lecture, and every other mode of
instruction, I will impart a knowledge of the Art to my own sons, and
those of my teachers, and to disciples bound by a stipulation and oath
according to the law of medicine, but to none others. I will follow that
system of regimen which, according to my ability and judgment, I
consider for the benefit of my patients, and abstain from whatever is
deleterious and mischievous. I will give no deadly medicine to anyone if
asked, nor suggest any such counsel; and in like manner I will not give
to a woman a pessary to produce abortion. With purity and with holiness
I will pass my life and practise my Art. I will not cut persons
labouring under the stone, but will leave this to be done by men who
are practitioners of this work. Into whatever houses I enter, I will go
into them for the benefit of the sick, and will abstain from every
voluntary act of mischief and corruption, and, further, from the
seduction of females or males, of freedmen and slaves. Whatever, in
connection with my professional practice, or not in connection with it,
I see or hear, in the life of men, which ought not to be spoken of
abroad, I will not divulge as reckoning that all such should be kept
secret. While I continue to keep this Oath inviolate, may it be granted
to me to enjoy life and the practice of the Art, respected by all men,
in all times! But should I trespass or violate this oath, may the
reverse be my lot!"

It would be a great task to attempt anything like a full review of the
writings of this great doctor of antiquity, but enough has been written
to reveal the great powers of his mind, and to show that he was far in
advance of his predecessors, and a model for his successors. In the
island of Cos, made illustrious by the name of Hippocrates, it is
strange to find that he has no fame now other than that of being
regarded in the confused minds of the people as one of the numerous
saints of the Greek Church.[6]

"When," says Littre, "one searches into the history of medicine and the
commencement of science, the first body of doctrine that one meets with
is the collection of writings known under the name of the works of
Hippocrates. The science mounts up directly to that origin, and there
stops. Not that it had not been cultivated earlier, and had not given
rise to even numerous productions; but everything that had been made
before the physician of Cos has perished. We have only remaining of them
scattered an