HIPPOCRATES AND THE HIPPOCRATIC COL LECTION. The attitude of scholars towards Hippocrates and the Hippocratic problem has altered greatly during the last quarter of a century. Serious investigators now agree that we know next to nothing of the man and that few, if any, of the works to which his name is attached can be by him.
According to Soranus (q.v.) Hippocrates, the "Father of Medi cine" was born on the island of Cos off the coast of Asia Minor at a date corresponding to 46o B.C. He is spoken of, both by Soranus and by Plato as a member of the sect, family, guild or society known as the Asclepiadae (i.e. sons of Asclepios). Un fortunately we know nothing of the rights, duties or functions of these Asclepiadae, though highly conjectural statements about them have become current. It is said that Hippocrates was de scended from Asclepios on his father's side and from Herades on his mother's. Since Asclepios is an historical figure—being men tioned as a physician in the Iliad—the former is at least possible. It is said that Hippocrates prosecuted his early medical studies in the famous temple of Asclepios at Cos, but neither the results of the excavations on that island nor the description by Heron das (born c. 30o B.c.) of the conduct of the place suggest any affinity with the spirit of the Hippocratic collection. We shall, therefore, not occupy space with the mass of Hippocratic legend, centring round Cos and spreading also to other sites. It is said, and it is likely, that Hippocrates travelled widely. He is stated to have taught and practised in Thrace, Thessaly, Delos, Athens and elsewhere. He is said to have died at Larissa, at an age given variously, the extremes being 85 and 11o. His "floruit" may be safely placed about 400 B.c. Biographies of him were written by Soranus of Ephesus in the second century A.D., by Suidas the lexi cographer in the eleventh, and by Tzetzes the historian in the twelfth centuries. None of them contain much concerning him.
The character and abilities of Hippocrates as a physician have been held in almost universal veneration by medical men in the ages which have followed. Nevertheless, early references to him are very scanty. He is mentioned twice by Plato with respect (in the dialogues Protagoras and Phaedrus) . When we reflect that Plato was his younger contemporary, it is surprising that he does not mention Hippocrates more often, especially in the Timaeus which deals with physiological subjects. There are some passages in the Platonic dialogues which have been influenced by works now included in the Hippocratic Collection. Aristotle mentions the name of Hippocrates once only (in his Politics) but a number of parallels can be discovered between works of the Hippocratic collection and those of Aristotle. These are most frequent in Aristotle's Historia Animalium. On the other hand, Hippocrates has had very few detractors. Among them were Andreas of Carys tus, who practised in Egypt at the end of the third century B.C., and Asclepiades of Bithynia, who practised in Rome in the first century B.C. The works of neither Andreas nor of Asclepiades have survived. We shall make no attempt to entertain the reader by inventing a life of Hippocrates, but pass straight to the so called Hippocratic Collection.