ABSTRACT
Clowns have worked in hospital settings at least since the time of Hippocrates. Doctors of that era believed that mood influenced healing and Hippocrates’ own hospital on the island of Kos supported constant troupes of players and clowns in the quadrangle. In Turkey, several centuries ago, the dervishes who were responsible for the well-being of patients first fed the body and then used their performance skills to feed the soul. At the end of the nineteenth century, The Fratellini Brothers (a famous clown trio) began the current practice of clowns (both amateur and professional) making occasional visits to hospitals, particularly pediatric hospitals.
