Hippocratic Treatise Research Articles

Plato’s Dietetics for Intellectuals in Timaeus 86b–90d

Abstract In this paper I focus on the dietetic discussion at the end of the Timaeus (86b–90d) and read it against the background of the medical dietetics of its day. I try to show that Plato’s version of dietetics is deeply rooted in the preceding medical tradition and that it draws in particular on ideas attested in the Hippocratic treatises On Regimen and Airs, Waters, Places. On the other hand, I also argue that Plato is most likely the first author ever to identify intellectuals as a specific dietetic category and to propose a preventive regimen adapted to the specific needs of mathematicians, philosophers, and other men of letters. Therefore, his dietetic discussion in the Timaeus deserves recognition as an important contribution to the history of dietetic therapy and prevention.

The Body as a Thinking Agent in the Hippocratic Treatise De Morbo Sacro

The Body as a Thinking Agent in the Hippocratic Treatise De Morbo Sacro

The Life path of the Italian Doctor, Anatomist, Surgeon and Theoretician of Medicine Guido Guidi

The name of Guido Guidi appears in the histories of medicine as that of the author of a beautifully illustrated book on surgery and as one of the innumerable anatomical eponyms. Guido Guidi practiced medicine and surgery in his native city Florence and made such a reputation that he was in 1542 invited by Francis I, King of France, to come to Paris. The King appointed him one of his personal physicians and permitted him to give public lectures in medicine and surgery at the newly founded College de France. Guidi was about to publish a surgical treatise, based on a Greek manuscript of the tenth century preserved in the Laurenzian Library at Florence. Among the notable features of this manuscript were thirty full-sized plates illustrating the commentary of Apollonius of Kitium on the Hippocratic treatise on dislocations and other pictures accompanying a copy of Galen's treatise on bandaging. These illustrations represented the genuine Hippocratic traditions of surgical practice as transmitted through later Greek channels to Byzantium. In Paris, Guidi lived with Benvenuto Cellini, who became his friend and who has many laudatory references to him in his autobiography. In 1544 Guidi's book on surgery appeared. It is a splendid folio volume, beautifully printed and containing remarkable woodcut copies, or rather adaptations, of the original tenth-century drawings. Guidi's Chirurgia was the best illustrated work on surgery that had appeared up to its date. It comprises translations of six works by Hippocrates, one by Galen and two by Oribasius, together with commentaries by Galen and by Guidi himself. The treatment of all varieties of fractures and dislocations is described in great detail and is very clearly illustrated. Some three years after the publication of his Chirurgia Guidi was recalled to Italy to become chief personal physician to Cosimo de Medici. He practiced and taught medicine at Pisa, took Holy Orders, received high' ecclesiastical preferment, and was in 1557 raised to the nobility. He died at the height of his renown on 26 May 1569 and was buried in the tomb of his ancestors in Florence. For some years before his death he had been occupied in writing a comprehensive work on medicine. This great work was completed and published by his nephew in three huge volumes between 1596 and 1611. This study is based on original research and it corrects many errors that have been perpetuated in standard reference books.

The image of Empedocles in the Hippocratic treatises and the interpretation of some biographical evidences

Empedocles is spoken of as a physician by various ancient authors. However, none of the medical works attributed to him has survived. These may have been the treatise of Empedocles mentioned by Pliny the Elder on the deliverance of Athens from the plague and the medical treatise in six hundred verses. Nevertheless, we have at our disposal a number of fragments of his poem, in which the structure of various parts of the body is described, an attempt is made to explain the functioning of the processes of perception, some physiological processes and the structure of living organisms are described. Empedocles is also mentioned in some treatises of the Hippocratic corpus, but rather as a fake doctor in comparison with the real, i. e. Hippocratic doctors. This study aims to resolve the conflict that exists between the fragments of Empedocles’ poem, in which he speaks in the first person and promises to teach various “magical” techniques, the testimonies of Heraclides and Timaeus based on these statements, and the reaction to Empedocles by representatives of the Hippocratic school. For this we will have to turn both to doxographic evidence and to some treatises of the Hippocratic corpus — “Ancient Medicine”, “The Sacred Disease” and “Decorum”. The article examines what medicine was in antiquity, what was the reason for the institutionalization of the medical profession, and whether a clear disciplinary boundary could be drawn between medicine and natural philosophy at the time. These questions are included in the general discussion of the relation between religious and scientific views in the philosophy of Empedocles, as well as in the mentioned treatises of the Hippocratic corpus. In addition, the article attempts to interpret the story of the miraculous resurrection of the breathless by referring to contemporary research in the field of resuscitation.

