History of Medical Academy at Cos

In 400 BC, when Hippocrates led the medical academy at Cos, documenting his patient encounters, teaching his students the Art of medicine, and writing what would become known as the Hippocratic Corpus, he was unaware that he was establishing Western medical theory for the next two plus millennia.

The origin of the academy at Cos probably dates from sixth century BC. It was centered on the island of Cos, one of the most eastern of the Greek islands; it lies close to the coast of what is now Turkey, midway between Samos and Rhodes.

Hippocrates

A collection of 70 scientific treaties produced at the medical academy of Cos were ascribed to Hippocrates. One of the books is On the Sacred Disease written in the fifth and fourth centuries BC.

The medical academy at Cos aimed at prognosis by a general study of the symptoms and signs of known diseases. It centered its attention on the patient and his individual reaction to the disease, seeing the clinical manifestations as the product of the interaction between the morbid process itself and the healing or naturally restorative powers of the body.

The academy of Cos, the so called Coan School, had a rival, situated on the opposite peninsula at Cnidus. The Cnidian focus was in the disease, while that of Hippocrates was on patient. Scholars also believed that Medical Academy at Cos had innovated in the field of dietetics.
History of Medical Academy at Cos

Psoriasis in history

Psoriasis shares much of its ancient history with leprosy. Various Biblical references to ‘leprosy’, for instance more likely represent psoriasis.

Hippocrates was the first described on psoriasis. He described a series of scaling exanthems grouped include heading ‘lopoi’, Greek for epidemics, which likely included both psoriasis and leprosy. At the beginning of the first century, psoriasis was described by the Roman scholar Aurelieus Celcus (25 BC-AD 45) in his De re medica who referred to it as ‘impertigo’ (from impeto meaning attack).

Noted physician Galen (133-200 A.D.) identified psoriasis as a skin disease through clinical observation and was the first to call it psoriasis. He described psoriasis as a pruritic, scaly skin disease of the eyelids and scrotum.

It was not until the beginning of the 19th century that psoriasis was recognized as being specific clinical entity. In 1808, Robert Willan published the first color pales of a scaling skin disease described in his word, as ‘the scaly psora by a distinct appellation; for this purpose, the term ‘prosiasis’.

In 1841 Doctor Ferdinand von Hebra, founder of modern dermatology, further distinguished the clinical picture of psoriasis from that of leprosy
Psoriasis in history

History of dermatology

The history of dermatology is the history of mankind. The history of dermatology can only be distinguished from the history of medicine at the beginning of the 19th century when dermatology like the other specialties began to be recognized as a specialities branch of medicine.

The invention of writings coincided with early cities in Africa. Early texts were mainly for administration or religious purposes, but medical writings soon appeared, Many of them related to skin disorders.

There was initial age of medicine dominated by magic, followed by the growth of rational medicine led by Hippocrates around 400 C. Hippocratic writings contained a number of passages which refer to cutaneous disorders. He divided skin disease into two types: local and constitutional. Local means those with an independent existence while constitutional means that those occur due to elimination of disease.

Aristotle (383-322 BC) too was aware of the hormonal association of baldness. He noticed that either normal women or eunuchs went bald and that both were unable to grow hair on their chest.

A group of brilliant doctors in Padua, including Vesalius and Mercurialis, set up a system of learning and wrote medical texts that revitalized medicine in Europe. Mercurialis wrote De Morbis Cuteneis in 1572: this summarized work of early writers and has focus on hair disorders, but still represents the first dermatology textbook in the west since the time of Paul of Aegina, 800 years before.

In 1817, Robert Willan produced images of skin diseases in his textbook, the first dermatology atlas that was completed by Bateman. This atlas went through many editions and was still in print in 1877.

At the beginning of the 20th century, dermatology was developing in most European and North American countries with fledging dermatology societies and dermatology journals.
History of dermatology

Corpus Hippocraticum

The Corpus Hippocraticum was the first collection of important fragments of medical practice in early European history. Around 300 BC Pharaon Ptolemy Soter, the first of the Greek rulers in Egypt, ordered scholars at the new Library in Alexandria to collect documents containing all of human knowledge.

The works of Hippocrates, who was now acknowledged as the ‘father of medicine’, were among those most sought. They then tied a figurative knot around the package by attributing all of the writing to him.

The Corpus Hippocraticum or Hippocratic Collection is the name given to these writings. It is a library of about 60 works by different authors composed mostly between the late fifth and the fourth centuries BC. It reveals an approach to the problems of health and disease and in general a type of medicine such as the world had never seen before.

The Corpus Hippocraticum is full of richly detailed clinical information on the treatment of photophobia, excessive lacrimation, strabismus, nystagmus and a wide variety of external diseases.

