ascribed to him by the Dogmatists. That the fame of Hippocrates should increase by such conduct (if the circumstances are to be credited) cannot be a matter of surprise; and we are told that the knowledge of his excellence prevailed to such an extent, that the senate of Abdera solicited Hippocrates to visit their renowned philosopher, Democritus, in his solitude, under the impression that he was afflicted with insanity. Hippocrates is said to have paid this visit, convinced the people of Abdera of their error, and refused to receive ten talents which were offered to him for his services upon this occasion. It must be observed that the account of this interview is not supported by any satisfactory evidence. Reland states the letter, in which the visit of Hippocrates to Democritus is related, to be the composition of Epictetus. The following translation of this letter may not be uninteresting to the reader :

"Our city, Hippocrates, is in very great danger, together with that person, who we hoped would ever have been a great ornament and support to it. But now, ye gods ! it is much to be feared, that we shall only be capable of envying others, since he, through extraordinary study and learning, by which he gained it, is fallen into sickness, so that it is much to be feared, that if Democritus become mad, our city will become desolate. For he is got to such a pitch, that he entirely forgets himself, watches day and night, laughs at all things little and great, esteeming them as nothing, and spends his whole life in this frantic manner. One marries a wife, another trades, another pleads, another performs the office of a magistrate, goeth on an embassy, is chosen officer by the people, is put down, falls sick, is wounded, dies. He laughs at all these, observing some to look discontented, others pleased; moreover, he inquires what is done in the infernal places, and writes of them; he affirms the air to be full of images, and says, he understands the language of birds. Rising in the night, he often sings to himself; and says that he sometimes travels to the infinity of things, and that there are innumerable Democritus's like him: thus, together with his mind, he destroyeth his body. These are the things which we fear, Hippocrates; these are the things which trouble us. Come, therefore, quickly, and preserve us by your advice, and despise us not, for we are not inconsiderable; and if you restore him, you shall not fail either of money or fame. Though you prefer learning before wealth, yet accept of the latter, which shall be offered to you in great abundance. If our city were all gold, we would give it to restore Democritus to health: we think our laws are sick, Hippocrates; come then, best of men, and cure a most excellent person. Thou wilt not come as a physician, but as a guardian of all Ionia, to encompass as with a sacred wall. Thou wilt not cure a man, but a city, a languishing senate, and prevent its dissolution; thus becoming our law-giver, judge, magistrate, and preserver. To this purpose we expect thee, Hippocrates; all these, if you come, you will be to us. It is not a single obscure city, but all Greece, which beseecheth thee to preserve the body of wisdom. Imagine, that learning herself comes on this embassy to thee, begging that thou wilt free her from this danger. Wisdom is certainly nearly allied to every one, but especially to us who dwell so near her. Know for certain, that the next age will own itself much obliged to thee, if thou desert not Democritus, for the truth which

he is capable of communicating to all. Thou art allied to Esculapius by thy family, and by thy art; he is descended from the brother of Hercules, from whom came Abderas, whose name, as you have heard, our city bears; wherefore, even to him will the cure of Democritus be acceptable. Since, therefore, Hippocrates, you see a most excellent person falling into madness, while the ordinary unlearned people of Abdera enjoy their wits as formerly; and that even they who were before esteemed foolish, should now be most capable of discerning the indisposition of the wisest person. Come, therefore, and bring along with you Æsculapius, and Epione, the daughter of Hercules, and her children who went in the expedition against Troy; bring with you receipts and remedies against sickness : as the earth plentifully affords fruits, roots, herbs, and flowers to cure madness, she can never do it more happily than now for the recovery of Democritus. Farewell."

