A HISTORY OF SCIENCE 



in natural causes, nevertheless, dogma and theory held 

 an important place. The humoral theory of disease 

 was an all-important one, and so fully was this theory 

 accepted that it influenced the science of medicine all 

 through succeeding centuries. According to this cele- 

 brated theory there are four humors in the body 

 blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. When 

 these humors are mixed in exact proportions they 

 constitute health ; but any deviations from these pro- 

 portions produce disease. In treating diseases the 

 aim of the physician was to discover which of these 

 humors were out of proportion and to restore them to 

 their natural equilibrium. It was in the methods em- 

 ployed in this restitution, rather than a disagreement 

 about the humors themselves, that resulted in the va- 

 rious "schools" of medicine. 



In many ways the surgery of Hippocrates showed a 

 better understanding of the structure of the organs 

 than of their functions. Some of the surgical proced- 

 ures as described by him are followed, with slight mod- 

 ifications, to-day. Many of his methods were entirely 

 lost sight of until modern times, and one, the treat- 

 ment of dislocation of the outer end of the collar-bone, 

 was not revived until some time in the eighteenth 

 century. 



Hippocrates, it seems, like modern physicians, some- 

 times suffered from the ingratitude of his patients. 

 "The physician visits a patient suffering from fever or 

 a wound, and prescribes for him," he says ; " on the next 

 day, if the patient feels worse the blame is laid upon 

 the physician; if, on the other hand, he feels better, 

 nature is extolled, and the physician reaps no praise." 



