The Project Gutenberg EBook of Fathers of Biology, by Charles McRae potx

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Fathers of Biology, by Charles McRaeThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever.. You may copy it, g

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Fathers of Biology, by Charles McRae

This eBook is for the use of anyone

anywhere at no cost and with

almost no restrictions whatsoever You may copy it, give it away or

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Title: Fathers of Biology

Author: Charles McRae

Release Date: January 29, 2008 [EBook

#24456]

Language: English

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FATHERS OF BIOLOGY ***

Produced by Bryan Ness, Stephen Blundell and the Online

Distributed Proofreading Team at

PERCIVAL & CO.

KING STREET, COVENT GARDEN

London

1890

Transcriber's Note:

Minor typographicalerrors have beencorrected without note.Archaic and variantspellings remain asoriginally printed.Greek text appears asoriginally printed, butwith a mouse-hovertransliteration, Βιβλος

It is hoped that the account given, in thefollowing pages, of the lives of five greatnaturalists may not be found devoid ofinterest The work of each one of themmarked a definite advance in the science

of Biology

There is often among students of anatomyand physiology a tendency to imagine thatthe facts with which they are now beingmade familiar have all been established

by recent observation and experiment Buteven the slight knowledge of the history ofBiology, which may be obtained from aperusal of this little book, will show that,

so far from such being the case, thisbranch of science is of venerableantiquity And, further, if in the place ofthis misconception a desire is aroused inthe reader for a fuller acquaintance withthe writings of the early anatomists thechief aim of the author will have beenfulfilled.

HIPPOCRATES.

Owing to the lapse of centuries, very little

is known with certainty of the life ofHippocrates, who was called withaffectionate veneration by his successors

"the divine old man," and who has beenjustly known to posterity as "the Father ofMedicine."

He was probably born about 470 b.c.,and, according to all accounts, appears tohave reached the advanced age of ninetyyears or more He must, therefore, havelived during a period of Greek historywhich was characterized by greatintellectual activity; for he had, as his

contemporaries, Pericles the famousstatesman; the poets Æschylus, Sophocles,Euripides, Aristophanes, and Pindar; thephilosopher Socrates, with his disciplesXenophon and Plato; the historiansHerodotus and Thucydides; and Phidiasthe unrivalled sculptor.

In the island of Cos, where he was born,stood one of the most celebrated of thetemples of Æsculapius, and in this temple

—because he was descended from theAsclepiadæ—Hippocrates inherited fromhis forefathers an important position.Among the Asclepiads the habit ofphysical observation, and even manualtraining in dissection, were impartedtraditionally from father to son from theearliest years, thus serving as a

preparation for medical practice whenthere were no written treatises to study.[1]Although Hippocrates at first studiedmedicine under his father, he hadafterwards for his teachers Gorgias andDemocritus, both of classic fame, andHerodicus, who is known as the firstperson who applied gymnastic exercises

to the cure of diseases

The Asclepions, or temples of health,were erected in various parts of Greece asreceptacles for invalids, who were in thehabit of resorting to them to seek theassistance of the god These temples weremostly situated in the neighbourhood ofmedicinal springs, and each devotee at hisentrance was made to undergo a regularcourse of bathing and purification

Probably his diet was also carefullyattended to, and at the same time hisimagination was worked upon by musicand religious ceremonies On hisdeparture, the restored patient usuallyshowed his gratitude by presenting to thetemple votive tablets setting forth thecircumstances of his peculiar case Thevalue of these to men about to enter onmedical studies can be readilyunderstood; and it was to such treasures ofrecorded observations—collected duringseveral generations—that Hippocrates hadaccess from the commencement of hiscareer.

Owing to the peculiar constitution of theAsclepions, medical and priestly pursuitshad, before the time of Hippocrates,

become combined; and, consequently,although rational means were to a certainextent applied to the cure of diseases, themore common practice was to resortchiefly to superstitious modes of workingupon the imagination It is not surprising,therefore, to find that every sickness,especially epidemics and plagues, wereattributed to the anger of some offendedgod, and that penance and supplicationsoften took the place of personal anddomestic cleanliness, fresh air, and light.

