Source edition
Hippocrates. Oeuvres complètes d'Hippocrate, Vol. 6. Littré, Émile, editor. Paris: Baillière, 1849
Source data
A Digital Corpus for Graeco-Arabic Studies · CC BY-SA 4.0
Cloned and adapted by Humanitext, with ongoing edits.
Summary
This work is a medical and philosophical treatise that presents a monistic pathological theory, asserting that "breath" (pneuma) is the ultimate cause of all human health and diseases. Written in a rhetorical, lecture-like style, the text begins by discussing the difficulties of the medical art and the principle of treatment by opposites, highlighting the universal and powerful force of breath that sustains all life. In the middle section, the author emphasizes the absolute necessity of respiration and explains the mechanisms of various ailments—ranging from fevers and chills to catarrh, dropsy, and localized pains—attributing them to the abnormal movement, contamination, or pressure of gases within the body. Finally, the treatise demonstrates that even severe conditions like apoplexy and the "sacred disease" (epilepsy) arise from the interaction between gas and blood, concluding with the powerful declaration that breath is indeed the sole and primary cause of all diseases.