Beneath the skin: method and perception in Hippocratic medicine

AbstractThis paper examines some neglected aspects of Hippocratic medicine, drawing special attention to certain methodological questions concerning the role of sense perception in the acquisition of medical knowledge. I argue that there is greater epistemological uniformity among the texts of the Hippocratic Corpus than is sometimes assumed. I provide a careful reading of seemingly inconsistent Hippocratic treatises in the light of a plausible and coherent epistemological model. The impression that we are dealing with different, indeed inconsistent, epistemological views can be explained away by the specific dialectical contexts of each work and their historical background. Most importantly, a proper justification of this model will require us to delve into the epistemological foundations of Hippocratic medicine.

Trepanations in the ancient Greek colony of Akanthos: Skull surgery in the light of Hippocratic medicine

ObjectiveThe study presents seven new cases of trepanations on four individuals from the ancient Greek colony of Akanthos (5th - 1st c. BC) and juxtaposes the paleopathological observations with the Hippocratic treatises. MaterialsA meta-analysis of 42 published trepanations on 27 individuals from Greece. MethodsTrepanations from Akanthos were observed macroscopically, stereoscopically and by computer tomography. The meta-analysis considers the demographic, geographical and temporal distribution, the techniques, associated pathology, and survival rate. ResultsTrepanations were observed on four females in Akanthos. Three trepanations were performed with scraping and four with drilling. Two individuals exhibited significant signs of healing, and two survived shortly after the operation. In two cases, trepanation was practiced for treating cranial injuries. In Greek antiquity trepanation was performed predominantly in males, principally as a surgical treatment of cranial injuries. The survival rate was 62.9 %. Scraping was the oldest, most frequent and successful technique. ConclusionsTrepanation performed systematically in Greece since the Bronze Age (ca. 2,000 BC). Hippocrates who rationally conceived medicine, codified the pre-existing empirical knowledge. The trepanations from Akanthos show technical similarities but also discrepancies from the Hippocratic recommendations, confirming the mental and technical readiness of the ancient surgeon. SignificanceThe synchronous to Hippocrates trepanations from Akanthos, provide the opportunity to compare physical evidence with the written sources. LimitationsThe frequency of trepanations is affected by the representativeness and the state of the skeletal preservation. Suggestions for future researchTrepanations published in previous decades, need to be reassessed with new imaging modalities. A standard recording methodology is fundamental for data comparison.

Aitionetprophasischez Hippocrate et Galien : deux mots pour une même cause ?

AbstractThis paper deals with the two notions ofaitionoraitiaandprophasisin the Greek medical texts and asks the question of whether these words are synonymous or not. Therefore, it explores their different meanings in different contexts both in the Hippocratic and in the Galenic corpus. It also investigates how Galen understands these two notions when he reads them in the Hippocratic treatises and how he explains them in his commentaries to Hippocrates, and in particular, if he gives the same meaning to these words in his own treatises or if he uses them in a different way.

Did Hippocrates know spina bifida?

The historical medical reviews concerning the clinical detection, etiopathogenesis, and symptoms of spina bifida rather hastily cite a passage of the Hippocratic treatise On Glands that seems to describe this condition in detail [1]. The work, that some consider pseudo-Hippocratic, dates back to the Hellenistic age; others place it between the end of the fifth and the beginning of the fourth century BCE. It proposes a description of the main glands of the body from an anatomical, physiological, and pathological point of view.

