on, that he travelled
extensively, visiting Thrace, Thessaly, and various other parts of
Greece; that he returned to Cos, where he became the most renowned
physician of his period, and died about 375 B.C. Aristotle mentions him
but once, calling him "the great Hippocrates." Busts of him are common;
one of the earliest of which, and I am told the best, dating from Roman
days and now in the British Museum, is here represented.

Of the numerous writings attributed to Hippocrates it cannot easily be
determined which are really the work of the Father of Medicine himself.
They were collected at the time of the Alexandrian School, and it became
customary to write commentaries upon them; much of the most important
information we have about them, we derive from Galen. The earliest
manuscript is the "Codex Laurentianus" of Florence, dating from the
ninth century, a specimen page of which (thanks to Commendatore Biagi)
is annexed. Those of you who are interested, and wish to have full
references to the various works attributed to Hippocrates, will find
them in "Die Handschriften der antiken Aerzte" of the Prussian Academy,
edited by Diels (Berlin, 1905). The Prussian Academy has undertaken the
editorship of the "Corpus Medicorum Graecorum." There is no complete
edition of them in English. In 1849 the Deeside physician, Adams,
published (for the Old Sydenham Society) a translation of the most
important works, a valuable edition and easily obtained. Littre's
ten-volume edition "OEuvres completes d'Hippocrate," Paris, 1839-1861, is
the most important for reference. Those of you who want a brief but
very satisfactory account of the Hippocratic writings, with numerous
extracts, will find the volume of Theodor Beck (Jena, 1907) very useful.

I can only indicate, in a very brief way, the special features of the
Hippocratic writings that have influenced the evolution of the science
and art of medicine.

The first is undoubtedly the note of humanity. In his introduction to,
"The Rise of the Greek Epic,"(21) Gilbert Murray emphasizes the idea of
service to the community as more deeply rooted in the Greeks than in
us. The question they asked about each writer was, "Does he help to make
better men?" or "Does he make life a better thing?" Their aim was to
be useful, to be helpful, to make better men in the cities, to correct
life, "to make gentle the life of the world." In this brief phrase were
summed up the aspirations of the Athenians, li