Volume 1
The cyclopædia of practical medicine : comprising treatises on the nature and treatment of diseases, materia medica and therapeutics, medical jurisprudence, etc. etc. / edited by John Forbes, Alexander Tweedie, John Conolly.
- Date:
- 1833-1835
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The cyclopædia of practical medicine : comprising treatises on the nature and treatment of diseases, materia medica and therapeutics, medical jurisprudence, etc. etc. / edited by John Forbes, Alexander Tweedie, John Conolly. 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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![from an early period of life, and must have had access to all the records winch were accumulated in the establishment to which he belonged. These circumstances may- have had the effect of originally directing his mind to the pursuits in which he after- wards became so eminent; but we must suppose that he possessed from nature a genius singularly adapted to the advancement of medical science, by which he was enabled so far to surpass all those who were placed in situations equally advantageous. We are informed that he spent a considerable portion of his life in travelling through foreign countries, partly for the purpose of obtaining information, and partly from the circum- stance of his assistance being required to undertake the cure of persons of rank, to arrest the progress of epidemics, or to check the ravages of endemic diseases. The works that he left behind him are very numerous, and considering their antiquity, they may be regarded as in a tolerably perfect state. Unfortunately, however, to those which appear to have a just claim to be considered as his genuine productions, there are appended a number of others, which it may be concluded are spurious, either written by his pupils or successors, or fraudulently attached to his name in consequence of its great celebrity. Many eminent critics have exercised their ingenuity in endeavouring to separate the genuine from the spurious writings of Hippocrates; and in such estimation was he held, that for many ages a main object with all writers on medical topics was to comment on the works of Hippocrates, to elucidate his principles by subsequent observation, or to support their respective doctrines by his authority. He is mentioned with great respect by Plato, Celsus, and Pliny, and by others among the ancients; Galen speaks of him with a degree of almost enthusiastic admiration, and at the revival of letters the most learned men of the times devoted themselves to the elucidation of his works by glossaries, commen- taries, and criticisms of all descriptions. In Italy, Germany, and France, where learning first began to revive, and where the earliest universities were established, we have, among- other illustrious names, those of Alpinus, Cornarius, Hollerius, Ballonius, Mercurialis, Feme], Heurnius, Sennert, Foesius, Riolan, and Duret,* who, however they might differ in their opinions and practice, all coincided in regarding Hippocrates with equal respect, and considered him as having first placed the study of medicine on its correct basis.f We are hence naturally led to inquire what were the circumstances, in the intellec- tual or literary character of Hippocrates, which produced this powerful impression, and perhaps we may assign the following as among the most influential. He appears to have had the sagacity to discover the great and fundamental truth, that in medicine, probably even more than in any other science, the basis of all our knowledge is the accurate observation of actual phenomena, and that the correct generalization of these phenomena should be the sole foundation of all our reasoning. Every page of Hippo- crates proves that he was not without his speculations and hypotheses, but at the same time we perceive that, for the most part, they were kept in subjection to the result of observation, and that when they appeared to be in opposition to each other, he had the wisdom to prefer the latter. Hence his descriptions of particular diseases, after all the revolutions of customs and habits, both moral and physical, are still found to be correct representations of nature, while his indications of cure, and the treatment derived from them, are generally rational and practicable. When we reflect that at this period anatomy was scarcely practised, \ that physiology was almost unknown, that the materia medica was nearly confined to vegetable substances, and of these to such as were indigenous to Greece and the neighbouring countries, our admiration of the skill and talents of Hippocrates will be still farther increased, and we are induced to regard him as one of those rare geniuses, who so far outstrip their contemporaries as to form an sera, in the history of science. With respect to the particular improvements which he introduced into the practice * In designating the names of authors who nourished after the revival of letters, it is somewhat difficult to determine, whether we ought to employ their actual or their latinized names; we have adopted the former, where it could be done without ambiguity or the appearance of affectation. t Coming, Intr. cap. 3, § 8. et alibi. Holler, Bib). Med. Prac. lib. vi.; it is entitled « Schola Hippocratica, and is carried down to the beginning of the seventeenth century. t Gruner, Analecta, diss. 2. Hippocrates, corpora hiimana insecuerit necne? He dis- cusses the question with much learning and candour, and decides in the negative.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21462276_0001_0029.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
