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Hippocrates

Hippocrates of Cos (c. 460 BC - 377 BC) was an Ancient Greek physician, is commonly regarded as one of the most outstanding figures in medicine of all time and has been called 'the father of medicine'. He was the leader of a medical school of Cos and the author of most of writings of the school.

He had a great impact on succeeding generations of practitioners of medicine and some general rules still apply. His work and writings rejected the superstition and magic of primitive "medicine" and laid the foundations of medicine as a branch of science.

Hippocrates associated personality traits with the relative abundance of the four humours in the body: phlegm[?], yellow bile[?], black bile, and blood.

The whole collection of works of the Hippocratic medical school were gathered as the Hippocratic Corpus.

The best known of the Hippocratic writings is the Hippocratic Oath.

Another famous, time-honoured medical rule ascribed to Hippocrates is Primum non nocere (First, do no harm).

See also: Hippocratic face

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