It was Hippocrates who emancipatedmedicine from the thraldom ofsuperstition, and in this way wrested thepractice of his art from the monopoly ofthe priests In his treatise on "The SacredDisease" (possibly epilepsy), he

discusses the controverted questionwhether or not this disease was aninfliction from the gods; and he decidedlymaintains that there is no such a thing as asacred disease, for all diseases arise fromnatural causes, and no one can be ascribed

to the gods more than another He pointsout that it is simply because this disease isunlike other diseases that men have come

to regard its cause as divine, and yet it isnot really more wonderful than theparoxysms of fevers and many otherdiseases not thought sacred He exposesthe cunning of the impostors who pretend

to cure men by purifications and spells;

"who give themselves out as beingexcessively religious, and as knowingmore than other people;" and he arguesthat "whoever is able, by purifications and

conjurings, to drive away such anaffection, will be able, by other practices,

to excite it, and, according to this view, itsdivine nature is entirely done away with."

"Neither, truly," he continues, "do I count

it a worthy opinion to hold that the body of

a man is polluted by the divinity, the mostimpure by the most holy; for, were itdefiled, or did it suffer from any otherthing, it would be like to be purified andsanctified rather than polluted by thedivinity." As an additional argumentagainst the cause being divine, he adducesthe fact that this disease is hereditary, likeother diseases, and that it attacks persons

of a peculiar temperament, namely, thephlegmatic, but not the bilious; and "yet if

it were really more divine than theothers," he justly adds, "it ought to befall

all alike."

Again, speaking of a disease commonamong the Scythians, Hippocrates remarksthat the people attributed it to a god, butthat "to me it appears that such affectionsare just as much divine as all others are,and that no one disease is either moredivine or more human than another, butthat all are alike divine, for that each hasits own nature, and that no one ariseswithout a natural cause."

From this it will be seen that Hippocratesregarded all phenomena as at once divineand scientifically determinable In thisrespect it is interesting to compare himwith one of his most illustriouscontemporaries, namely, with Socrates,who distributed phenomena into two

classes: one wherein the connection ofantecedent and consequent was invariableand ascertainable by human study, andwherein therefore future results wereaccessible to a well-instructed foresight;the other, which the gods had reserved forthemselves and their unconditionalagency, wherein there was no invariable

or ascertainable sequence, and where theresult could only be foreknown by someomen or prophecy, or other specialinspired communication from themselves.Each of these classes was essentiallydistinct, and required to be looked at anddealt with in a manner radicallyincompatible with the other Physics andastronomy, in the opinion of Socrates,belonged to the divine class of phenomena

in which human research was insane,

fruitless, and impious.[2]

Hippocrates divided the causes ofdiseases into two classes: the onecomprehending the influence of seasons,climates, water, situation, and the like; theother consisting of such causes as theamount and kind of food and exercise inwhich each individual indulges Heconsidered that while heat and cold,moisture and dryness, succeeded oneanother throughout the year, the humanbody underwent certain analogous changeswhich influenced the diseases of theperiod With regard to the second class ofcauses producing diseases, he attributedmany disorders to a vicious system ofdiet, for excessive and defective diet heconsidered to be equally injurious

In his medical doctrines Hippocratesstarts with the axiom that the body iscomposed of the four elements—air, earth,fire, and water From these the four fluids

or humours (namely, blood, phlegm,yellow bile, and black bile) are formed.Health is the result of a right condition andproper proportion of these humours,disease being due to changes in theirquality or distribution Thus inflammation

is regarded as the passing of blood intoparts not previously containing it In thecourse of a disorder proceedingfavourably, these humours undergospontaneous changes in quality This

process is spoken of as coction, and is the

sign of returning health, as preparing theway for the expulsion of the morbid

matters—a state described as the crisis.

These crises have a tendency to occur atcertain periods, which are hence called

critical days As the critical days answer

to the periods of the process of coction,they are to be watched with anxiety, andthe actual condition of the patient at thesetimes is to be compared with the statewhich it was expected he ought to show.From these observations the physicianmay predict the course which theremainder of the disease will probablytake, and derive suggestions as to thepractice to be followed in order to assistNature in her operations

Hippocrates thus appears to have studied

"the natural history of diseases." As statedabove, his practice was to watch themanner in which the humours were

undergoing their fermenting coction, thephenomena displayed in the critical days,and the aspect and nature of the criticaldischarges—not to attempt to check theprocess going on, but simply to assist thenatural operation His principles andpractice were based on the theory of theexistence of a restoring essence (or

φύσις) penetrating through all creation;the agent which is constantly striving topreserve all things in their natural state,and to restore them when they arepreternaturally deranged In the

management of this vis medicatrix naturæ

the art of the physician consisted.Attention, therefore, to regimen and dietwas the principal remedy Hippocratesemployed; nevertheless he did nothesitate, when he considered that occasion

required, to administer such a powerfuldrug as hellebore in large doses.

The writings which are extant under thename of Hippocrates cannot all beascribed to him Many were doubtlesswritten by his family, his descendants, orhis pupils Others are productions of theAlexandrian school, some of these beingconsidered by critics as wilful forgeries,the high prices paid by the Ptolemies forbooks of reputation probably having acted

as inducements to such fraud Thefollowing works have generally beenadmitted as genuine:—

1 On Airs, Waters, and Places

2 On Ancient Medicine

3 On the Prognostics

4 On the Treatment in Acute

Diseases

5 On Epidemics [Books I and III.]

6 On Wounds of the Head

7 On the Articulations

8 On Fractures

9 On the Instruments of Reduction

10 The Aphorisms [Seven Books]

11 The Oath

The works "On Fractures," "On theArticulations," "On Injuries to the Head,"and "On the Instruments of Reduction,"deal with anatomical or surgical matters,and exhibit a remarkable knowledge ofosteology and anatomy generally It hassometimes been doubted if Hippocratescould ever have had opportunities ofgaining this knowledge from dissections

of the human body, for it has been thoughtthat the feeling of the age wasdiametrically opposed to such a practice,and that Hippocrates would not havedared to violate this feeling The languageused, however, in some passages in thework "On the Articulations," seems to putthe matter beyond doubt Thus he says inone place, "But if one will strip the point

of the shoulder of the fleshy parts, andwhere the muscle extends, and also laybare the tendon that goes from the armpitand clavicle to the breast," etc And again,further on in the same treatise, "It isevident, then, that such a case could not bereduced either by succussion or by anyother method, unless one were to cut openthe patient, and then, having introduced thehand into one of the great cavities, were to

push outwards from within, which onemight do in the dead body, but not at all inthe living."

His descriptions of the vertebræ, with alltheir processes and ligaments, as well ashis account of the general characters of theinternal viscera, would not have been asfree from error as they are if he hadderived all his knowledge from thedissection of the inferior animals.Moreover, it is indisputable that, withinless than a hundred years from the death ofHippocrates, the human body was openlydissected in the schools of Alexandria—nay, further, that even the vivisection ofcondemned criminals was not uncommon

It would be unreasonable to suppose thatsuch a practice as the former sprang up

suddenly under the Ptolemies, and itseems, therefore, highly probable that itwas known and tolerated in the time ofHippocrates It is not surprising, when weremember the rude appliances andmethods which then obtained, that in hisknowledge of minute anatomy Hippocratesshould compare unfavourably withanatomists of the present day Ofhistology, and such other subjects as couldnot be brought within his direct personalobservation, the knowledge ofHippocrates was necessarily defective.Thus he wrote of the tissues withoutdistinguishing them; confusing arteries,veins, and nerves, and speaking ofmuscles vaguely as "flesh." But withmatters within the reach of the AncientPhysician's own careful observation, the

case is very different This is well shown

in his wonderful chapter on the club-foot,

in which he not only states correctly thetrue nature of the malformation, but givessome very sensible directions forrectifying the deformity in early life

When human strength was not sufficient torestore a displaced limb, he skilfullyavailed himself of all the mechanicalpowers which were then known He doesnot appear to have been acquainted withthe use of pulleys for the purpose, but theaxles which he describes as beingattached to the bench which bears his

name (Scamnum Hippocratis) must have

been quite capable of exercising the forcerequired

The work called "The Aphorisms," which

was probably written in the old age ofHippocrates, consists of more than fourhundred short pithy sentences, setting forththe principles of medicine, physiology,and natural philosophy A large number ofthese sentences are evidently taken fromthe author's other works, especially those

"On Air," etc., "On Prognostics," and "Onthe Articulations." They embody the result

of a vast amount of observation andreflection, and the majority of them havebeen confirmed by the experience of twothousand years A proof of the high esteem

in which they have always been held isfurnished by the fact that they have beentranslated into all the languages of thecivilized world; among others, intoHebrew, Arabic, Latin, English, Dutch,Italian, German, and French The

following are a few examples of theseaphorisms:—

"Spontaneous lassitude indicatesdisease."

"Old people on the whole havefewer complaints than the young;but those chronic diseases which

do befall them generally neverleave them."

"Persons who have sudden andviolent attacks of fainting withoutany obvious cause die suddenly."

"Of the constitutions of the year,the dry upon the whole are morehealthy than the rainy, andattended with less mortality."

"Phthisis most commonly occursbetween the ages of eighteen andthirty-five years."

"If one give to a person in feverthe same food which is given to aperson in good health, what isstrength to the one is disease tothe other."