Searching for a Dialogue

Abstract The paper aims to examine the linguistic relationship between patients and physicians in the context of the therapeutic relationship. It focuses on the Hippocratic treatises and offers a detailed commentary of a controversial passage of Ancient Medicine par. 2.3. The dialogical model of Ancient Medicine is found to be centred on the patient’s experience; this same idealized model of relation is documented in Plato’s Laws. In the second part of the article the author examines some linguistic peculiarities of medical discourse, such as the use of comparisons and metaphors, and a passage from Galen’s On the Affected Parts that reports the case of a young patient and the difficulties inherent in the dialogue between patient and physician.

History of Hygiene Focusing on the Crucial Role of Water in the Hellenic Asclepieia (i.e., Ancient Hospitals)

Prehistoric Hellenic civilizations like many other civilizations believed in gods and thought they had influence on the everyday life of the people. During the Bronze Ages the explanations of illness and health problems were based on mythological, divine, or religious (i.e., theocratic) reasoning or explanations. However, during the Classical and the Hellenistic periods, the Greeks clearly differentiated their thinking from all other civilizations by inventing philosophy and empirical science. Drains/sewers, baths and toilets and other sanitary installations reflect the high cultural and technological level of the period; they are also associated with hygienic and medical studies and practical applications. At that time, medicine was mainly based on clinical observations and scientific investigations. Prior to that time, in the Bronze Age, medicine was entirely confined to religious rituals and beliefs. In ancient Greece, medicine was practiced in Asclepieia (or Asklepieia), which were healing sanctuaries which also functioned as medical schools and hospitals. In the Classical Greece period, more than 400 Asclepieia were operating offering their medical services. The basic elements of each Asclepieia included a clean source of water and related infrastructure. At that time Hippocrates, the father of medicine, and his successors wrote a large number of medical texts in which the crucial role of water and sanitation is documented. They also identified numerous medical terms, many of which remain in use today. The Hippocratic treatises also contributed to the scientific evolution which occurred in later centuries, because they sought to explain the causes of observed natural phenomena in a deterministic way rather than on theocratic explanations in use at the time. In this paper, the evolution of hygiene, focusing on water use in ancient Greece is examined.

The Ontological Concept of Disease and the Clinical Empiricism of Thomas Sydenham

AbstractThe clinical empiricism of Thomas Sydenham (1624–1689) and his definition ofespecie morbosaerepresented a substantial turn in the medicine of his time. This turn supposed the shift towards an ontological conception of diseases, from a qualitative to quantitative interpretation. Sydenham’s clinical proposal had a great influence on empiricism philosophical thinking, particularly in John Locke and his delimitation of knowledge. The dialogue between medicine and philosophy, set out by Sydenham-Locke, reactivates the problem of the clinical and theoretical foundations of medical thought, as well as the limits of scientific knowledge. Similar to problem exposed in the Hippocratic treatiseOn ancient medicine, seventeenth-century medicine seeks its epistemological foundations and the solution to its difficulties in clinical experience, probability and analogy. The aim of this work is to show the Sydenham’s contribution to one of the great controversies between medicine and philosophy.

‘Bring the Puppy here’

AbstractAs recent scholarship has demonstrated, the Hippocratic treatises include many ritual elements. Taking this blurred boundary between medicine and ritual as a starting point, I will focus on a particular operation in the Hippocratic treatise Barrenness (Steril. 18.3)—which stands out because of the exceptional specificity of the procedure described. I wish to argue that this specificity can be best accounted for by comparing the procedure to a ritual described in Sophron’s fragment 4A. Reading these texts together and pointing out their correspondences not only helps in explaining the procedure in Steril. 18.3 more satisfactorily than has been done to date, but also allows me to propose a new interpretation of the title of Sophron 4A and the contents of its ritual.

