Essay by Anonymous UserJunior High, 7th gradeA+, March 1996

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Hippocrates: The Father of Medicine

Who was Hippocrates? Many people still wonder that today. Some is known about his

life, but not much. In this essay, I will tell you want I've found out from much research.

Hippocrates is thought to have lived from about 460 B.C. to 380 B.C. As I said before,

people don't know a lot about his life. Hippocrates was known as the Father of Medicine

because he was one of the first doctors to use scientific cures. He has many writings, including

the Hippocratic Oath, that are credited to his name, but it is questionable whether they are

actually his or not.

Hippocrates was born in 460 B.C. during the Golden Age of Greece. He was born, lived,

learned, and practiced medicine on the island of Cos, although he did travel throughout Greece

practicing his medicine at one time of his life.

His father's name was Heraclides.

Heraclides was Hippocrates's first teacher. I couldn't

find his mother's name, but I did find that she was a midwife. Hippocrates was named after his


Hippocrates was considered as the perfect physician by the Greeks. He based his

medicine on observation and reasoning. He said that explanations based on ideas such as

possession by a god, spirit, or demon were explanations based on ignorance.

Although Hippocrates was one of the first physicians to practice auscultation - listening

to the sounds of the heart, he hadn't the faintest idea that the pulse is related to the heart. This is

due to the fact that dissection of the human bodies was forbidden in his time. Therefore, all

physicians, including Hippocrates know little about the connection between certain organs.

Hippocrates was not only a doctor, but a teacher as well. He ran his own school and

taught medicine for...