"Such food as is most grateful,though not so wholesome, is to bepreferred to that which is better,but distasteful."

"Life is short and the art long; theopportunity fleeting; experiencefallacious and judgment difficult.The physician must not only dohis duty himself, but must also

make the patient, the attendantsand the externals, co-operate."

Hippocrates appears to have travelled agreat deal, and to have practised his art inmany places far distant from his nativeisland A few traditions of what he didduring his long life remain, but differences

of opinion exist as to the truth of thesestories

Thus one story says that when Perdiccas,the King of Macedonia, was supposed to

be dying of consumption, Hippocratesdiscovered the disorder to be love-sickness, and speedily effected a cure.The details of this story scarcely seem to

be worthy of credence, more especially assimilar legends have been told of entirelydifferent persons belonging to widely

different times There are, however, somereasons for believing that Hippocratesvisited the Macedonian court in theexercise of his professional duties, for hementions in the course of his writings,among places which he had visited,several which were situated inMacedonia; and, further, his son Thessalusappears to have afterwards been courtphysician to Archelaus, King ofMacedonia.

Another story connects the name ofHippocrates with the Great Plague whichoccurred at Athens in the time of thePeloponnesian war It is said thatHippocrates advised the lighting of greatfires with wood of some aromatic kind,probably some species of pine These,

being kindled all about the city, stayed theprogress of the pestilence Others besidesHippocrates are, however, famous forhaving successfully adopted this practice.

A third legend states that the King ofPersia, pursuing the plan (which in thetwo celebrated instances of Themistoclesand Pausanias had proved successful) ofattracting to his side the mostdistinguished persons in Greece, wrote toHippocrates asking him to pay a visit tohis court, and that Hippocrates refused to

go Although the story is discarded bymany scholars, it is worthy of note thatCtesias, a kinsman and contemporary ofHippocrates, is mentioned by Xenophon inthe "Anabasis" as being in the service ofthe King of Persia And, with regard to the

refusal of the venerable physician tocomply with the king's request, one cannotlose sight of the fact that such refusal wasthe only course consistent with theopinions he professed of a monarchicalform of government.

After his various travels Hippocrates, asseems to be pretty generally admitted,spent the latter portion of his life inThessaly, and died at Larissa at a veryadvanced age

It is difficult to speak of the skill andpainstaking perseverance of Hippocrates

in terms which shall not appearexaggerated and extravagant His method

of cultivating medicine was in the truespirit of the inductive philosophy Hisdescriptions were all derived from careful

observation of its phenomena, and, as aresult, the greater number of hisdeductions have stood unscathed the test

of twenty centuries

Still more difficult is it to speak withmoderation of the candour which impelledHippocrates to confess errors into which

in his earlier practice he had fallen; or ofthat freedom from superstition whichentitled him to be spoken of as a man whoknew not how to deceive or be deceived("qui tam fallere quam falli nescit"); or,lastly, of that purity of character and truenobility of soul which are brought sodistinctly to light in the words of the oathtranslated below:—

"I swear by Apollo the Physicianand Æsculapius, and I call

Hygeia and Panacea and all thegods and goddesses to witness,that to the best of my power andjudgment I will keep this oath andthis contract; to wit—to hold him,who taught me this Art, equallydear to me as my parents; to share

my substance with him; to supplyhim if he is in need of thenecessaries of life; to regard hisoffspring in the same light as myown brothers, and to teach themthis Art, if they shall desire tolearn it, without fee or contract; toimpart the precepts, the oralteaching, and all the rest of theinstruction to my own sons, and tothe sons of my teacher, and topupils who have been bound to

me by contract, and who havebeen sworn according to the law

of medicine

"I will adopt that system ofregimen which, according to myability and judgment, I considerfor the benefit of my patients, andwill protect them from everythingnoxious and injurious I will give

no deadly medicine to any one,even if asked, nor will I give anysuch counsel, and similarly I willnot give to a woman the means ofprocuring an abortion With purityand with holiness I will pass mylife and practise my art Intowhatever houses I enter I will gointo them for the benefit of the

sick, keeping myself aloof fromevery voluntary act of injusticeand corruption and lust Whatever

in the course of my professionalpractice, or outside of it, I see orhear which ought not to be spreadabroad, I will not divulge, asreckoning that all such should bekept secret If I continue toobserve this oath and to keep itinviolate, may it be mine to enjoylife and the practice of the Artrespected among all men for ever.But should I violate this oath andforswear myself, may the reverse

be my lot."

Grote's "Aristotle," vol i p 3.

Grote's "History of Greece," vol i p 358.