Hippocratic Categorization and Classification of Diseases

Hippocratic treatises are early text of medicine, compiled by several scholars, collectively known as Hippocratic Corpus. For the first times in history, Hippocrates rejects the divine theory of disease and laid-down the foundation of scientific medicine. Diseases were described on natural causes. They proposed humoral theory of diseases. According to this theory, there are four humors in the body. Harmony among these humors constitutes a good health. Age, sex, season, diet and regime affect the production of humors and impart their effect on the condition of body. Various ways were adopted for categorization and classification of diseases, making medical studies easier. In these treatises, diseases were broadly categorized based on age, sex and population distribution. Nomenclature of disease was also based upon the name of diseased organ, dominating symptom, etiology and its resemblance with the thing and phenomenon in outer world. This study is focused on understanding Hippocratic classification and categorization of diseases.

Keywords:

Hippocrates , Humors , treatise , Classification