Blood, Sweat and Tears: The Changing Concepts of Physiology from Antiquity into Early Modern Europe

Preface and Acknowledgements Notes on the Editors Notes on the Contributors List of Illustrations Introduction Helen King PART ONE HISTORY OF PHYSIOLOGY IN CONTEXT: CONCEPTS, METAPHORS, ANALOGIES Physiologia from Galen to Jacob Bording Vivian Nutton Physiological Analogies and Metaphors. In Explanations of the Earth and the Cosmos Liba Taub The Reception of the Hippocratic Treatise On Glands Elizabeth Craik Between Atoms and Humours. Lucretius' Didactic Poetry as a Model of Integrated and Bifocal Physiology Fabio Tutrone Losing Ground. The Disappearance of Attraction from the Kidneys 85 Michael R. McVaugh The Art of the Distillation of 'Spirits' as a Technological Model for Human Physiology. The Cases of Marsilio Ficino, Joseph Duchesne and Francis Bacon Sergius Kodera The is a Battlefield. Conflict and Control in Seventeenth-Century Physiology and Political Thought Sabine Kalff Herman Boerhaave's Neurology and the Unchanging Nature of Physiology Rina Knoeff The Anatomy and Physiology of Mind. David Hume's Vitalistic Account Tamas Demeter More than a Fading Flame. The Physiology of Old Age between Speculative Analogy and Experimental Method Daniel Schafer Suffering Bodies, Sensible Artists. Vitalist Medicine and the Visualising of Corporeal Life in Diderot Tomas Macsotay PART TWO BLOOD Blood, Clotting and the Four Humours Hans L. Haak An Issue of Blood. The Healing of the Woman with the Haemorrhage (Mark 5.24b-34 Luke 8.42b-48 Matthew 9.19-22) in Early Medieval Visual Culture Barbara Baert, Liesbet Kusters and Emma Sidgwick The Nature of the Soul and the Passage of Blood through the Lungs. Galen, Ibn al-Nafis, Servetus, Itaki, 'Attar Rainer Bromer Sperm and Blood, Form and Food. Late Medieval Medical Notions of Male and Female in the Embryology of Membra Karine van 't Land The Music of the Pulse in Marsilio Ficino's Timaeus Commentary Jacomien Prins 'For the Life of a Creature is in the Blood' (Leviticus 17:11). Some Considerations on Blood as the Source of Life in Sixteenth-Century Religion and Medicine and their Interconnections Catrien Santing White Blood and Red Milk. Analogical Reasoning in Medical Practice and Experimental Physiology (1560-1730) Barbara Orland PART THREE SWEAT AND SKIN The Body without in the Homeric Poems Valeria Gavrylenko Sweat. Learned Concepts and Popular Perceptions, 1500-1800 Michael Stolberg Of the Fisherman's Net and Skin Pores. Reframing Conceptions of the Skin in Medicine 1572-1714 Mieneke M. G. te Hennepe PART FOUR TEARS AND SIGHT Vision and Vision Disorders. Galen's Physiology of Sight Veronique Boudon-Millot Early Modern Medical Thinking on Vision and the Camera Obscura. V.F. Plempius' Ophthalmographia Katrien Vanagt The Tertium Comparationis of the Elementa Physiologiae. Johann Gottfried von Herder's Coception of Tears' as Mediators between the Sublime and the Actual Bodily Physiology Frank W. Stahnisch PART FIVE BODY AND SOUL From Doubt to Certainty. Aspects of the Conceptualisation and Interpretation of Galen's Natural Pneuma Julius Rocca Metabolisms of the Soul. The Physiology of Bernardino Telesio in Oliva Sabuco's Nueva Filosofia de la Naturaleza del Hombre (1587) Marlen Bidwell-Steiner Full of Rapture. Maternal Vocality and Melancholy in Webster's Duchess of Malfi Marion A. Wells The Sleeping Musician. Aristotle's Vegetative Soul and Ralph Cudworth's Plastic Nature Diana Stanciu Index Locorum Index Generalis