The first known printed edition of the Corpus Hippocraticum was produced in 1525 by M. Fabius Calvus of Ravenna, who copied a single manuscript, Vaticanus Graecae 278, written in 1512. The Aldine edition was published in 1526 by Franciscus Anulanus and is considered the editio princeps.
Corpus Hippocraticum

Hippocratic corpus

Hippocrates lived in the age of Socrates and most of the treatises seem to originate in the classical period. About 70 medical treatises, generally called the Hippocratic corpus are traditionally attributed to him.

The 'Hippocratic' Corpus comprises some 60 medical works of varying length, style and content. Collectively, this is the largest surviving body of early Greek prose.

The treaties vary greatly in length and style, and it is generally believed that they used to make up the library of a medical school, probably at Cos, which became the most important center of medical thought and practice in the 4th century BC – a role that was later taken over by Alexandria.

One author in the time of Galen believed that at least part of the collection was written down by Hippocrates to preserve the oral doctrines of the family of Asclepiads that were in danger of disappearing because they handed down only by word of mouth.

Hippocratic Corpus emphasized the ability of the human body to heal itself. This holistic approach to medicine and hence the Hippocratic approach to medicine, has seen a resurgence on the western world in recent decades. It also emphasized the rational scientific mind in the detection and analysis of illness.

One interesting element of the Hippocratic corpus, and a clear mark of its kind scientific character, is that besides successful treatments medical mistakes were also included.
Hippocratic corpus

Arthritis in ancient times

Arthritis pain has been around since the beginning of time. A group of iguanodons, unearthed in Brussels and dating from 85,000 BC had signs of osteoarthritis in their ankles.

Neanderthal man of 30,000 BC remains show that early man had secondary osteoarthritis.

The latest evidence of rheumatoid arthritis was found in the skeletons of people living around 4500 BC in what is today the southern United States.

Scientists also have discovered evidence of arthritis in the bones of mummies from the pyramids of ancient Egypt. There is evidence that at least three pharaohs, including Rameses II (1290 to 1221 BC) and his son Merenptah had ankylosing spondylitis (a type of arthritis).

About 2000 years ago, an Indian medical doctor named Charaka wrote about a disease whose victims had fevers and swollen, a painful joints.

Gout is particularly painful form of arthritis. In ancient times, gouty arthritis was believed to be a ‘rich man’s disease’ because a diet heavy in pork, beer, and port was suspected to be the cause.

Since the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates coined the word arthritis it means swollen joints – people have complained of pain, swelling and stiffness in their limbs.

Historical references to the medicinal use of willow bark date from around 500 BC when Chinese used the plant as a pain reliever, probably in a tea. Hippocrates advised that willow bark and leaves should be chewed to alleviate pain and fever.
Arthritis in ancient times

Hippocrates and his oath

A native of the Dorian-Greek island of Kos, near south-western Asia Minor, Hippocrates is usually considered to be the founder of scientific medical practice.

In Hippocrates’s time, there were many people who claimed to be healers but had no formal training or medical knowledge. They would prey on the fears of the sick and would change for fraudulent cures.

The physicians of the Hippocratic School sought to distinguish themselves and establish trust with their patients. This is part of the inspiration for the Hippocratic Oaths.

Hippocratic Oath

The oath dates back to the fourth century BC and forms the basis of the western medical ethics. The Hippocratic Oath sums up the essential of what the Greeks thought should be reflected by a good physician and also what should be good medicine.

All new doctors coming out of the ancient Hippocratic School would take the Hippocratic Oath.

In this vow, the speaker swore to honor the brotherhood of the school, never to treat a patient with any purpose other than healing, never to give poison or induce abortion.

This oath established an ethical standard or personal and professional conduct for Hippocratic physicians that distinguished them from other unscrupulous or untrained people.
Hippocrates and his oath

History of epilepsy

Since the earliest times epilepsy was considered a disease of a marked supernatural character, a ‘sacred disease’ that could be driven out only by magical means.

An early text from Mesopotamia 11th BC) described the condition of anta’dubbu as a person whose neck turns left, whose hand and feet are intent and eyes wide open, froth flowing from the mouth and consciousness being loss, resulting from the hand of a god.

The term epilepsy originated from the Greek word for ‘seize’ or ‘attack’ and probably was derived from the idea of the individual being sized or attack by the gods.

Hippocrates opined that epilepsy was a natural affection with a hereditary origin, with its pathogenesis in the brain.

The Hippocratic writings referred to epilepsy as the ‘great disease’ a term subsequently adopted in its French translation as ‘grand mal’ to describe epileptic attacks.

