ABSTRACT

Plato, who in his Phædo speaks of Hippocrates as a master, laid the basis of biology. His philosophy reflects the work of Philolaus, one of the most illustrious physicians of the Sicilian school, just as Hippocrates had been deeply influenced by the doctrines of Gorgias Siculus. The change might be regarded as parallel to that of the Socratic philosophy, which in the philosophy of Plato and in the systems of its followers took on very different meanings and orientations. One sees that medicine was tending to advance along lines that would supplement the Hippocratic system and give it a solid basis. Founding their doctrine on experience, they utilized the observations of Hippocrates and regarded him as their master, especially in that part of his writings that treated of empirical medicine. Political catastrophe initiated the sterilization of the vigorous shoot from the ancient tree of scientific knowledge; the end of Egyptian independence signalized the end of Alexandrian medicine.