[Opera Omnia]

1657

Monro Collection (Special Collections) M 129

[Geneva]: Samuelis Chouet

Described as the ‘Father of Western Medicine’, Hippocrates was a doctor, surgeon and researcher. Hippocrates and the followers at his ‘medical’ school rejected the tradition of supernaturalism and believed illness was a natural occurrence and had environmental causes. Hippocrates closely examined his patients and was an advocate of detailed note-taking, not only for his own records but as a guide for future doctors. About 60 works are attributed to Hippocrates and his followers, including the work on epilepsy, The Sacred Disease. Hippocrates put much value in the ethics of practising medicine and upon entering his school, his pupils had to take the Hippocratic Oath – a modified version of which is still in use today.