Fabio Calvo – Translator, Editor and Falsifier of Hippocratic Writings

Fabio Calvo (c. 1440–1527) from Ravenna, friend and humanistic adviser of the painter Raphael in Rome, published the Latin first edition of the Hippocratic Corpus in 1525, one year before the Aldine edition (Greek editio princeps, 1526). Calvo’s edition was criticized early for its editorial flaws, but nevertheless regarded as a serious source for readings and text passages which are otherwise not transmitted. On subsequent Greek editions it has had an impact that has continued to some extent even to modern times. While Calvo’s text has repeatedly been identified as a source of perpetuated errors and textual interventions, there has not yet been a comprehensive summary study of his edition and its impact on later scholarship. This paper focusses on the especially problematic textual material in Calvo, i. e. intentional or unintended mistranslations, textual additions and surplus text that is not found in any of the known manuscripts. Thus, for eleven Hippocratic treatises, which are lost or were then unknown to Calvo, he amazingly (composed and) printed beginnings of their prefaces. Even for some well-known Hippocratic treatises additional introductory sections are given that are not transmitted elsewhere. Two dubious pseudo-Hippocratic writings are included in Calvo’s edition. The first one is a translation of two chapters from Aetius of Amida’s (4th century AD) Byzantine medical compilation. The second one seems to be an abridged and rearranged version of the pseudogalenic “On urines”. Pseudo-Balbus’ “De Asse” (on medical weights and measures) is included in Calvo’s print as well. For the most part of this treatise, as edited by Calvo, there is no evidence in the manuscripts known today. While a significant portion of the surplus passages in Calvo is evidently a fabrication, as this study demonstrates, the origin of the additional passages of Pseudo-Balbus’ treatise remains unclear. There has not yet been a systematic evaluation of Calvo’s edition, the possibility of discovering further textual oddities in it therefore remains.

On the origin of the term decussatio pyramidum

ABSTRACTThere is no consensus regarding the origin of the term decussatio pyramidum. Various anatomists of the past are honored by modern scholars, for example, Vieussens, Reil, and Collins. However, contralateral effects of brain lesions were already mentioned in Hippocratic treatises. Aretaeus of Cappadocia assumed that the anatomical reason for this phenomenon is the interchange of the nerves and called it chiasmos. This opinion was discussed in modern times and the anatomists used the term decussatio nervorum. The authorship of the first demonstration of decussatio pyramidum is given to Mistichelli (1709) and Petit (1710), but neither the term decussatio nor any of its vernacular forms are present in their work. A milestone in the history of the term is the Mémoire of Gall and Spurzheim presented to the Institut de France in 1808. In the French printed form of the Mémoire (1809), the word combination décussation des pyramides was used for the first time in anatomical literature.

A interpretação dos sonhos no Corpus hippocraticum: o Da dieta IV

<p>Apresenta-se aqui o livro IV do tratado <em>Da dieta</em>, na forma de uma tradução inédita ao português daquele que pode ser considerado o primeiro catálogo de sonhos de que se tem registro. Acompanham a tradução algumas considerações a respeito dos capítulos que compõem o livro, ressaltando-se ali conceitos-chave para a sua leitura. A interpretação dos sonhos nesse tratado se apresenta como um método para o conhecimento do corpo. Trata-se de um mapeamento das perturbações do corpo codificadas e decodificadas em imagens a partir de uma relação micro-macrocósmica que o autor define como <em>apomímesis toû hólou</em>. A imagética do sonho contida no tratado conforma um campo semântico específico, próprio da <em>iatrikè tékhne</em>, diferenciando-se das outras <em>tékhnai</em> que do sonho se valem.</p><div class="page" title="Page 1"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><strong>Abstract</strong></p><p><span>This paper presents an original translation into Portuguese of that which could be considered the first book of dreams: book IV of hippocratic treatise </span><span>De victu</span><span>. Following the translation, some considerations on the book composition and chapters, emphasizing some key concepts that guide the translation hereby presented. Dream interpretation on this treatise can be understood as a method of body knowledge. Body disorders are mapped, coded and decoded into images that respond to a micro-macrocosmic relation, defined by the treatise author as an </span><span>apomímesis toû hólou</span><span>. Dream imagery in this treatise configurates a specific semantic field of the </span><span>iatrikè tékhne</span><span>, differenciating itself from others </span><span>tékhnai </span><span>that also make use of dreams. </span></p><p><strong>Keywords: </strong><span>Hippocratic Corpus</span><span>; Diet; Dreams; </span><span>Apomímesis </span></p></div></div></div>

