Hippocrates is thought of as the founder of medicine and we should shape the way doctors practice even until today, defining the practice and setting the variables for how to go about all things medical. He was a man who was more concerned with the physicians duties than his "rights". This ideology is one of the many legacies he left behind, which today is now known as the Hippocratic Oath.
It is believed that Hippocrates traveled around Greece and Asia Minor, teaching his ways in medicine, expanding his influence in the field.
We continue to use his philosophies, and the Hippocratic Oath today religiously, throughout time adding and changing it to keep it up to date with societies standards. One of the key beliefs with Hippocrates' was that a doctor should use his own educated mind to treat a patient. For example, when administering drugs, a physician must not bend to the will of the patient. If the doctor feels a certain amount of medication is necessary, they stick to that dose.
The oath was created in order to avoid corruption, and so that one can perform their duties with dignity, pride, and gain a level of respect in the field.
Hippocratic medicine was based on four humors:
(Insert taken from http://www.greekmedicine.net/b_p/Four_Humors.html)
Blood / Sanguine Humor / Air
"Blood is Hot and Wet, or Warm and Moist. It is the very essence of vitality and health, nutrition and growth. Blood is perfect nourishment perfectly digested. Its receptacle or home is in the arteries and blood vessels. Blood carries the Vital Force and Innate Heat,which power cellular metabolism. The essence of blood is exchange and contact, as it is the basic nutritional and metabolic currency of the organism. Blood has an Attractivevirtue, or force, since all cells, organs and tissues have an absolute need for it, and are therefore attracted to it."
Phlegm / Phlegmatic Humor / Water
"The Phlegmatic humor is Cold and Wet. It includes not just phlegm, but all the other clear fluids of the body: mucus, saliva, plasma, lymph, and serous and interstitial fluids. Together, these fluids cool, moisten, nourish, lubricate, protect, and purify the organism. The Plegmatic humor has an Expulsive virtue, or force, which flushes out impurities, transports vital nutrients, and helps eliminate wastes. The home of the Phlegmatic humor is in the veins and lymphatics. The Phlegmatic humor nourishes the body on a deep and fundamental level."
Yellow Bile / Choleric Humor / Fire
"The Choleric humor is Hot and Dry. It is produced by the liver and stored in the gall bladder. Bile has a hot, caustic nature and a Digestive virtue, or force, which gives it a strong affinity with the other digestive secretions of the middle GI tract. Fire and bile digest and consume, metabolize and transform. Digestively, bile powers digestion; digests, assimilates and excretes fats and cholesterol; and acts as a natural laxative to stimulate intestinal peristalsis and defecation. It also colors the stool brown. Systemically, Choleric residues in the bloodstream thin the blood, enabling it to penetrate through the finest capillaries; empowers the inflammatory response; and opens up the lungs and respiratory passages as a surfactant."
Black Bile / Melancholic Humor / Earth
"Black Bile is Cold and Dry. Healthy black bile is a normal sediment of blood, or the Sanguine humor. Black Bile has a Retentive virtue or force, and a cooling, drying, astringing, precipitating, condensing, coagulating, solidifying effect on metabolism necessary for building the bones, teeth, and all dense, solid structural connective tissues of the body. Digestively, Black Bile awakens the stomach and appetite, solidifies the stool, and enables the digestive organs to hold on to their contents long enough to process them properly. Systemically, Melancholic residues in the bloodstream thicken the blood, enabling it to clot; this is vitally important in wound granulation, scar tissue formation, and all structural repair of the body. Black Bile also governs mineral metabolism and bone formation."
By addressing the four humors, Hippocrates defines the body and mind as a whole, each having equal importance in the realm of medicine.
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