In

No one appears to have appreciated more highly, or more correctly, the qualities necessary in the practitioner of medicine, and the course of study requisite for such a destination than Hippocrates. If the book De Arte is to be considered genuine, it affords the most ample evidence of the serious importance he attached to his profession. He expressly remarked, that "it is the business of a physician to make new discoveries in science, or to perfect such as are already made, rather than to spend his time in censuring or depreciating others." He felt it to be the most excellent of all arts. his day, however, as in our own, pretenders were abundant, and these the great father of physic spared not. He traces this calamity from the variance of practice amongst physicians themselves, particularly as manifested in the treatment of acute diseases; and infers that, as it will appear to the vulgar that physicians have no certain method to pursue, medicine exists not as an art. Dr. Barker questioned the justice of this inference, and contended that the very disagreement among physicians was a proof of the reality of the art. The difficulty upon this point is, however, easily solved, when we consider that there exists a rule to which all must bow, namely, that a physician should be the minister of nature. The history of physic shows. how difficult it is to mark the boundaries between the provinces of art and nature: hence various sects have arisen, some attributing every thing to nature and despising the efforts of art, whilst others have continually interfered with all the operations of nature, and endeavoured to regulate them entirely by art. Extremes are alike hurtful, and are injurious to the advancement of science. Nature is a term to which no definite meaning is attached by the ancient medical writers. Some look upon it as passive, as consisting simply of the elements mixed together in the constitution of the body, and others as an active principle, the faculty which governs

* Hippocrates de Natura Hominis.

the animal-that self-moving power which is the cause of the formation, production, and perfection of the animal. The stoics called it an artificial fire.

ιητροι.

It was an axiom of Hippocrates, that nature cures diseases, Néoewv Kúσies InTpo. Galen has given an admirable commentary on this opinion. No physician more closely or diligently studied nature than Hippocrates; hence his practical precepts have ever been esteemed in the highest degree. The nature and phenomena of diseases were observed by him with the greatest accuracy and attention, as the safest means of ascertaining their origin and causes, and the surest indications of adopting correct measures for their cure. He held the end and aim of physic to be either to carry off diseases, or to moderate their violence. His practice appears in all cases to have been regulated upon this basis. He was particular with regard to diet in acute distempers, and regulated it with the greatest precision and sagacity.

The value of the Aphorisms of this great master, time cannot abate. They are "models of grandeur of conception and precision of style." Through the whole of them, it has been observed, we may remark that truly universal method-the only one which is adapted to the mode in which our intellectual faculties are exercised; and which, in every art, and in every science, by making the principles flow naturally from the observations that have been collected, transform the deductions from facts into general rules;—a method which has been only very lately reduced to a systematic form; and which, in former ages, could only be guessed at by a few men of comprehensive minds. The aphorisms have repeatedly appeared in many languages, loaded with the commentaries of the respective editors: upwards of 300 editions are enumerated. They are, I believe, uniformly admitted to be genuine, although very differently arranged by various writers. There seems to have been an extraordinary fondness for putting them into Latin There are no less than nine editions of this kind, by various authors, in the library of the British Museum. They are also to be found in Greek and in French verse. I have seen many others. The first aphorism displays in a striking manner the mind of this distinguished physician :-"The brevity of human life is insufficient for the full consideration and thorough knowledge of a science like medicine, which admits even the evidences of long and hazardous experience with diffidence and caution, and adds to great inherent difficulties, the necessity of attending to many external duties and observances relative to those concerned in its success."

verse.

* Galenus de Temperamentis.

Of the importance of the profession in his estimation some idea may be formed from the oath which he held to be necessary to be taken upon adopting it:

"I swear by Apollo the physician, by Esculapius, by his daughters Hygeia and Panacea, and by all the gods and goddesses, that to the best of my power and judgment I will faithfully observe this oath and obligation. The master that has instructed me in the art I will esteem as my parent, and supply, as occasion may require, with the comforts and necessaries of life. His children I will regard as my own brothers; and if they desire to learn, I will instruct them in the same art without any reward or obligation. The precepts, the explanations, or whatever else belongs to the art, I will communicate to my own children, to the children of my master, to such other pupils as have subscribed to the physician's oath, and to no other persons. My patients shall be treated by me, to the best of my power and judgment, in the most salutary manner, without any injury or violence; I will neither be prevailed upon by any other to administer pernicious physic, or to be the author of such advice myself. Cutting for the stone I will not meddle with, but leave it to the operators in that way. To whatsoever house I am sent for, I will always make the patient's good my principal aim; avoiding, as much as possible, all voluntary injury and corruption. And whatever I hear or see in the course of a cure, or otherwise, relating to the affairs of life, nobody shall ever know it, if it ought to remain a secret. May I be prosperous in life and business, and for ever honoured and esteemed by all men, as I observe this solemn oath; and may the reverse of all this be my portion, if I violate it, and forswear myself."

The authenticity of this oath (Opkos) has been questioned. Meibomius, Fæesius, and other able critics, recognize it as genuine; but Mercurialis, Schulze, and Sprengel, attribute it to the school of Alexandria, because no separation between physic and surgery existed prior to that time. It is worthy of notice that Galen makes no mention of it. MM. Jourdan and Boisseau have remarked that if the oath is to be regarded as authentic, it must be looked upon as the most ancient document of medical police upon record among the Greeks. Those to whom the oath had not been administered were not to be instructed in medicine.

The works of Hippocrates, as far as they have been handed down to us, present a body of information, the result of extensive and acute observation; and it is impossible to refer to them without feeling both surprise and admiration, that, in an age distinguished for speculation and conjecture, he should present to us the most perfect picture of artless simplicity, though adorned with all the learning and skill of the philosophers of Greece.

The object of Hippocrates appears to have been to demolish a false system of philosophy which prevailed in his time upon the subject of medicine, and to erect one upon the observation of nature; in short, he became the founder of the Dogmatists, or the Rational System of Medicine.

The monographs of disease depicted by him are models for imitation; they embrace all that is necessary to be known respecting them; they detail the previous, the present, and the future symptoms; they exhibit the character of the malady in all its shapes and forms, and render it cognizable to all practitioners. The indications to be observed, and the prognosis to be formed, mark the profundity of his genius and knowledge; yet diagnostics form but little, if any portion of the character of the writings of Hippocrates. Symptomatology constitutes the essence of his labours. To the relief of symptoms his therapeutics are applied; he has no specific-a most remarkable circumstance, when the prevalent superstition of the people of his country at the time in which he lived is taken into consideration. Dietetics formed a very prominent part of the system of treatment by Hippocrates; and of this branch of science he may be looked upon as the founder: before his time nothing of any value had been written on Dietetics.

Of the anatomical and physiological knowledge of Hippocrates little can said. It may be conjectured that he never dissected a body for the purpose of anatomical investigation; and that whatever information he possessed on this head, was the result of accident rather than design. The treatise on fractures and luxations, however, exhibits a remarkable knowledge of the structure of the bones, their form, position, &c., and the composition of the articulations. The most decisive proof that he derived his anatomy from the inspection of brutes, is to be found in his ascribing cotyledons to the human uterus: the male children he derives from the right side, the female from the left. When he speaks of muscles, he calls them flesh. He knew not the difference between the arteries and the veins. It has been attempted to show that he had some faint knowledge of the circulation of the blood; but it cannot be sustained: he speaks of it as a flux and a reflux in the same vessels. Nerves, tendons, and ligaments are all confounded together. The treatise on the heart attributed to him must have been by another hand.

He divided the consideration of the body into that of solids and fluids, and he regarded health as dependant upon the relative proportion of these, and disease as consequent upon their defect, excess, depravity, &c. The humours he held to be four in number: the blood, phlegm, yellow and black bile. These he connected with the four seasons of the year, and the four ages of man. Thus, he conjectured that a redundancy of blood was most likely to ensue in young people, and at the spring of the year; a predominancy of bile in the middle period of life and in the summer months; a prevalence of black bile, occasioning melancholy, in advancing