The Triumph of Hippocratic Medicine
The Complete History of Science
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The Origins of the Four Humours
The theory of the four humours was advanced by on the nature of man. Why did this idea become accepted as the basis of medical theory throughout the ancient and medieval world? It was because of the influence of the greatest physician of the classical world, the man known as Galen. He lived several centuries after the writing of the Hippocratic corpus. But he tended to pick and choose the parts which he favoured in order to justify them ascribe these parts to be genuine works by Hippocrates.
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