Tag: Hippocrates
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Where philosophy and medicine overlap
Mariami ShanshashviliTbilisi, Georgia In Plato’s Charmides there is a remark by Socrates that is neither distinctively impressive nor remarkably original but interesting for the notably broad range of references, including the perception characteristic to ancient Greeks, the origins of the Greek medicine, and the philosophy of Empedocles, Alcmaeon, and other Pre-Socratics.1 In this passage young…
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Living with incidental cyberchondria
Theresa DannaBurbank, California, United States Before the Internet, if I had a pain in my chest, I would assume it was gas and then burp and move on with my day. After the Internet, if I have a pain in my chest, I panic and think, “That’s one of the five warning signs of a…
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Life is short and Art is long: reflections on the first Hippocratic aphorism
Anthony PapagiannisThessaloniki, Greece Some five centuries before Christ, the ancient father of medicine Hippocrates used to instruct his students that “Life is short and Art is long; opportunity fleeting, experiment treacherous, judgment difficult.” (Ο βίος βραχύς, η δε τέχνη μακρή, ο δε καιρός οξύς, η δε πείρα σφαλερή, η δε κρίσις χαλεπή). To this translation,1…
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Aristotle and the four humors
Aristotle is one of the greatest philosophers of all time. He has influenced human thought for almost 2500 years and many of his works are as relevant today as they were in the days of ancient Greece. Students of his philosophical works are likely to be familiar with his Nicomachean Ethics, Politics, Rhetoric, and Poetics,…
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Aretaeus of Cappadocia, second only to Hippocrates
Aretaeus was born in Cappadocia during the Roman hegemony over Greek Asia Minor. Few details are known about his life, but it is believed he studied in Alexandria and practiced medicine in Rome around the second century AD. After his death he was forgotten until rediscovered during the Renaissance, when a Latin translation of his…
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History of nephrology vignettes
Hippocrates: “Those whose urine is merely blood-stained have suffered in the veins. When urine is thick, and there are passed with it small pieces of flesh like hair, you must know that these symptoms result from the kidneys and arthritic complaints.” Bubbles appearing on the surface of the urine indicate disease of the kidneys and…
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Hearkening back to Hippocrates: rediscovering “food as medicine” in the age of quinoa and kale
Shehryar R. SheikhCleveland, Ohio, United States In my opinion, nobody would have even sought for medicine, if the same diets (διαιτήµατα) had suited both the sick and those in health.”1 – Hippocrates, from the treatise “Ancient Medicine” written around 400 BCE His edict on food is as well known as the tenets of the oath…
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Empathy for medical students
David JeffreyEdinburgh, United Kingdom On a windy corner of Drummond Street, not far from Rutherford’s pub in Edinburgh, there is a small bronze plaque with these words: “And when I remembered all that I hoped and feared as I pickled about Rutherford’s in the rain and the east wind; how I feared I should be…
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Warning: laughter can be hazardous to your illness
Bharata WinghamBuckingham, Virginia, United States A cheerful heart does good like a medicine: but a broken spirit makes one sick.—Proverbs 17:22 Laugh for the health of it! When is the last time you had a good laugh? This was a question I used to ask myself from time to time. If I needed a chuckle,…