THE HIPPOCRATICS 



no need of vain hypotheses, as is the case in 

 matters inaccessible to sense and open to doubt. 

 Concerning these, if one essay to speak, one 

 must resort to hypothesis. So, if one should 

 speak and entertain an opinion touching things 

 in the heavens or under the earth, it would be 

 clear neither to the speaker nor to those who 

 heard him whether his opinion was true or 

 false; for there is no appeal to aught that can 

 establish the truth." 8 



The tract proceeds to show that the art of 

 medicine has grown through observation of the 

 needs and diseases of men, — not through 

 the acceptance of some hypothesis as to their 

 cause. 9 For example, the regulation of the 

 patient's diet, especially in acute illness, was 

 fundamental in Hippocratic medicine. And the 

 tract argues that no improvement in diet, even 

 for people in health, could have come about 

 except through observation of the ill effects of 

 unsuitable food. Much more, then, has long 

 clinical experience shown the need to modify 

 the regimen of a patient suffering from a fever. 

 Indeed nothing has so promoted the art of 

 medicine as observing how the food for a 

 healthy man injures the sick, and the conse- 

 quent endeavor to regulate the patient's regi- 



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