Hippocratic Corpus

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A twelfth-century Byzantine manuscript of the Oath in the form of a cross

The Hippocratic Corpus (Latin: Corpus Hippocratum), Hippocratic Collection, or Hippocratic Canon, is a collection of around seventy early medical works from ancient Greece strongly associated with Hippocrates and his teachings. Of the volumes in the Corpus, none is proven to be of Hippocrates's hand itself, though some sources say otherwise.^[1] Instead, the works were probably produced by students and followers of his (Ermerins numbers the authors at nineteen)^[2], maybe centuries after he died.

Because of the variety of subjects, writing styles and apparent date of construction, scholars believe it could not have been written by one person. But the corpus carries Hippocrates's name as it was attributed to him in antiquity and its teaching generally follow principles of his. It might be the remains of a library of Kos, or a collection compiled in the third century B.C. in Alexandria. It was not, however, only the Koan school of ancient Greek medicine that contributed to the Corpus; the Knidian did, too. ^[3]^[4]

1 Content
2 Style
3 Printed editions
4 The Oath
5 See also
6 References
7 Bibliography
8 External links

[edit] Content

The Hippocratic Corpus contains textbooks, lectures, research, notes and philosophical essays on various subjects in medicine, in no particular order.^[1]^[5] These works were written for different audiences, both specialists and laymen, and were sometimes written from opposing view points; significant contradictions can be found between works in the Corpus.^[6]

One significant portion of the corpus is made up of case-histories, of which there are forty-two. Of these, 60% (25) ended in the patient's death. ^[7] Nearly all of the diseases described in the Corpus are endemic diseases: colds, consumption, pneumonia, etc.^[8]

[edit] Style

"Life is short, [the] art long, opportunity fleeting, experiment treacherous, judgment difficult."
—Aphorisms i.1.

The writing style of the Corpus has been remarked upon for centuries, being described by some as, "clear, precise, and simple"^[9]. It is often praised for its objectivity and concisesness, yet some have criticised it as being "grave and austere".^[10] Francis Adams, a translator of the Corpus, goes further and calls it sometimes “obscure”. Of course, not all of the Corpus is of this “laconic” style, though most of it is. It was Hippocratic practice to write in this style.^[11]

The whole corpus is written in Ionic Greek, though the island of Kos was in a region that spoke Doric Greek. This use of Ionic instead of the native Doric dialect is analogous to the practice of Renaissance scientists, using Latin instead of the vernacular for their treatises. ^[12]

[edit] Printed editions

The entire Hippocratic Corpus was first printed as a unit in 1525. This edition was in Latin and was edited by Marcus Fabius Calvus in Rome. The first complete Greek edition followed the next year in Venice. An English translation was first published about 300 years later.^[5]

A significant edition was that of Émile Littré who spent twenty-two years (1839-1861) working diligently on the Hippocratic Corpus. This was scholarly, yet sometimes inaccurate and awkward.^[13] Another edition of note was that of Franz Z. Ermerins, published in Utrecht between 1859 and 1864.^[13] Beginning in 1967, an important modern edition by Jacques Jouanna and others began to appear (with Greek text, French translation, and commentary) in the Collection Budé. Other important bilingual annotated editions (with translation in German or French) continue to appear in the Corpus medicorum graecorum published by the Akademie-Verlag in Berlin.

[edit] The Oath

Main article: Hippocratic Oath

The most famous work in the Hippocratic corpus is the Hippocratic Oath, a landmark declaration of doctoral ethics. The Hippocratic Oath is both philosophical and practical; it not only deals with abstract principles but practical matters such as removing stones and aiding one's teacher financially. It is a complex and probably not the work of one man. ^[14] ^[15]

Though it is of unknown origin, like many other works from the time period, it is included in the Corpus and named after Hippocrates for historic tradition. Indeed, this short work has become a very important work in the history of medicine. Traditionally, it has been taken at the beginning of a doctor's career, perhaps to medical school graduates. Because of its antiquity, however, the Oath is rarely taken in its original form today. But, it does serve as a foundation for other, similar oaths and laws that define good medical practice and morals; derivatives of which are still taken.^[15]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b Singer & Underwood 1962, p. 27
^ Britannica britannica
^ Margotta 1968, p. 64
^ Martí-Ibáñez 1961, p. 86-87
^ ^a ^b Rutkow, p. 23
^ Singer & Underwood 1962, p. 28
^ Garrison 1966, p. 95
^ Jones 1868, p. 51
^ Garrison 1966, p. 99
^ Jones 1868, p. 10
^ Adam 1891, p. 18
^ Jones 1868, p. 23
^ ^a ^b Jones 1868, p. 62-3
^ Jones 1868, p. 217
^ ^a ^b Garrison 1966, p. 96

[edit] Bibliography

Adams, Francis (1891), The Genuine Works of Hippocrates, New York: William Wood and Company.
Encyclopedia Britannica (britannica), HIPPOCRATES, vol. V13, Online Encyclopedia [link accessed October 14, 2006].
Garrison, Fielding H. (1966), History of Medicine, Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Company.
Jones, W. H. S. (1868), Hippocrates Collected Works I, Cambridge Harvard University Press [link accessed September 28, 2006].
Margotta, Roberto (1968), The Story of Medicine, New York: Golden Press.
Martí-Ibáñez, Félix (1961), A Prelude to Medical History, New York: MD Publications, Inc., Library of Congress ID: 61-11617.
Rutkow, Ira M. (1993), Surgery: An Illustrated History, London and Southhampton: Elsevier Science Health Science div, ISBN 0-801-6-6078-5.
Singer, Charles & E. Ashworth Underwood (1962), Short History of Medicine, New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, Library of Congress ID: 62-21080.