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48 FIRST PERIOD—ANTIQUITY

than that of his birth, for, according to some, he died at eighty-three,
according to others, at eightv-flve, at ninety, at one hundred and four,
and even at one hundred and nine years of age.
Hippocrates was initiated in the study of medicine by his own father,
HeracHdes; but in the medical art he also had as a teacher the gymnasi-
arch Herodicus of Selymbria; besides, he studied eloquence under the
sophist Gorgia and philosophy under the celebrated Democritus. He
treasured up all the records of medical practice that were preserved in
the temple of Cos; but according to some ancient authors he is said to
have set fire afterward to this temple, and to have left his native country
in order to flee from the resentment he had aroused. Probably it was
the priests themselves who attributed the burning of the temple (which
certainly took place at that time) to Hippocrates, out of jealousy for his
growing fame; though it may also be possible that this great man, having
first collected together all that was useful among the medical records that
were to be found there, afterward courageously destroyed this centre of
superstition, so that medicine, ceasing to be confused with imposture
and being despoiled of the supernatural character attributed to it, which
paralyzed its progress, should become a liberal and human art, based
purely on the observation of clinical facts and the study of natural laws.
For a long time, Hippocrates travelled in various parts of Europe,
Asia, and Africa, everywhere making valuable observations. He finally
returned to his native country, where through the practice of medicine
and by his immortal writings he acquired such esteem and veneration
that his compatriots almost tributed him with divine honors after death.
Not all, however, of the works that make up the so-called collection
of Hippocrates were really written b\- the father of medicine. Two of
his sons—Thessalus and Draco—and his son-in-law Polybius also dis-
tinguished themselves by the practice of medicine and by their admirable
writings, which together with those of other doctors of that period were
erroneously included in the collection of Hippocrates' works. At any rate,
the collection of Hippocrates faithfulh' represents the state of medicine
and surgery at the epoch in which he and his disciples flourished, that is,
toward the end of the fifth and during the fourth centur\- before the
Christian era.^
Neither Hippocrates nor others before him had ever dissected corpses;
it is, therefore, not to be wondered at that the anatomical notions con-
tained in the Hipj)ocratic works should be scarce and very often inexact.
The physiological notions also are highly deficient and imperfect, which
is, indeed, very natural, for an exact knowledge of the functions of the
human body presupposes an exact knowledge of the relative organs.

' Guardia, Histoire dc la Medecinc, p. 250.