Hippocrates and the Island of Cos *

As a medical student I once heard Dr. Osler remark that he almost wished he could have lived in the fifth century before Christ so he could have sat at the feet of Hippocrates under the old plane tree on the Island of Cos and have listened to his discourses on medicine. This chance remark excited in me a persistent desire to visit, at some future date, this Island of Cos and sit down, myself, under the old plane tree where Hippocrates had taught. Some five years ago this lifetime ambition was realized. Since Cos was the destination of my trip, and Hippocrates the magnet that drew me there, it is perhaps of some interest to review, in brief, the life and achievements of this man whom we call "The Father of Medicine." The ancients were in no doubt regarding the details of his life and his importance to medicine. With the succeeding centuries, however, a critical attitude developed which culminated in the publication, in 1804, of a book by M. J. Boulet. This author questioned the existence of a physician named Hippocrates, and dismissed most of the stories of his life and labors as an idealized legend. There are, however, I believe, excellent reasons for believing that Hippocrates was more than a legendary person. The most convincing evidence we have regarding any man and his labors is the evidence of contemporaries. Plato, in his dialogues of Protagoras and Phaedrus refers to Hippocrates. The wellknown dialogue of Protagoras contains the following lines between Socrates and Hippocrates, a young student of Athens who was very much excited over the arrival of the philosopher Protagoras. So excited was young Hippocrates that he rushed to the home of Socrates and awakened him before the sun had risen. Socrates says: