PHYSICIAN

Life
Born in Cos in 460 BC, Hippocrates was one of the greatest and most brilliant of medical geniuses, and acclaimed even in antiquity as the father of medicine. He established medicine as a science, separating it from religion and magic. Hippocrates based his theories on extensive observation of his patients. He maintained that disease was caused by pathological disturbances in the humours of the body: these were blood, phlegm, and black and yellow bile. He noted that for as long as the humours were in their natural balance, the organism functioned normally: it was healthy, in other words. But when this balance was disturbed, the normal functioning of the organism was affected and it became ill. He enquired into all the patient's habits, especially his dietary habits, as well as his state of mind. He charted the various epidemics that occurred during the course of the year, and made profound observations that continue to astonish the medical practitioners who read them to this day. He recognised that tuberculosis (phthisis) was a contagious disease. One of his most studied works was the "On Airs, Waters and Places", which treats of the effect of climate on health. He observed that the healthiest situations were those exposed to the south. His treatises were studied with interest for centuries. The physicians who followed his teachings were more highly esteemed than those who followed the German physician Paracelsus. During the Renaissance physicians recognised the worth of his teachings and devoted themselves to the study of his work. Even today, when thanks to the use of the microscope, X-rays, biochemistry and immunology medical science has made such tremendous progress, Hippocrates and his approach to medicine are not forgotten.