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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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