Greek
Greek
culture, renowned for its masterpieces of art, poetry, drama,
and philosophy, also made great advances in medicine. The
earliest Greek medicine still depended on magic and spells.
Homer considered Apollo the god of healing. Homer's Iliad,
however, reveals a considerable knowledge of the treatment
of wounds and other injuries by surgery, already recognized
as a specialty distinct from internal medicine.
By
the 6th century bc, Greek medicine had left the magic and
religious realm, instead stressing clinical observation and
experience. In the Greek colony of Crotona the biologist Alcmaeon
(lived about 6th century bc) identified the brain as the physiological
seat of the senses. The Greek philosopher Empedocles elaborated
the concept that disease is primarily an expression of a disturbance
in the perfect harmony of the four elements-fire, air, water,
and earth-and formulated a rudimentary theory of evolution.
Kos
and Cnidus are the most famous of the Greek medical schools
that flourished in the 5th century bc. Students of both schools
probably contributed to the Corpus Hippocraticum (Hippocratic
Collection), an anthology of the writings of several authors,
although popularly attributed to Hippocrates, who is known
as the father of medicine. Hippocrates was the greatest physician
in antiquity. He convinced physicians that disease had identifiable
causes and was not due to the supernatural. His writings were
used in medical textbooks well into the 19th century. Greek
physicians introduced such modern ideas as prognosis, or outcome
of disease, and the use of case histories of actual patients
to teach students. The highest ethical standards were imposed
on physicians, who took the celebrated oath usually attributed
to Hippocrates and still used in modified form today.
Although
not a practicing physician, the Greek philosopher Aristotle
contributed greatly to the development of medicine by his
dissections of numerous animals. He is known as the founder
of comparative anatomy. Further progress in understanding
anatomy flourished by the 3rd century bc in Alexandria, Egypt,
which was firmly established as the center of Greek medical
science. In Alexandria the anatomist Herophilus performed
the first recorded public dissection, and the physiologist
Erasistratus did important work on the anatomy of the brain,
nerves, veins, and arteries. The followers of these men divided
into many contending sects. The most notable were the empiricists
who based their doctrine on experience gained by trial and
error. The empiricists excelled in surgery and pharmacology;
a royal student of empiricism, Mithridates VI Eupator, king
of Pontus, developed the concept of inducing tolerance of
poisons by the administration of gradually increased dosages.
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