Acclaimed as the greatest physician of his time, Hippocrates is recognized as the founder and Father of Medicine. Hippocrates was born sometime around 460 BC on the island of Cos, Greece and followed his father, also a physician, most likely to study in Athens. Hippocrates returned to his birthplace years later to practice and teach his controversial philosophies. He was most certainly a heretic of his day, rejecting many beliefs concerning medicine. He held the idea that illness had a rational explanation and was not the source of a spiritual or superstitious force, such as punishment from the gods.

However, not all of this theory was exact; for he believed disease resulted from an imbalance of the four bodily humors (blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile). Despite this, it was still a step away from the erroneous doctrines of before. In addition, Hippocrates believed in the natural healing process of rest, a good diet, fresh air and cleanliness. He was even the first person to deem that thoughts, ideas, and feelings came from the brain and not the heart.

These principles are not even the eminent components that made up his legacy. It was the oath of medical ethics that all physicians should follow, taught by him at his school on the island of Cos. His oath confirmed the goal of medicine should be to strengthen the patient through means of preventative measures and the proper treatment only when specific symptoms are shown to be necessary. This oath cannot be directly credited towards him, however, but it undeniably represents his ideals. So you ask why is this man therefore significant? Well, it is because that system of ethics established by Hippocrates and taken by his students over 2400 years ago is still taken by modern physicians before commencing their practice, today.

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