Hippocrates : a bibliographical demonstration in the Library of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, 23rd November, 1891 / by James Finlayson.

Date:
1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Hippocrates : a bibliographical demonstration in the Library of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, 23rd November, 1891 / by James Finlayson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    The last aphorism is also celebrated, and I read it to you now, although some doubts exist as to whether it has not crept into the first book of the aphorisms from a continuation by a later writer:— VI. 87. Those diseases which medicines do not cure, iron (the knife 1) cures ; those which iron cannot cure, fire cures; and those which fire cannot cure, are to be reckoned wholly incurable. HippocRATic Oath. The Hippocratic Oath is so widely known that perhaps it is scarcely necessary to read it; some modification of it was used when graduates in medicine were sworn in at the University here in my time; and even now it survives, to some extent, in the declaration still made by you. It will be better, however, for me to read this short Hippocratic piece in full, so that you may catch, its full spirit and meaning. The rendering is by Dr. Adams, whose translations I use here whenever available :— I swear by Apollo the physician and -^SIsculapius and Health [Hygeia] and All-heal [Panacea] and all the gods and goddesses, that, according to my ability and judgment, I will keep this oath and this stipulation—to reckon him who taught me this art equally dear to me as my parents, to share my substance with him, and relieve his necessities if required ; to look upon his ofTspring in the same footing as my own brothers, and to teach them this art, if they shall wish to learn it, without fee or stipulation; and that by precept, lecture, and every other mode of instruction, I will impart a knowledge of the art to my own sons, and those of my teachers, and to disciples bound by a stipulation and oath according to the law of medicine, but to none others. I will follow that system of regimen which, according to my ability and judgment, I consider for the benefit of my patients, and abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous. I will give no deadly medicine to any one if asked, nor suggest any such counsel; and in like manner I will not give to a woman a pessary to produce abortion.
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