HIPPOCRATES

HIPPOCRATES, Hippocratic Writings

Hippocratic Oath

I swear by Apollo, the healer, Asclepius, Hygieia, and Panacea, and I take to witness all the gods, all the goddesses, to keep according to my ability and my judgment, the following Oath and agreement:

To consider dear to me, as my parents, him who taught me this art; to live in common with him and, if necessary, to share my goods with him; To look upon his children as my own brothers, to teach them this art.

I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone.

I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan; and similarly I will not give a woman a pessary to cause an abortion.

But I will preserve the purity of my life and my arts.

I will not cut for stone, even for patients in whom the disease is manifest; I will leave this operation to be performed by practitioners, specialists in this art.

In every house where I come I will enter only for the good of my patients, keeping myself far from all intentional ill-doing and all seduction and especially from the pleasures of love with women or with men, be they free or slaves.

All that may come to my knowledge in the exercise of my profession or in daily commerce with men, which ought not to be spread abroad, I will keep secret and will never reveal.

If I keep this oath faithfully, may I enjoy my life and practice my art, respected by all men and in all times; but if I swerve from it or violate it, may the reverse be my lot.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: The Oath, Great Books Volume 10, pg. xiii

HEALTHY DIET

I hold that the diet and food which people in health now use would not have been discovered, provided it had suited with man to eat and drink in like manner as the ox, the horse, and all other animals, except man, do of the productions of the earth, such as fruits, weeds, and grass; for from such things these animals grow, live free of disease, and require no other kind of food. And, at first, I am of opinion that man used the same sort of food, and that the present articles of diet had been discovered and invented only after a long lapse of time, for when they suffered much and severely from this strong and brutish diet, swallowing things which were raw, unmixed, and possessing great strength, they became exposed to strong pains and diseases and to early deaths. It is likely indeed, that from habit they would suffer less from these things then than we would now, but still they would suffer severely even then; and it is likely that the greater number, and those who had weaker constitutions, would all perish; whereas the stronger would hold out for a longer time, as even nowadays some, in consequence of using strong articles of food, get off with little trouble, but others with much pain and suffering. From this necessity it appears to me that they would search out the food befitting their nature, and thus discover that which we now use;: and that from wheat, by macerating it, stripping it of its hull, grinding it all down, sitting, toasting, and baking it, they formed bread; and from barley they formed cake (maza), performing many operations in regard to it; they boiled, they roasted, they mixed, they diluted those things which are strong and of intense qualities which weaker things, fashioning them to the nature and powers of man, and considering that the stronger things Nature would not be able to manage if administered, and that from such tings pains, diseases, and death would arise, but such as Nature could manage; that from them food, growth, and health, would arise. To such a discovery and investigation what more suitable name could one give than that of Medicine? Since it was discovered for the health of man, for his nourishment and safety, as a substitute for that kind of diet by which pains, diseases, and deaths were occasioned.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On Ancient Medicine, #3, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 1

SOUP VS SOLIDS

…soups do not agree with certain persons in their diseases, but on the contrary, when administered both the fevers and the pains are exacerbated and it becomes obvious that what was given has proved food and increase to the disease, but a wasting and weakness to the body. But whatever person so affected partook of solid food, or cake, or bread, even in small quantity, would be ten times more decidedly injured than those who had taken soups, for no other reason than from the strength of the food in reference to the affection; and to whomsoever it is proper to take soups and not eat solid food, such a one will be much more injured if he eat much than if he eat little, but even little food will be injurious to him. But all the causes of the sufferance refer themselves to this rule, that the strongest things most especially and decidedly hurt man, whether in health or in disease.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On Ancient Medicine, #6, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 2

ONE OR TWO MEALS DAILY

For to some, with whom it agrees to take only one meal in the day, and they have arranged it so accordingly; whilst others, for the same reason, also take dinner, and this they do because they find it good for them, and not like those person who, for pleasure or from any casual circumstance, adopt the one or the other custom; and to the bulk of mankind it is of little consequence which of these rules they observe, that is to say, whether they make it a practice to take one or two meals. But there are certain persons who cannot readily change their diet with impunity; and if they take any alteration in it for one day, or even for a part of a day, are greatly injured thereby. Such persons, provided they take dinner when it is not their wont, immediately become heavy and inactive, both in body and in mind, and are weighed down with yawning, slumbering and thirst; and if they take supper in addition, they are seized with flatulence, tormina, and diarrhea, and to many this has between the commencement of a serious disease, when they have merely taken twice in a day the same food which they have been in the custom of taking once.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On Ancient Medicine, #10, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 3

