HIPPOCRATES. — Greek physician, born in Cos around 460 B.C., died a centenarian in Larissa. He studied under his father Heracleides, under Herodicus of Lentini, and perhaps also under the rhetorician Gorgias. He traveled as a *periedueta* physician, but gave his journeys the value of modern scientific expeditions, since they were undertaken with his disciples for the purpose of study. Upon returning to Cos, he devoted himself to practice and teaching. His figure informs the entire school of Cos, and his work symbolizes the highest development achieved in the 5th century B.C. by Greek thought.
Hippocrates’ work is collected in the *Corpus Hippocraticum*, compiled by the Alexandrian librarians from the writings of his pupils (53 works in 72 books). Among these, the *Aphorisms* stand out for their concise expression of the highest principles of the healing art; of the seven books on *Epidemics*, the first and third are his, the fruit of observations made during his travels and also reported in the books *On Waters, Airs, and Places*, which may be considered the first true work on constitutional pathology. Also noteworthy are the prognostic writings and, finally, some surgical treatises.
The foundation of Hippocratic medicine is the theory of the humors, according to which health is determined by the *crasis*, that is, the balance of the four humors: blood, originating from the heart; phlegm or *pituita*, from the brain; yellow bile, from the liver; and black bile (*melancholy*), from the spleen. From a state of perfect balance, one may pass to one of *discrasia* or disease. But to the *crasis* there also contributes the *pneuma*, the vital air that, drawn into the lungs, penetrates the heart, where, through the heat of that organ, it is concocted and distributed throughout the body to regulate the proper mixture of the humors. Thus, in Hippocrates’ medical conception, pathology, once localized in individual organs, becomes general. With him also arises the concept of constitution, in that one of the humors may predominate over the others, leading to a new organic equilibrium with well-defined psychic and somatic characteristics in the individual types—sanguine, phlegmatic, bilious, and melancholic. Yet Hippocrates does not lack the concept and knowledge of certain specific diseases located in particular organs.
With Hippocrates, clinical medicine is born, since he approaches the sickbed and reads the patient’s condition as if from an open book; semiotics also emerges, since diagnosis is reached only after a long and meticulous examination of the patient and the manifest signs of illness, preceded by a thorough interrogation. Hippocrates’ name still lives on in the designation of particular clinical conditions; thus, the *facies Hippocratica* is still used for acute abdominal cases. He also employed palpation, auscultation, and, in certain cases, percussion; he noted friction sounds and moist rales; the “Hippocratic succussion” is still used to reveal hydroaeric collections. On the other hand, he never mentions the pulse, and his surgery is limited to a few absolutely necessary interventions. A notable deficiency of Hippocratic medicine is the scant knowledge and importance given to anatomy and physiology. In therapy, Hippocrates bases himself on the *vis medicatrix naturae*, the healing power inherent in man’s nature, which the physician must in every way assist, using means that are more hygienic than curative, in accordance with the golden precept: “Primum non nocere.” For this reason, he also devoted much attention to dietetics, teaching the use of foods and beverages both in sickness and in health. With Hippocrates, the subsequent evolution of medicine from a sacerdotal form to a popular (*demotic*) form begins.
**