Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: science and art of medicine

  • Life is short and Art is long: reflections on the first Hippocratic aphorism

    Anthony Papagiannis Thessaloniki, Greece   The ruins of the Asclepeion in the Greek island of Kos, the birthplace of Hippocrates. Photo courtesy of author. 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…