Hippocrates

Hippocrates is believed to have breathed his last in 370 BC in Larissa, Greece. Some records state that the Greek physician died at the age of 83 or 90. Some other accounts claim that Hippocrates had lived more than 100 years.

He had two sons Draco and Thessalus whom he apprenticed in the practice of medicine. He also had a daughter and there is a legend about Hippocrates daughter. She was turned into a hundred foot long dragon by a Goddess named Diane and is considered to be the “Lady of the manor” of an old castle.

He is considered to be the “Father of Medicine”. The contributions that he made brought in revolution in the field of medicine and its practice.

Going by historians, Hippocrates was born around 460 BC in Cos, an island in Greece. There is, however, confusion regarding the dates and works surrounding him.

There are many sources of information about Hippocrates but Soranus of Ephesus, who was Hippocrates' first biographer, is the main source of most of the personal information about him. Other sources of information on Hippocrates are the Suda of the tenth century and the works of John Tzetzes. Contemporaries like Plato and Aristotle also mention about him in their works.

Historians believe that he was an avid traveler and moved a lot in Asia Minor and Greece teaching his pupils and practicing his art. It is also presumed that he taught at the medical school at Cos frequently.

According to Soranus of Ephesus, Hippocrates was the son of Heraclides, who was a physician and his mother Praxitela was the daughter of Tizane.

Hippocrates had two sons named Draco and Thessalus who were his students. Polybus, his son-in-law, was also his student. According to Galen, a later physician, Polybus became Hippocrates true successor whereas his sons Draco and Thessalus had a son each who were named after Hippocrates.

Hippocrates was probably the first person to believe that diseases are common and natural occurrences and not due to some external supernatural forces like gods. He stated that diseases were created by environmental factors, diet, and living habits.

Pythagoras and his disciples had credited Hippocrates for associating philosophy and medicine.

The Hippocratic School of medicine or Koan school applied general diagnoses and passive treatments to achieve success. This system focused on patient care and prognosis and not diagnosis.

Even though it achieved considerable success in treating diseases, Hippocratic system of medicine and its philosophy are different than that of modern medicine.

Crisis: Crisis was an important point in Hippocratic medicine. It is a point in the advancement of disease where either the patient would recover with the help of natural processes or the patient would succumb to death. Crisis also might be followed by a relapse. It was also highlighted that crisis occurred on critical days.

The description of many medical conditions and diseases has been attributed to Hippocrates and his disciples. He has been credited with the description of clubbing of fingers which is also known as “Hippocratic fingers”. This is an important sign that helps in diagnosing cyanotic heart disease and lung cancer.

He made different categories of illness namely epidemic, endemic, chronic and acute. Relapse, peak, crisis, resolution, paroxysm, exacerbation etc were terms that he used while describing illness. The relevancy of his teachings still holds prominence for students of surgery and pulmonary medicine. He had been the first documented “chest surgeon” and the techniques that he used and his findings are still practiced.

Hippocratic school of medicine describes aliments relating to human rectum and the relevant treatments. “Hippocratic Corpus” also mentions about excision and cautery. He also mentioned some fundamental concepts about proctoscopy in the corpus which are still in practice. There are references pertaining to endoscopy as well. In order to treat diabetes he prescribed exercises and diet which has been termed as lifestyle medicine in modern time.