Galen, the Greek physician and philosopher of the second century, attributed epilepsy to accumulation of two humors, phlegm and bile in cerebral ventricles.

Galen work not accessible until 11th century. During this period, epilepsy was surrounded by superstition and magic.

In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, epilepsy was a common diagnosis in the asylums and in some, patients with epilepsy were segregated in separate wards.

It is often said that the history of epilepsy surgery began on May 25, 1886, when Victor Horsley operated, at the National Hospital for the Paralyzed and Epileptic at Queen’s Square in London, on a patient of John Hughlings Jackson.
History of epilepsy

History of cow’s milk allergy

Allergic reactions to food affecting the gastrointestinal tract have been known since ancient times. 

Hippocrates (460-370 BC) was among the first to report the adverse effects of cow’s milk, including hives and gastrointestinal disorders.

He observed that cow’s milk caused gastrointestinal symptoms as well as urticaria and that some infants led cow’s milk developed prolonged diarrhea, vomiting and failure to thrive that resolved only after removal of cowls milk from their diet.

Galen described allergy to goat’s milk in 130 AD.

In 1745 Charles Edward Stuart, the pretender to the English throne, was reputed to have ‘bloody influx’ due to milk which could have been allergic colitis.

Since 1905 there have been reports in the modern literature recognizing allergic response to cow’s milk. It was not until 1901 in Germany and 1916 in America, that scientists began formally documenting cow’s milk allergy.

Reports on adverse reactions to cow’s milk protein were published in Germany literature. In these reports adverse reactions to cow’s milk were described as ‘idiosyncrasy’.

Wernstedt, in Sweden, was probably the first to refer such reactions as allergy.

In 1942 A.F.R. Anderson proposed food allergy and especially milk, as a cause of ulcerative colitis.

In 1950 researchers performed the first blind, placebo-controlled study of milk allergy. By 1956, using microscopes, scientists were able to view how cow’s milk proteins and those from other foods, can induce an immune system response.
History of cow’s milk allergy

Hippocrates

Hippocrates
The most famous medical teacher of Cos was the man who is commonly regarded as the ‘Father of Medicine’, Hippocrates.

He was born on Cos, the son of a physician approximately 460 BC shortly before the Greek Golden Age which is said to have officially started about 480 BC. Such a person undoubtedly existed and he is mentioned by his younger contemporary, Plato.

After the death of his father, Hippocrates traveled to Athens to continue his quest for knowledge and insight into the human being, diseases that affect the human being and treatment to those disease.

The collection of Hippocratic writings, comprising of a number of authors associated with Hippocrates during and after his lifetime and often expresses contradictory views.

Their titles include Fractures, Aphorisms, Epidemics, Prognostics, Ulcers, Surgery, Fistulae and Hemorrhoids.

The Hippocratic writings are categorized by being factual; they contain descriptions of careful observations of actual patents, they resists elaborate theories of disease and emphasize the power of nature to heal, encourage by suitable diet, rest and exercise.

In severe cases, further aid may be given by blood letting, purging or sweating and occasionally radical surgical intervention is required.

Modern doctors find it fascinating exercise to interest some of the clinical descriptions in these writings.
Hippocrates

Biography of Hippocrates

Biography of Hippocrates
Hippocrates is referred to ‘father of medicine’ in recognition of his lasting contributions to the field as the founder of the Hippocratic school of medicine.

Hippocrates was born to Heraclides, a physician and Praxitela, daughter of Phenaretis in year of 460 BC on the Greek island of Cos. He learned medicine from his own father and grandfather.

He also studied other subject with Democritus the Abderite and Gorgias of Leontini. Democritus was famous Greek materialist philosopher while Gorgias was famous philosopher and rhetorician at that time.

Hippocrates also trained at asklepieion (healing temple) of Kos and took lessons from Thracian physician Herodicus of Selymbria. Herodicus was Greek physician famous as the first person use of therapeutic exercise for treatment of disease and maintenance of health. Herodicus was described as gymnastic master.

Hippocrates later became a famous physician and teacher of medicine. He was regarded as the greatest physician of his time. He based his medical practice on observations and on the study of the human body.

He held the belief that illness had a physical and a rational explanation. Hippocrates held a belief that the body must be treated as a whole and not just a series of parts. Hippocrates was the first to give the physician an independent standing, separate from the cosmological speculator, or nature philosopher. Hippocrates confined the medical man to medicine.

He soon developed an Oath of Medical Ethics for physician. He died in 377 BC at the age of 90 years old. Some says at the age of 83 or 106 years He lies buried between Gyrton and Larissa.
Biography of Hippocrates