Hippocrates : a bibliographical demonstration in the library of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, 23rd November, 1891.

  • James Finlayson
Date:
1892
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Hippocrates : a bibliographical demonstration in the library of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, 23rd November, 1891. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    ■I Hippocratic Writings: Genuine and Spurious. Although the personality of Hippocrates as a physician and an author is clearly established by the best historical evidence, the authenticity of the various treatises ascribed to him is quite open for discussion. The general consensus of critics points to there being three different groups of the treatises bearing his name. 1. Genuine works, undoubtedly Hippocratic. 2. Spurious works, certainly not written by the great Hippocrates. 3. Dubious works. Of the spurious and dubious works one or two may have been earlier, but the most of such are regarded as being of later production. It is quite possible that some of the spurious writings of later date may have been Hippocratic in the sense of being written by one of that name, although not by our author, who is distinguished sometimes by the adjective Magnus, * to indicate his pre-eminence amongst all those of the same name, and often, indeed usually, by the adjective Cous, to indicate the place of his birth. Pre-Hippocratic Works. The most interesting question as to the authenticity of the writings turns on the date of certain of the works ascribed to Hippocrates being really hefore his time, a subject discussed with great learning by Houdart, Littre, Ermerins, Adams, Greenhill, and others. That there were ancient medical writino-s hefore Hippocrates may be taken as certain. One of the Hippocratic treatises regarded as undoubtedly genuine by M. Littrd (Tome i, p. 320) is that On Ancient Medicine. His opinion is based on a quotation from the Phcedrus of Plato, and is supported by an elaborate argument; this * See the ])assage already quoted from Aristotle, where he is called the great Hippocrates.
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