The Genuine Works of Hippocrates, Vol. 1 — Hippocrates
The Genuine Works of Hippocrates vol 1(of 2) | Project Gutenberg 1 (of 2) This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org . If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title : The genuine works of Hippocrates, Vol. 1 (of 2) Translated from the Greek, with a preliminary discourse and annotations Author : Hippocrates Translator : Francis Adams Release date : January 1, 2024 [eBook #72583] Language : English Original publication : New York: William Wood, 1886 Other information and formats : www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/72583 Credits : Rachael Schultz, Bryan Ness, Tim Lindell, Karin Spence and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) *** START OF 1 (OF 2) *** THE GENUINE WORKS OF HIPPOCRATES TRANSLATED FROM THE GREEK WITH A PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE AND ANNOTATIONS BY FRANCIS ADAMS, LL.D. SURGEON IN TWO VOLUMES VOL. I NEW YORK WILLIAM WOOD AND COMPANY 56 & 58 LAFAYETTE PLACE 1886 The Genuine Works of Hippocrates vol 1(of 2) | Project Gutenberg The Publishers’ Book Composition and Electrotyping Co., 157 and 159 William St., New York. TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE. The Council of the Sydenham Society having done me the honor of consulting me respecting a proposed volume of translations from the Works of Hippocrates, I ventured to give it as my opinion that such a selection ought to comprehend the whole of those Treatises which are now regarded as genuine; and this suggestion having been approved of, I was appointed to the task of translating and editing them according to the best of my judgment. The design, then, of the present Work, [1] is to give a translation of all the genuine remains of the Great Hippocrates , along with such an amount of illustration as may be sufficient to render them intelligible to any well-educated member of the profession at the present day. It was understood, indeed, when I first engaged in this undertaking, that I was merely to give a faithful translation of the original; but I soon became satisfied, that a considerable amount of illustration, in the form of Annotations, Arguments, and so forth, would be indispensable to the general utility of such a publication. It is well known that many parts of my author’s works are very obscure, owing to the conciseness of the language, and the difficulty which now exists of properly apprehending the views entertained on certain abstruse questions at so very distant a period; and, consequently, it will readily be understood, that a simple version, without either comment or illustration, would have been nearly as unintelligible to most of my readers as the original itself. And that the works of Hippocrates stand in need of illustration is rendered apparent from the number of commentaries which have been written upon them in all ages, commencing almost with his own time. But whether or not I have been fortunate enough to give just such an amount of illustration as was necessary, and have taken proper care at the same time not to load my pages with superfluous matters of this description, must be left to the judgment of my readers to determine. However, I may be permitted to say, that whatever value shall be put upon my performances in this line, I have certainly spared no pains to make myself well acquainted with the true doctrines of my author, and that for this purpose I have consulted all the best authorities to which I could obtain access, from the commentaries of Apollonius and Galen down to the learned labors of several continental scholars, my contemporaries, especially Dr. Ermerins, of Holland, and MM. Littré and Malgaigne, of France. I flatter myself it will also be admitted, that I have further collected from a variety of sources, a considerable store of valuable material, for which I am in nowise indebted to any of my predecessors in the same field of research. Considering how scanty all the information is which the English language can supply on many questions connected with the medical literature of the ancients, I have judged it necessary to enter into a discussion of several of those subjects, in order to prepare my readers for understanding the doctrines of my author. These are contained in the Preliminary Discourse, and will be found to relate principally to the origin of Grecian Medicine, to the Biography of Hippocrates, and an analysis of the works which bear his name, and to an exposition of the principles of the Physical Philosophy which form the basis of most of the hypotheses which occur in the Hippocratic Collection. Having bestowed much pains on the illustration of the philosophical tenets of the ancients, I shall feel anxious to learn how far the judgment pronounced by me on various controverted points is approved of by persons possessing the necessary degree of information to enable them to form a correct estimate of them, along with a proper degree of candor in judging between the conventional opinions of the present time, and those which prevailed in so remote an age. That I have imposed upon myself a very serious additional task, by engaging not only to give a true version of the language of my author, but also to expound his opinions, and place them, so to speak, in juxtaposition with those of the present age, will be readily admitted; and I have reason perhaps to apprehend, that I have thereby exposed myself to the strictures of a certain class of critics, who have formed to themselves a very different ideal of the duties of a translator, fancying that he ought merely to concern himself with the words of the original author, and not venture