HIPPOCRATES was born 460 BC. He is credited as the first person to believe that diseases were causednaturally not because of superstition and gods. He was acknowledged by the disciples of Pythagorasfor allying philosophy and medicine. He separated the discipline of medicine from religion, believing and arguing that disease was not a punishment inflicted by the gods but rather the product of environmental factors, diet, and living habits.
Hippocratic medicine was humble and passive. The therapeutic approach was based on “the healing power of nature.” According to this doctrine, the body contains within itself the power to re-balance the four humorsand heal it self.
In Hippocrates’ time it was thought that fever was a disease in and of itself. Hippocrates treated patientswith fever by starving them out, believing that ‘starving’ the fever was a way to neutralize the disease.He may therefore have been the originator of the idea “Feed a cold, starve a fever.” wikipedia
HIPPOCRATIC OATH
I SWEAR by Apollo Physician, by asclepius, by Health, by Panacea, and by all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will carry out, according to my ability and judgment, this oath and this contract.
To hold him who taught me this art equally dear to me as my parents, to be a partner in life with himand to fulfill his needs; to look upon offspring as equals to my own siblings, and to teach themthis art if they wish to learn it, without fee or contract; and by the set of rules, lecturesand every other mode of instruction, I will impart a knowledge of the art to my own sons, and thoseof my teachers, and to students bound by this contract and having sworn this Oath to the law of medicinebut to no others.
I will use dietary regimens which will benefit my patients according to my greatest ability and judgment,and I will do no harm or injustice to them.
I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan; and similarly I will not give a woman a pessary to cause an abortion.
In purity and according to divine law will I carry out my life and my art.
I will not use the knife, even those suffering from stones, but I will leave this to those who are trainedin this craft.
Into whatever homes I go, I will enter them for the benefit of the sick, avoiding any voluntary actof impropriety or corruption, including the seduction of women or men, whether they are free men or slaves.
Whatever I see in the lives of my patients, whether in connection with my professional practice or not,which ought not to be spoken of outside, I will keep secret, as considering all such things to be private.
So long as I maintain this oath faithfully and without corruption, may it be granted to me to partake of lifefully and the practice of my art, gaining the respect of all men for all time. However, should I transgress this Oath and violate it, let the opposite be my fate.
translated by Michael North, National LIbrary of Medicine