resists and does not yield. But flatus, when it obtains admission, increases and becomes stronger, and rushes toward any resisting object; but owing to its tenderness, and the quantity of blood which it (the liver) contains, it cannot be without uneasiness; and for these reasons the most acute and frequent pains occur in the region of it, along with suppurations and chronic tumors (phymata). These symptoms also occur in the site of the diaphragm, but much less frequently; for the diaphragm is a broad, expanded, and resisting substance, of a nervous (tendinous ?) and strong nature, and therefore less susceptible of pain; and yet pains and chronic abscesses do occur about it.

There are both within and without the body many other kinds of structure, which differ much from one another as to sufferings both in health and disease; such as whether the head be small or large; the neck slender or thick, long or short; the belly long or round; the chest and ribs broad or narrow; and many others besides, all which you ought to be acquainted with, and their differences; so that knowing the causes of each, you may make the more accurate observations.

And, as has been formerly stated, one ought to be acquainted with the powers of juices, and what action each of them has upon man, and their alliances towards one another. What I say is this: if a sweet juice change to another kind, not from any admixture, but because it has undergone a mutation within itself; what does it first become?-bitter? salt? austere? or acid? I think acid. And hence, an acid juice is the most improper of all things that can be administered in cases in which a sweet juice is the most proper. Thus, if one should succeed in his investigations of external things, he would be the better able always to select the best; for that is best which is farthest removed from that which is unwholesome.

HIPPOCRATES

THE OATH

This piece is often referred to by ancient authors, and there seems little or no reason for questioning its authenticity. It is an interesting document, as exhibiting the practitioners of medicine in a very remote age, already formed into a regular corporation, bound by an oath to observe certain regulations, and having regular instructors in the art. The present piece would seem to be an indenture between a physician and his pupil; and it is most honorable to the profession, that so ancient a document pertaining to it, instead of displaying a narrow-minded and exclusive selfishness, inculcates a generous line of conduct, and enjoins an observance of the rules of propriety, and of the laws of domestic morality.

I swear by Apollo the physician, and Æsculapius, and Health, and All-heal, and all the gods and goddesses, that, according to my ability and judgment, I will keep this Oath and this stipulation—to reckon him who taught me this Art equally dear to me as my parents, to share my substance with him, and relieve his necessities if required; to look upon his offspring in the same footing as my own brothers, and to teach them this art, if they shall wish to learn it, without fee or stipulation; and that by precept, lecture, and every other mode of instruction, I will impart a knowledge of the Art to my own sons, and those of my teachers, and to disciples bound by a stipulation and oath according to the law of medicine, but to none others.

1 Apollo, in the mythology of the Greeks and Romans, was regarded as the healing god. In this capacity he appears in the very beginning of the Iliad, as the divinity who causes and removes the pestilence; and in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo he is introduced in the same capacity. Æsculapius was universally represented as the son of Apollo. He was the patron-god of the Asclepiadæ, or priestphysicians, to which order Hippocrates belonged. In the ancient systems of mythology he is described as having two sons, Podalirius and Machaon, and four daughters, Ægle, Jaso, Hygeia and Panacea. Of these it will be remarked that our author notices only the two last, whose names are here rendered Health and All-heal.

I will follow that system of regimen which, according to my
ability and judgment, I consider for the benefit of my patients,
and abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous. I
will give no deadly medicine to any one if asked, nor suggest
any such counsel; and in like manner I will not give to a wom-
an a pessary to produce abortion. With purity and with
holiness I will pass my life and practice my Art. I will not
cut persons laboring under the stone, but will leave this to be
done by men who are practitioners of this work. Into what
ever houses I enter, I will go into them for the benefit of the
sick, and will abstain from every voluntary act of mischief
and corruption; and, further, from the seduction of females
or males, of freemen and slaves. Whatever, in connection
with my professional practice or not, in connection with it,
I see or hear, in the life of men, which ought not to be spoken
of abroad, I will not divulge, as reckoning that all such should
be kept secret. While I continue to keep this Oath unviolated,
may it be granted to me to enjoy life and the practice of the
art, respected by all men, in all times! But should I trespass
and violate this Oath, may the reverse be my lot!
1 We have here another notable instance how much our author was
superior to his age in humanity as well as in intelligence; for his
contemporary, or rather his immediate successor, Aristotle, treats
very gravely of the practice of procuring abortion, and does not at
all object to it, if performed before the child had quickened. Plato
also alludes to the practice. Juvenal, in his Sixth Satire, speaks
of artificial abortion as being a very common practice among the
higher class of females in his time. The mode of procuring abortion
is regularly described by Avicenna, and by Rhases,-not, however,
to be applied for any wicked purpose, but in the case of women of
small stature who had proved with child. The means recommended
by these authors are, severe bleeding, especially from the ankles;
leaping from a height; the administration of emmenagogues; the ap-
plication of pessaries medicated with hellebore, stavisacre, mezereon,
and the like fumigations; but more especially forcible dilatation of
the os tincæ with a roll of paper, or a tube made of polished wood, or
a quill. There can be no doubt, in short, that the ancients had an-
ticipated all our modern methods of inducing premature delivery.
2 This operation was in ancient times performed by a set of men
apart from the regular profession.

FIG. 1. Representation of the mode of reducing dislocation of the thigh outwards.

A. A lever applied to the nates of

the luxated side, and acting from without inwards, in order to bring the head of the bone into its cavity.

B. Another lever, held by an assistant, put into one of the grooves of the machine, and intended to act against lever A.

c. Groove in which the end of the lever A takes its point of support.

D. The luxated member.

EE. Extension and counter-extension.

2