Father of Medicine | The brilliance of Hippocrates in his works

Hippocrates of Kos (460 B.C.E. to 370 B.C.E.), the founding father of medicine, was a Greek physician who remains unmatched in the pages of history. His stellar contribution in setting up the Hippocratic School of Medicine revolutionized the status of medicine in Greece and the world at large. 

Read on to learn about the life and significant contributions of the father of modern medicine. Also, the motives behind his machinery. 

Hippocrates — The father of modern medicine

Hippocrates had a difference of perspective and opinion from the schools of thought. The surviving 60 medical manuscripts and the Hippocratic oath collectively gathered into the Hippocratic Corpus. Therefore, the Hippocratic Corpus tells a lot about his philosophy of human life and body. Moreover, Hippocrates turned medicine into a new direction, prioritizing scientific views and rational thinking. 

Early life and education

Greek physician Soranus gave us the first proper account of Hippocrates’s biography, which notes the life of the then considered great physician. The father of medicine was a generational medicine enthusiast who gained much of his knowledge from his father and grandfather; and mingled with people like Democritus and Georgias to study the science further. Additionally, Hippocrates gained training at the Asklepieion of Kos, guided by the Thracian physician, Herodicus of Selymbria. 

Eminent Grecian thinkers like Plato and Aristotle also have made mention of the admired physician and educator. Plato identified Hippocrates as the ‘Asclepiad of Cos’ who taught medicine throughout his life and also attributed a great sense of respect towards the father of modern medicine. He identified Hippocrates as a physician — a professional stature like the noted sculptors Polyclitus and Phidias. 

Career and works

The ancient Greek legends like Hippocrates and Plato had never written a book of their discoveries and theories. Instead, these thinkers had students who would note the teachings sacrilegiously and preserve these manuscripts. Due to this evidence, we get a hint of their minds, suggested theories, and so on. The “Hippocratic Corpus” is one such artifact that led medical science to prosper. Historians estimate that it contains around 19 writers with different construction dates and subject matter. The anthology contains lectures delivered by the father of medicine, his philosophy, research, and medical notes. The book is essential as it provided essential information on unconfirmed theories and probable diagnoses and became a torchbearer for medicine’s rational and scientific practice. Notable pieces of the treatise are “The Hippocratic Oath,” “Aphorisms,” “Instruments of Reduction,” “The Book of Prognostics,” and so on.

Theory of four humors

Hippocrates vehemently rejected the misconceptions regarding diseases. He believed human beings became ill not because of God’s will or punishment, or even as a byproduct of mystical spirits lurking around in the environment, but due to the imbalance caused in their physical being. His rational mind separated illness from religion, allowing him to inspect the condition and behaviorisms of the human body thoroughly. The father of medicine formulated the Theory of the Four Humours, celebrated and later made famous by Plato, Aristotle, and William Shakespeare. 

The Hippocratic theory expounded that human beings suffered from illness when the four humors were imbalanced. The four humors consist of black bile, yellow bile, blood, and phlegm. The four humors are believed to be linked with the four elements of the earth and determine the disposition of a human. As mystic as it may sound today, this necessary deviation ushered in a fresh idea that the human body reacted with environmental factors. Hippocrates asserted that health and illness heavily depend on diet. An unsuitable diet and other environmental factors like season, the position of certain planets, age could potentially trigger the balance between the humors and produce diseases.

Ancient Greece barred dissecting corpses, thereby limiting the scope for medical advancements and research. So, the father of medicine relied on prognosis rather than on diagnosis to cure his patients. Hippocrates prioritized immobilization and avoided exertion. He would bank on a clean environment and diet, soothing balms, and rarely any potent drugs. The Hippocratic school favored passive treatments and general diagnoses and successfully treated diseases and made room for further clinical studies. 

Major influences

As technology and science progressed beyond Hellenistic bounds, physicians became more indebted to Hippocrates’s theories and contributions. The advancements in anatomy, physiology, surgery, and pharmacy credit the father of medicine as their origin and inspiration. Galen of Pergamum, who became the chief determiner in medicine in Renaissance Europe, expressed that the father of medicine inspired his knowledge and practice. Hippocrates was the inspiration for many physicians, while Galen provided more nuanced stances. 

The relevancy of Galen faded with the dawn of the 19th century, but Hippocrates holds his place to the present day. The Hippocratic Oath remains a mark of ethics and humaneness, and it is still widely used today. 

The legacy of the father of medicine

Hippocrates, regarded as the father of medicine to this day, had a long line of successors who looked up to the man’s brilliance. His methodologies showed a new direction in the history of medical science and remained undeterred for centuries. After Hippocrates’s death, his successors refused further improvements and treated patients based on their master’s theories. Critics have noted that the practice of noting a patient’s clinical case history faded after Hippocrates. 

However, in the middle ages, entire Europe and Arabian lands celebrated the father of medicine for many centuries. The 19th-century European practitioners like Thomas Sydenham, William Osler, William Heberden, and Jean-Mariot Charcot revived the methods of the father of medicine and began elucidating them. 

Key takeaway

Breaking away from the mainstream is not an easy task. The father of medicine taught not only the nature of the human body but also how to be courageous and determined on individual beliefs.

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FAQs

Q1. Who is the father of western medicine?

Answer– Hippocrates is known as the father of western medicine/modern medicine/ancient medicine. 

Q2. Who is the father of Ayurveda medicine?

Answer– Charaka, an ancient Indian physician, is widely known as the father of Ayurveda medicine. 

Q3. What is the Hippocratic Oath?

Answer– The Hippocratic Oath is the ethical code that medical practitioners take in order to maintain the integrity of human life. The oath is prominently mentioned in the Hippocratic Corpus and has become a testimony of humaneness and moral ethics. Practitioners who swear by the oath are obliged to prescribe beneficial treatments with their best judgment.

WRITTEN BY

Dhriti Chadha

Study Abroad Expert

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