WEAKNESS FROM NOT EATING

…if one who has been accustomed to dine, and this rule agrees with him, should not dine at the accustomed hour, he will straightway feel great loss of strength, trembling, and want of spirits, the eyes of such a person will become more pallid, his urine thick and hot, his mouth bitter; his bowels will seem, as it were, to hang loose; he will suffer from vertigo, lowness of spirit, and inactivity – such are the effects; and if he should attempt to take at supper the same food which he was wont to partake of at dinner; if will appear insipid, and he will not be able to take it off; and these things passing downwards with torminia and rumblings, burn up his bowels; he isomnolency or troubled and disturbed dreams; and to many of them these symptoms are the commencement of some disease.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On Ancient Medicine, #10, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 4

ONE MEAL PER DAY

To him, then, who was accustomed to take only one meal in the day, they happened because he did not wait the proper time, until his bowels had completely derived benefit from and had digested the articles taken at the preceding meal, and until his belly had become soft and go into a state of rest, but he gave it a new supply while in a state of heat and fermentation, for such bellies digest much more slowly, and require more rest and ease.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On Ancient Medicine, #11, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 4

WEAKER CONSTITUTIONS

Wherefore I say, that such constitution as suffer quickly and strongly from errors in diet, are weaker than others that do not; and that a weak person is in a state very nearly approaching to one in disease; but a person in disease is the weaker, and it is therefore more likely that he should suffer if he encounters anything that is unseasonable.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On Ancient Medicine, #12, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 4

CONTRARIES

For if hot, or cold, or moist, or dry, be that which proves injurious to man, and if the person who would treat him properly much apply cold to the hot, hot to the cold, moist to the dry, and dry to the moist… … if it is one of the which is inuring the patient, it is to be removed by its contrary.
Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On Ancient Medicine, #13, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 4

UNPROCESSED WHEAT

– let me be presented with a man, not indeed one of a strong constitution, but one of the weaker, let him eat wheat, such as it is supplied from the thrashing floor, raw and unprepared, with raw meat, and let him drink water. But using such a diet I know that he will suffer much and severely, for he will experience pains, his body will become weak and his bowels deranged and he will not subsist long.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On Ancient Medicine, #13, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 4

CHANGE THE DIET

… But the surest and most obvious remedy is to change the diet which the person used, and instead of wheat to give bread, and instead of raw flesh, boiled and to drink wine in addition to these; for by making these changes it is impossible but that he must get better, unless completely disorganized by time and diet.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On Ancient Medicine, #13, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 4

BREAD OR WHEAT

And this I know, moreover, that to the human body it makes a great difference whether the bread be fine or coarse; of wheat with or without the hull, whether mixed with much or little water, strongly wrought or scarcely at all, baked or raw – and a multitude of similar differences;
Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On Ancient Medicine, #14, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 5

IMPORTANCE OF DIET

… Whoever pays no attention to these things, or, paying attention, does not comprehend them, how can he understand the diseases which befall a man? For by every one of these things, a man is affected and changed this way or that, and whole of his life is subjected to them, whether in health, convalescence, or disease. Nothing else , then, can be more important or more necessary t to know than these things.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On Ancient Medicine, #14, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 5

SALT, SWEET, ACID, SOUR, INSIPID

For there is in man the bitter and the salt, the sweet and the acid, the sour and the insipid, and a multitude of other things having all sort so powers both as regards quantity and strength. These, when all mixed and mingled up with one another, are not apparent, neither do they hurt a man; but when any of them is separate, and stands by itself, then it becomes a perceptible, and hurt a man.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On Ancient Medicine, #14, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 5

CONFECTIONARIES FOR LUXURY

But all those things which a man eats and drinks are devoid of any such intense and well-marked quality, such as bread, cake, and many other things of a similar nature which man is accustomed to use for food, with the exception of condiments and confectionaries, which are made to gratify the palate and for luxury.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On Ancient Medicine, #14, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 5

ACLIMATE

And these things operate thus both upon men in health and in disease. For example, if a person in health wishes to cool his body during winter, and bathes either in cold water or in any other way, the more he does this, unless his body be fairly congealed, when he resumes his clothes and come into a place of shelter, his body becomes more heated than before. And thus too, if a person wish to be warmed thoroughly either by means of a hot bath or strong fire, and straightway having the same clothing on, takes up his abode again in the place he was in when he became congealed, he will appear much colder, and more disposed to chills than before.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On Ancient Medicine, #16, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 6

DO NOTHING TO COOL OFF

And if a person fan himself on account of a suffocating heat, and having procured refrigeration for himself in this manner, cease doing so, the heat and suffocation will be ten times greater in his case than in that of a person who does nothing of the kind.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On Ancient Medicine, #16, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 6

CHEESE

And it is not enough to know simply that cheese is a bad article of food, as disagreeing with whoever eats of it to satiety, but what sort of disturbances it creates…

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On Ancient Medicine, #20, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 7

CHEESE NOT ALL BAD

For cheese (since we used it as an example) does not prove equally injurious to all men for there are some who can take it to satiety without being hurt by it in the least, but on the contrary, it is wonderful what strength it imparts to those it agrees with; but there are some who do not bear it well;…

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On Ancient Medicine, #20, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 7

WATER QUALITY

We must also consider the qualities of the waters, for as they differ from one another in taste and weight, so also do they differ much in their qualities.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On Airs, Waters, and Places, #1, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 9

STRANGER TO CITY

In the same manner, when one comes into a city to which he is a stranger, he ought to consider its situation, how it lies as to the winds and the rising of the sun; for its influence is not the same whether it lies to the north or the south, to the rising or to the setting sun.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On Airs, Waters, and Places, #1, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 9

GOOD AND BAD WATER

And I wish to give an account of the other kinds of waters, namely , of such as are wholesome and such as are unwholesome, and what bad and what good effects may be derived from water; for water contributes much towards health.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On Airs, Waters, and Places, #7, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 11

BAD LAKE WATER

Such waters then as are marshy, stagnant, and belong to lakes, are necessarily hot in summer, thick , and have a strong smell, since they have no current; but being constantly supplied by rain-water, and the sun heating them, they necessarily want their proper color, are unwholesome…

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On Airs, Waters, and Places, #7, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 11

MOUNTAIN WATER IS THE BEST

The best are those which flow from elevated grounds, and hills of earth; these are sweet, clear, and can bear a little wine; they are hot in summer and cold in winter, for such necessarily must be the waters from the deep wells.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On Airs, Waters, and Places, #7, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 11

SALT WATER

People have deceived themselves with regard to salt waters, from inexperience, for they think these waters purgative, whereas they are the very reverse; for such waters are crude and ill adapted for boiling,

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On Airs, Waters, and Places, #7, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 12

RAIN WATER

Rain waters, then, are the lightest, the sweetest, the thinnest, and the clearest;…

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On Airs, Waters, and Places, #8, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 12

HUMIDITY

… and there is humidity in everything; and from man himself the sun draws off the thinnest and lightest part of the juices.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On Airs, Waters, and Places, #8, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 12

CLOUDS

… rain water has a bad smell, because its particles are collected and mixed together from most objects, so as to spoil the soonest. And in addition to this, when attracted and raised up, being carried about and mixed with the air, whatever part of it is turbid and darkish is separated and removed from the other , and become s cloud and mist, but the most attenuated and lightest part is left and becomes sweet, being heated and concocted by the sun.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On Airs, Waters, and Places, #8, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 12

BOILED WATER

Such, to all appearance, are the best of waters, but they require to be boiled and strained; for otherwise they have a bad smell, and occasion hoarseness and thickness of the voice to those who drink them.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On Airs, Waters, and Places, #8, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 12

DON'T DRINK SNOW OR ICE WATER

Those from snow and ice are all bad, for when once congealed, they never again recover their former nature; for whatever is clear, light, and sweet in them, is separated and disappears; but the most turbid and weightiest part is left behind.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On Airs, Waters, and Places, #8, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 12

YEAR PREDICTIONS ACCORDING TO WEATHER

And respecting the seasons, one may judge whether the year will prove sickly or healthy from the following observations: if the appearance connected with the rising and setting stars be as they should be; if there be rains in autumn; if the winter be mild, neither very tepid nor unseasonably cold, and if in spring the rains be seasonable, ad so also in summer, the year is likely to prove healthy.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On Airs, Waters, and Places, #10, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 13

DASTARDLY

And you will find the Asiatics differing from one another, for some are better and others are more dastardly; …

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On Airs, Waters, and Places, #16, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 16

BLEEDING OUT DISEASE

From continued exercise on horseback they are seized with chronic defluxions in their joints owing to their legs always hanging down below their horses; they afterwards become lame and stiff at the hip-joint, such of them, at least as are severely attacked with it. They treat themselves in this way; when the disease is commencing, they open the vein behind either ear, and when the blood flows, sleep, from feebleness, seizes them, and afterwards they awaken, some in good health and others not.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On Airs, Waters, and Places, #22, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 17

For where the changes of the seasons are most frequent, and where they differ most from one another, there you will find their forms, dispositions, and nature the most varied. These are the strongest of the natural causes of difference, and next the country in which one lives, and the waters; for, in general, you will find the forms and dispositions of mankind to correspond with the nature of the country; …

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On Airs, Waters, and Places, #24, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 18

For it is impossible to make all the sick well; this indeed, would have been better than to be able to foretell what is going to happen; but since men die, some even before calling the physician, from the violence of the disease, and some die immediately after calling him, , having lived, perhaps, only one day or a little longer, and before the physician could bring his art to counteract the disease, it therefore become necessary to know the nature of such affections, …

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: The Book of Prognostics, #1, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 19

Thus a man will be the more esteemed to be a good physician, for he will be the better able to treat those aright who can be saved, for having long anticipated everything; and by seeing and announcing beforehand those who will live and those who will die, he will thus escape censure.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: The Book of Prognostics, #1, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 19

It is well when the patient is found by his physician reclining upon either his right or his left side…

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: The Book of Prognostics, #3, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 20

But to lie upon one’s back, with the hands, neck and the legs extended, is far less favorable…

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: The Book of Prognostics, #3, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 20

To grind one’s teeth in fevers, when such has not been the custom of the patient from childhood, indicates madness and death, both which dangers are to be announced beforehand as likely to happen; …

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: The Book of Prognostics, #3, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 20

Free respiration is to be looked upon as contributing much to the safety of the patient in all acute disease, such as fevers, and those complains which come to a crises in forty days.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: The Book of Prognostics, #5, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 20

Those sweats are the best in all acute diseases which occur on the critical days, and completely carry off the fever. Those are favorable, which taking place over the whole body, show that the man is bearing the disease better. The worst are cold sweats, confined to the head, face and neck;

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: The Book of Prognostics, #6, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 20

…for if their pupils be in rapid motion, such persons may be expected to go mad.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: The Book of Prognostics, #7, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 20

It is a bad symptom when the head, hands and feet are cold, while the belly and sides are hot; but it is a very good symptom when the whole body is equally hot.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: The Book of Prognostics, #9, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 21

… the patient should wake during the day and sleep during the night. If this rule be anywise altered it is so far worse; but there will be little harm proved the sleep in the morning for the third part of the day; such sleep as takes place after this time is more unfavorable; but the worst of all is to get no sleep either night or day; for it follows from this symptom that the insomnolency is connected with sorry and pains, or that he is about to become delirious.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: The Book of Prognostics, #10, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 21

… about the autumn equinox, and under the Pleiades, the rains were abundant, constant, and soft, with southerly winds; the winter southerly, the northerly winds faint, droughts; on the whole the winter having the character of spring.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: Of the Epidemics, Book 1, Section 1, First Constitution,  #1, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 44

… from the preceding opposite and northerly state, the ardent fevers occurred in a few instances, and these very mild, being rarely attended with hemorrhage, and never proving fatal.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: Of the Epidemics, Book 1, Section 1, First Constitution,  #1, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 44

Early in the beginning of the spring and through the summer, and towards winter, many of those who had been long gradually declining, took to bed with symptoms of phthisis; in many cases formerly of doubtful character the disease then became confirmed; in these the constitution inclined to the phthisical. Many, and, in fact, the most of them died; and of those confined to bed, I do not know of a single individual survived for any considerable time; they died more suddenly than is common in such cases.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: Of the Epidemics, Book 1, Section 1, First Constitution,  #2, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 44

Most of them were affected by these diseases in the following manner: fevers accompanied with rigors, of the continual type, acute, having no complete intermission but of the form of the semi-tertians, being milder the one day, and the next having an exacerbation, and increasing in violence; constant sweats, but not diffused over the whole body; extremities very cold, and armed with difficulty; bowels disordered, with bilious, scanty, unmixed think, pungent, and frequent dejections.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: Of the Epidemics, Book 1, Section 1, First Constitution,  #2, Great Books Volume 10,  pg. 44

…early in autumn, the winter suddenly set in rains before the usual time, with much northerly and southerly winds. These things all continued so during the season of the Pleiades, and until their setting. The winter was northerly, the rains frequent, in torrents, and large with snow, but with a frequent mixture of fair weather. These things were all so, but the setting in of the cold was not much out of season.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: Of the Epidemics, Book 1, Section 2, Second Constitution, #1, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 45

People died of all these diseases, but mostly of the fevers, and notably infants just weaned, and older children, until eight or ten years of age, and those before puberty.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: Of the Epidemics, Book 1, Section 2, Second Constitution, #4, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 46

…. All symptoms were ameliorated;…

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: Of the Epidemics, Book 1, Section 3, Fourteen Cases of Disease, Case VI, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 52

A woman, who lodged on the Quay, being three months gone with child, was seized with fever, and immediately began to have pains in the loins. On the third day, pain of the head and neck, extending to the clavicle, and right hand; she immediately lost the power of speech; was paralyzed in the right had with spasms, after the manner of paraplegia was quite incoherent; passed an uncomfortable night; did not sleep; … On the fourth, recovered the use of her tongue

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: Of the Epidemics, Book 1, Section 3, Fourteen Cases of Disease, Case XIII, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 53

… after a sweat which came on, she became delirious and again immediately afterwards was collected; these symptoms were said to have been brought on by eating grapes.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: Of the Epidemics, Book 3, Section 2, Case III, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 55

In Thasus, a woman, of a melancholic turn of mind, from some accidental cause of sorrow, while still going about, became affected with loss of sleep, aversion to food, and had thirst and nausea. She lived near the Pylates, upon the Plain

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: Of the Epidemics, Book 3, Section 3, Sixteen Cases of Disease, Case XI, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 62

It is thus with regard to the disease called Sacred; it appears to me to be nowise more divine nor more sacred than other disease, but has a natural cause from which it originates like other affections. Men regard its nature and cause as divine from ignorance and wonder, because it is not at all like to other diseases. And this notion of its divinity is kept up by their inability to comprehend it, and the simplicity of the mode by which it is cured, for men are freed from it by purification and incantations. But if it is reckoned divine because it is wonderful, instead of one there are many diseases which would be sacred; for, as I will show, there are others no less wonderful and prodigious, which nobody imagines to be sacred.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On the Sacred Disease, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 154

For, if they profess to know how to bring down the moon, darken the sun, induce the storms and fine weather, and rains and droughts, and make the sea and land unproductive, and so forth, whether they arrogate this power as being derived from mysteries or any other knowledge or consideration, they appear to me to practice impiety, and either to fancy that they are no gods, or, if there are, that they have no ability to ward off any of the greater evils. How then, are they not enemies to the gods? For if a man by magical arts and sacrifices will bring down the moon and darken the sun and induce storms, or find weather, I should not believe that there was anything divine, but human, in these things, provided the power of the divine were overpowered by human knowledge and subjected to it. But perhaps it will be said these things are not so, but men being in want to the means of life, invent many and various things, and devise many contrivances for all other things, and for this disease, in every phase of the disease, assigning the cause to a god. Nor do they remember the same things once, but frequently. For, if they imitate a goat or rind their teeth, or if their right side be convulsed, they say that the mother of the gods is the cause. But if they speak in a sharper and more intense tone, they resemble this state to a horse, and say that Poseidon is the cause.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On the Sacred Disease, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 155

For they purify those laboring under this disease, with the same sorts of blood and other means that are used in the case of those who are stained with crimes, and of malefactors, or who have been enchanted by men, or who have done any wicked act; who out to do the very reverse, namely, sacrifice and pray, and bringing gifts to the temples, supplicate the gods. But now they do none of these things, but purify; and some of the purifications they conceal in the earth, and some they throw into the sea, and some they carry to the mountains where no one can touch or tread upon them. But these they out to take to the temples and present to the gods, if a god be the cause of the disease. Neither truly do I count it is polluted by god, the most impure by the most holy; for were it defiled, or did it suffer from any other thing, it would like to be purified and sanctified rather than polluted by god. For it is the divinity which purifies and sanctified the greatest of offenses and the most wicked, and which proves our protection from them. And we mark out the boundaries of the temples and the groves of the gods, so that no one may pass them unless he be pure, and when we enter them we are sprinkled with holy water, not as being polluted, but as laying aside any other pollution which we formerly had.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On the Sacred Disease, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 155