Embryology as a Paradigm for Boethius’ musica humana

At the beginning of Boethius’ De institutione musica, musica humana is defined as a coaptatio, a well ordered relationship between body and soul and between the parts of the body and the parts of the soul. Boethius promised to expand the topic later, but he never returned to it. As a consequence Medieval and Renaissance music theorists gave it different interpretations. This paper is part of a wider project which aims at recovering the historical meaning of musica humana and its natural implications for human life, by identifying Boethius’ sources on the relationship between music and the human body. Analyzing some of the Pythagorean, Hippocratic and Neoplatonic treatises on embryology, numerology and music as well as their reception in the Latin culture, this paper will explore the definition of musica humana as a style of thought which connected music and science using the same interpretative models, metaphors and images, well-known at Boethius’ time.

Music for Life: Embryology, Cookery and Harmonia in the Hippocratic On Regimen

The first book of the Hippocratic treatise On Regimen includes two interesting references to music. Somewhat obscurely, musical notions are evoked in the explanation of embryological processes (1.8) and in a comparison between technai and human nature (1.18). The paper analyses both the passages, mainly focusing on the interplay between philosophical and musical notions. It is argued that the musical analogies drawn in these passages are permeated by some of the philosophical concepts widely exploited in Book 1, in Heraclitean fashion. In particular, it is claimed that in Vict. 1.8 harmonia conveys the notion of ‘organised structure’, rather than numerical concepts, and that Vict. 1.18 hinges on harmonia as composition of unlike elements, which lies at the basis of cookery and the possibility for the tongue to appreciate its creations.

History of scrofula: from humoral dyscrasia to consumption

The term “scrofula” was used for a long time to designate a chronic swelling of cervical lymph nodes. This paper outlines the prevalent ideas on the nature, pathogenesis and the treatment of this disorder, from classical Greek medicine up to the 18th century. A Hippocratic treatise regarded scrofula as produced by an accumulation of phlegm, with a consequent imbalance or dyscrasia of the body humors. It was believed that it could heal spontaneously; but it could also soften, open through the skin and have an obstinate course. The treatment consisted mainly on local applications, incision to evacuate the soft content, or extirpation of the abnormal mass. In France and England, crowds of scrofulous patients were touched by the kings who were supposed to have a hereditary miraculous power to cure the disease. A Medieval text mentioned that scrofula could also affect other parts of the body. In the 17th century, scrofula was reputed as a frequent condition and was attributed to blood acrimony which coagulated in spongy organs. It was associated to phthisis or consumption due to the lethal outcome in some patients and to a cheese-like appearance of the pulmonary and the scrofulous lesions.

“Que ton alimentation soit ta meilleure médecine !” ou la fortune exceptionnelle d’un adage pseudo-hippocratique (De alimento 19)

This paper focuses on one of the most famous Hippocratic treatises On Nutriment (De alimento). In particular, it explores how ancient Greek physicians, at different times, have understood one passage from De alimento 19. From Galen’s lecture to John of Alexandria’s commentary, the two greek words τροφή (food vs drug) and φαρμακεία (evacuation vs medication) have been understood and explained in very different kinds. This paper deals with the intense debate they have been the subject of and with the divergent interpretations they have given rise to.