. ' * "* 



(ir i. me*, .ind arr c^.iltru.v 



works 



ks which bav. rea 



deeply skilled in the diagnosis and prognosis of dis- 

 eases. By far the greater part of his descriptions are 

 still recognised as accurate by all who follow him in 

 the path of careful observation. The article in which 

 hi* observations are most deficient, is the pulse, which 

 he so much overlooked, that some have supposed him 

 altogether unacquainted with the changes to which it 

 is liable. It was chiefly from the degree of heat, and 

 the difficulty of respiration, that he judged of the state 

 of a fever. 



In the treatment of diseases, he inculcated a pro- 

 found respect for the progress of nature, whom he re- 

 garded as the arbiter and judge of diseases, and as hav- 

 ing certain salutary objects in view in the greater part 

 of those successive changes in the constitution which 

 they implied. Tli* doctrine is in fact the same which 

 has been maintained by various Liter theorists, under a 

 different set of term*i and with slight modifications, 

 such as the arcJiimt of Van Helmont, and the vis medi- 

 calrii not urn; of Dr Cullen. The opinions of Hippo- 

 crates on this general point made him unwilling to use 

 any means for interrupting the course of nature as ex- 

 hibited in the phenomena of disease : hence his prac- 

 tice is culpably feeble ; and those whom an admira- 

 tion of his genius has led to follow him cloitely, have 

 been too prone to satisfy themselves with the exercise 

 of tracing the course of diseases rather than to re- 

 sist their progress. These have been most numrrou* 

 in France, where the study of the Greek medicine i< 

 treated as a separate branch of education. TheHippo- 

 craiic method is denominated the method of expects- 

 ban. and is extolled as rational and sure. Kut it de- 

 physician Asrlepiailos, who called it a mere meditation 

 on death, a solicitude to obstrre bow a disease would 

 terminate, and what length of time it would require to 

 destroy the patient. Hippocrates indeed recommends 

 some practical remedies for the purpose of aiding the 

 good inlaatiani of nature, and gently curm 

 light deviations incident to it. His precepts in this 

 dipaHmaut are delivered with some formality, in coo* 

 formiiy to the style of the early philosophy ; but they 

 at* not charettsjisad by that emptiness and unmean- 

 ing mystery which often prevailed, and they exhi- 

 bit a justness of remark which was entirely his own. 

 His general principle was, to cure contraries by con- 

 traries, cold by heat, heat by cold, evacuation by 

 Jaylstius, and repletion by evacuation, in idiopathic 



He divides the conaritnent parti of the animal economy 

 into the solid*, the fluids, and the spiriu. The solids 

 are the containing parts, the fluids the parts contained, 

 and the spirits those which give motion to the whole. 

 < >n this BJihiMi, followed up with various subdm- 

 aione, he tsUhlishse his doctrine of the causes of dis- 



t.lood. the phlegm, th'e aVv DsM> asja) th> K-'Vl,,!.'. 

 and liliitt^Tatheae by the pansMhr, or the warn 

 of beat or of moisture. The blood is warm and moist ; 

 the phlegm cold and moist ; the yellow bile warm and 

 dry. and the black bile csjld and dry. The most valua- 

 ble parts of the wntiag* of Hippocrates are hi* histc- 



rinefnl In delmaatiiig these, we find him a 



laithful and laborious oberrvet *; hence he was 

 voi. UL FABT i. 



repletion by. 



fever., he began with the regulation of diet, which con- 

 sssted in prescribing abstinence, with a very sparing 

 allowance even of liquids, for three or four days, that 

 no mortml matter might be added to the system, 

 while nature threw off that which was already present. 

 This was succeeded by the exhibition of various liquid* 

 till the fnnnssnth dry, and it was not till a late period 

 that any solid food was allowed. Medicinal prepara- 

 tions were also long deferred, and consisted of gentle 

 laxatives and emetics In inflammatory coroplah. 

 practice was more active ; he used fomentations, blood- 

 letting, and purging. He also gave some weak wine and 

 which are, it must be nnfisnj, lew correct 

 i in disease* requiring the strictest anti- 

 . resonant. In erapyema (a collection of 



pus in the cavity of the thorax) he first drew out the 

 patient's tongue, then poured a little irritating liquid, 

 ienainl from the root of arum, from hellebore or cop- 



Einto the trachea, far the purpose of exciting a vio- 

 couf h, sad thus discharging the purulent matter. 



Hippu- 