The brain of man, as in all other animals, is double, and a think membrane divides it through the middle, and therefore the pain is not always in the same part of the head for sometimes it is situated on either side, and sometimes the whole is affected; and veins run towards it from all parts of the body, many of which are small, but two are thick, - the one from the liver, and the other from the spleen.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On the Sacred Disease, Great Books Volume 10,  pg. 156

And it is thus with regard to the one from the liver: a portion of it runs downward through the parts on the right side, near the kidneys and the psoas muscles, to the inner part of the thigh, and extends to the food. It is called vena cava.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On the Sacred Disease, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 156

The other runs upward by the right veins and the lungs, and divides into branches for the heart and the right arm. The remaining part of it rises upward across the clavicle to the right side of the neck, and is superficial so as to be seen; near the ear it is concealed, and there it divides; its thickest, largest, and most hollow part ends in the brain; another small vein goes to the right ear, another to the right eye, and another to the nostril. Such are the distributions of the hepatic vein. And a vein from the spleen is distributed on the left side, upward and downward, like that from the liver, but more slender and feeble.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On the Sacred Disease, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 156

For when a person draws in air by the mouth and nostrils, the breath goes first to the brain, then the greater part of it to the internal cavity, and part to the lungs, and part to the veins, and from them it is distributed to the other parts of the body along the veins; and whatever passes to the stomach cools, and does nothing more; and so also with regard to the lungs.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On the Sacred Disease, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 157

But the air which enters the veins is of use (to the body) by entering the brain and its ventricles, and thus it imparts sensibility and motion to all the members, so that when the veins are excluded from the air by the phlegm and do not receive it, the man loses his speech and intellect, and the hands become powerless, and are contracted, the blood stopping, and not being diffused, as it was wont; and they eyes are distorted owing to the veins being excluded from the air; and they palpitate; and froth from the lungs issues by the mouth.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On the Sacred Disease, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 157

But such person are habituated to the disease know beforehand when they are about to be seized and flee from men; if their own house be at hand, they run home, but if not, to a deserted place, whereas few persons are possible will see them falling, and they immediately cover themselves up. This they do from shame of the affection, and not from fear of the divinity, as many suppose. And little children at first fall down wherever they may happen to be, from inexperience. But when they have been often sized, and feel its approach beforehand, they flee to their mothers, or to any other person they are acquainted with, from terror and dread of the affection, for being still infants they do not know yet what it is to be ashamed.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On the Sacred Disease, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 158

Thus is this disease formed and prevails from those things which enter into and go out of the body, and it is not more difficult to understand or to cure than the others, neither is it more divine than other diseases.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On the Sacred Disease, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 159

Some say that we think with the heart, and that this is the part which is grieved, and experiences care. But it is not so; only it contracts like the diaphragm, and still more so for the same causes. For veins from all parts of the body run to it, and it has valves, so as to perceive if any pain or pleasurable emotion befall the man. For when grieved the body necessarily shudders, and is contracted, and from excessive joy it is affected in like manner. Wherefore the heart and the diaphragm are particularly sensitive, they have nothing to do, however, with the operations of the understanding, but of all these the brain is the cause.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On the Sacred Disease, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 160

Since, then, the brain as being the primary seat of sense and of the spirits, perceives whatever occurs in the body, if any change more powerful than usual take place in the air, owing to the seasons, the brain becomes changed by the state of the air.

Hippocrates, Hippocratic Writings: On the Sacred Disease, Great Books Volume 10, pg. 160

VOCABULARY - HIPPOCRATES,

Hippocratic Writings

Great Books Volume 10

Ameliorated, pg 52

To make or become better; improve, amend, meliorate. USAGE: Ameliorate is often wrongly used where alleviate is meant. Ameliorate should be used to mean `improve', not `make easier to bear', so one should talk about alleviating pain or hardship, not ameliorating it.

Exacerbated, pg. 2

a state of inflammation or painful reaction to allergy or cell-lining damage, an increase in the severity of a disease or its signs

Impunity, pg. 3

Exemption from punishment, penalty, loss, or harm

isomnolency , pg. 4

Not having sleepiness, the state of not feeling drowsy, not ready to fall asleep

prodigious, pg 154

very large or immense, wonderful or amazing [Latin prodigiosus marvellous]

torminia, pg. 3

found in a journal of surgical medicine that “’torminia’ aroused him.” And the British medical journal. Could find no definition