f the face, eyes, tongue, voice, hearing, abdomen, sleep,
breathing, excretions, posture of the body, and so on, all aided him in
diagnosis and prognosis, and to the latter he paid special attention,
saying that "the best physician is the one who is able to establish a
prognosis, penetrating and exposing first of all, at the bedside, the
present, the past, and the future of his patients, and adding what they
omit in their statements. He gains their confidence, and being convinced
of his superiority of knowledge they do not hesitate to commit
themselves entirely into his hands. He can treat, also, so much better
their present condition in proportion as he shall be able from it to
foresee the future."

He wrote about the history of Medicine, a study which is much neglected
at the present time. There is no generation of men so wise that they
cannot with advantage adopt some ideas from the remote past, or, at
least, find the teaching of their predecessors suggestive. Hippocrates
was one of the first to recognize the _vis medicatrix naturae_, and he
always aimed at assisting Nature. His style of treatment would be known
now as expectant, and he tried to order his practice "to do good, or, at
least, to do no harm." When he considered interference necessary,
however, he did not hesitate even to apply drastic measures, such as
scarification, cupping and bleeding. He made use of the narcotics
mandragora, henbane, and probably also poppy-juice, and as a laxative
used greatly a vegetable substance called "mercury," beet and cabbage,
and cathartics such as scammony and elaterium! He was able to diagnose
fluid in the chest or abdomen by means of percussion and auscultation,
and to withdraw the fluid by the operation of paracentesis, and he
recognized also that the fluid should be allowed to flow away slowly so
as to minimize the risk of syncope. He operated also for empyema. In
regard to the methods of Hippocrates for the physical examination of the
chest it is reasonable to suppose that the Father of Medicine indirectly
inspired Laennec to invent the stethoscope. Hippocrates prescribed fluid
diet for fevers, allowed the patients cold water or barley water to
drink, and recommended cold sponging for high fever. In his writings
will be found his views on apoplexy, epilepsy, phthisis, gout,
erysipelas, cancer and many other diseases common at the present day.

In the province of _Surgery_, Hippocrates was surprisingly proficient,
alt