Download Hippocrates 10 File

Ancient Greece
(1500BC-400AD)
Split Viewpoints !
• Supernatural – Cult of Asclepios
• Rational/Scientific – Hippocrates
Both of these ideas flourished at the
same time
Use the last paragraph on page 21
to summarise this information.
Lesson Objectives
• To identify the natural theory of medicine
during the Greek Period
• To explain the key features of the Theory of
the 4 Humours
• To explain the significance of Hippocrates
and evaluate whether his ideas were turning
point in medical understanding of disease
and infections
• To give examples of how Hippocrates’ ideas
are still used today, (clinical observation
and the Hippocratic oath
Hippocratic
Oath
Still used today
although some parts
changed e.g.
– abortion
– teaching others
It makes clear that
doctors are not
magicians and that
they must keep high
standards to benefit
the ill.
Who was Hippocrates?
His work is important
because it shows a
clear shift in medicine
• 1) Concentrate on the
Patient, not the illness
• 2) Don’t rely on a
theory that can be
applied to every case
• 3) Don’t depend on
religious practices
• 4) Firmly rejected
magical causes and
cures
• 5) Doctors should
carefully observe
each patient and
the progress of
their illness.
CLINICAL
OBSERVATION.
• 6) Doctors should
note down symptoms
to predict what
would happen if
another patient
caught the disease.
• 7) Believed in a
clear calm
environment for
patients.
• 8) Apply natural
herbal remedies,
but only when sure
what was going on.
• 9) Surgery was a
last resort as it
was so risky.
• 10) The Theory of
the 4 Humours.
Clinical Observation
• Hippocrates said Doctors should follow 4
steps.
• 1) Diagnosis – study the symptoms of a
patient – how is the patient different from
normal?
• 2) Prognosis – Doctor should try to predict
what course the illness will follow, (compare
to previous patients with same symptoms
• 3) Observation – Doctor should continue to
observe the patient, noting changes and
comparing them to the prognosis.
• 4) Treatment – Doctor should treat the
patient, but only when his observations have
confirmed the prognosis and he feels
confident about treatment to use based on
past experience.
The Theory of the 4
Humours
• Aristotle – Greek Thinker
• Body is made up of 4 liquids, (or
humours), blood, phlegm, yellow bile and
black bile
• There were also 4 seasons and these
humours were connected with the seasons
• Aristotle believed that to be healthy, a
person needed to keep the humours in
perfect balance. Hippocrates developed
the idea further !
Used for
1000 years !
• The theory of the 4
humours seemed to fit
with seasonal illnesses –
eg. colds in the winter =
too much phlegm
• Doctors therefore had to
treat the cause of the
disease, NOT the
symptom. Eg. Patient who
was feverish and hot,
probably had too much
blood, therefore the solution
was to bleed the patient, by
cutting open a vein and
letting blood out.
Your Task!!!
Stick the summary sheet into
your book and answer the
questions on the A3 sheet
about Hippocrates and the
four humours!
• How important was the legacy of
Hippocrates?