He introduced the theory of the four humours. The idea was that the body was made up of four liquids or ‘humours – blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. To be at your healthiest, all of your humours would need to be perfectly balanced. He believed that each humour corresponded with a season. For example, an illness in winter was due to too much phlegm and the cure would be to try and flush some of the excess out of the system. Hippocrates was the forefather of the Greek medicine development. Another idea that he believed in and developed was the practice of the clinical method of observation.
This was the careful noting of all the symptoms of a disease and of the changes in a patient’s condition during the illness. Doctors were supposed to follow four steps: Diagnosis (studying the symptoms), Prognosis (predicting what course the illness would follow), Observation (noting changes in the patient’s condition and comparing them to the prognosis) and Treatment (but only once the doctor’s observations have confirmed his prognosis). Even though his theory was all wrong, Hippocrates was a great supporter of healthy living and of personal fitness and hygiene.
He and other Greek doctors of the time recommended that ‘a young or middle-aged man should take a walk of about ten stadia just before sunrise, in summer, however he should walk only five. ‘ They suggested that people should ‘rub the teeth inside and outside with the fingers using some fine peppermint powder and cleaning the teeth of remnants of food. ‘ They considered the head to be very important – ‘the head requires a great deal of care, such as rubbing, washing, combing and close shaving.