Traditionally, the Greeks were like many ancient people. They discovered herbal cures and blended them with superstitions about sickness coming from evil spirits or the gods. The Greek doctor Hippocrates (c. 460-c. 337 B. C.E.) was the first person to try to make medicine a true science. (Historians say that the writings attributed to him may have come from more than one source; Charles Freeman in his book The Greek Achieve:ment refers to the “Hippocratic doctors,” rather than one person of that name.)
By Hippocrates’ time, doctors were already rejecting the idea that magic or other supernatural forces could cause or cure illness. Hippocrates then began applying reason and observation to the human body and illness, just as philosophers did with the universe as a whole. Some of his conclusions were wrong, such as the notion that four fluids, called humors, controlled human health, and that an imbalance of the humors caused disease. But Hippocrates and his followers did get some things right. They believed that good diet and exercise were the keys to health, and that in many cases the body could heal itself without the need for drugs.
One of Hippocrates’ his last-
A Scientist's Words
Along with his scientific contributions, Archimedes is known today for popularizing two phrases. He supposedly ran out of his house—naked, coming out of the bath— after making a scientific discovery, shouting the word eureka ("I have found it!"). Today, eureka can be used when making any important discovery, and it is the motto of the state of California, referring to the discovery of gold there in 1848. Archimedes also said, regarding his study of levers, "Give me where to stand, and I will move the earth" (quoted in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations). Since that time, a wide range of writers and speakers— from Thomas Jefferson to former vice president Al Gore—have alluded to Archimedes' claim, and his idea that the right tools and knowledge can accomplish the seemingly impossible.
Ing contributions to medicine is known today as the Hippocratic Oath. Doctors after Hippocrates swore to Apollo and the other gods that they would not harm their patients. Today, most graduating medical school students swear to some form of the oath, usually a modern version. Hippocrates’ reference to the gods has been removed, but the basic premises of the oath remain the same. Doctors swear to treat the sick to the best of their ability, preserve patient privacy, teach the secrets of medicine to the next generation, and act with compassion.
The Greek scientist Hero-philus (c. 335-280 B. C.E.) added to the understanding of the human body by dissecting corpses. He showed for the first time that the
World History
