THE FATHER OF MEDICINE- HIPPOCRATES | BIOGRAPHY, DISCOVERY, THEORY

(Wherever the art of medicine is loved, there is also a love of humanity.)

Imagine you are living 2400 years back and you need aspirin for pain relief what will you do? So one person came and found a solution of pain relief, used abstract from a tree containing what he called "salycasia", like aspirin. And after his more achievements, he called the Father of Medicine (Hippocrates)

We all know that without medicine many people would die in a day as they are dependent on the medication for example the diabetic and blood pressure patient. How humans started to know about the effects of medicine and where it all started? Earlier people used to believe that the illness we get is due to God's curse in return for our bad deeds. But one person contradicted that view and started to find the main reasons behind illnesses and diseases. He was Hippocrates of KOS. He is designated as the 'Father of Medicine'.

THE FATHER OF MEDICINE- HIPPOCRATES

A Greek Physician, Hippocrates born around 460 B.C. on the Island of Kos. He died around 315 B.C. in Larissa, Thessaly. He discovered the real cause of diseases while another thought disease is given by God.

Qualification:

Born into a wealthy family, the son of Praxithea and Heracleides, Hippocrates was likely given a solid education in the basic subjects.

He earned his basic knowledge from his parents. He studied medicine from his Grandparents and one other Physician, Herodicus of Selymleria.

Historians believe Hippocrates traveled throughout the Greek mainland and possibly Libya and Egypt practicing medicine.

Work:
He established the first School of Medicine. Almost sixty schools were associated with his name. He has his own philosophy for medicines and his own way to treat the disease. He gave the famous idea of 'Four senses of humor' in the human body. He named them- Yellow bile, Black bile, Blood, and Phlegm and also gave the related elements with these humor i.e., earth, water, air, and fire.

Yellow bile stands for choleric disposition, a hot and dry element which is equal to fire and related to the gallbladder and age-associated with it was childhood. Black bile stands for melancholic disposition, cold and dry element of earth, and related to the winter season, the organ associated was the spleen and age-associated was oldage. Blood stands for sanguine disposition, hot and moist element of earth associated with air, the related season was spring, the organ associated was heart and age was adolescence. Phlegm stands for phlegmatic disposition, a cold and moist element related to water, the associated organ was the brain and age-related to it was maturity. Later, his Four Humors has the support of Aristotle and Galen. Meno, one of Aristotle's pupil has written about the Hippocrates' views related to diseases associated with the residual food in the intestine i.e., indigestion and flatulence. William Shakespeare has given place to Four Humors in his writings also.

Hippocrates said that to be healthy we have to maintain balance among those humor, and they get a disturbing disease will occur. He gave importance to healthy food. He said, "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be the food". His medicines were passive, humble, and slow-acting but effective, he believed in the "healing power of nature". He said that body has its own power to rebalance these humors and can heal itself i.e., immunity.

He categorized the disease into four divisions i.e., acute, chronic, endemic, and epidemic. He has also given terms like exacerbation, relapse, resolution, crisis, peak, and convalescence for diseases.

He gave the idea about Clubbing of fingers as a sign of chronic lung disease, lung cancer, and cyanotic heart disease. That's why clubbed fingers are called Hippocratic fingers. He has worked for Symptomatology, Surgical treatment, Prognosis of thoracic emphysema i.e., suppurative condition of chest cavity lining. He was the first Surgeon who used lead pipes to drain out the Chest Abscess.

He passed on his understanding and findings to his two Sons who later on explored more and started school in Island of KOS around 400 BCE. His sons developed many other methods to deal with the illnesses. Without his Son's efforts, we would be able to know about his great findings related to medicines. Sources say that Hippocrates traveled Libya and Egypt while practicing his Medicine.

Hippocrates Corpus:

Hippocrates corpus is a brilliant collection of his early seventy works which is written in Ionic Greece. Many people believe that Hippocrates Corpus was written by Hippocrates himself but some people believe it is a work of many writers since it has no particular order if notes and lectures. And in that volume, many views are in contact in contradiction to each other.

Hippocrates Oath:

The Hippocratic Oath, a seminal document on the ethics of medical practice, was attributed to Hippocrates in antiquity although new information shows it may have been written after his death. This is probably the most famous document of the Hippocratic Corpus. Recently the authenticity of the document's author has come under scrutiny. While the Oath is rarely used in its original form today, it serves as a foundation for other, similar oaths and laws that define good medical practice and morals. Such derivatives are regularly taken today by medical graduates about to enter medical practice.

Failure:

Hippocrates' only major failure was his theory on what was inside the body. His theory the Humor Theory has been proved completely wrong. He proposed the there was four Humors inside of us, black bile, yellow bile, blood, and phlegm. When these were imbalanced a person became sick. He was prevented from learning more by the Greek value on protecting corpses which would not allow him to dissect one.

His only other failure was not his fault. It was that after his death he was so revered that people felt his knowledge could not be built upon and medical expansion stalled. This can be attributed to the Greek value on respect for elders with greater power

Conclusion:

Though at that time there were no specialized types of equipment like a microscope, stethoscope or any medical instruments like today we have but still, people like Hippocrates were able to find the secrets of the human body only by using their intellect and observations. Hats off to his persistent tries to solve the mystery of many diseases and giving the world a new outlook. To pay respect to his contribution to mankind, medical officers still have to take the "Hippocrates Oath" before entering into Medical Profession to remind the morals and ethics while practicing the Medicine or other medical disciplines.

(Life is short, the art long.)

Books published by Hippocrates: