process governed by what we call natural laws, learned by observation,
and indicating the direction of recovery. These views of the 'natural
history of disease' led to habits of minute observation and careful
interpretation of symptoms, in which the Hippocratic school excelled and
has been the model for all succeeding ages, so that even now the true
method of clinical medicine may be said to be the method of Hippocrates.

One of the important doctrines of Hippocrates was the healing power of
nature. He did not teach that nature was sufficient to cure disease, but
he recognized a natural process of the humours, at least in acute
disease, being first of all _crude_, then passing through _coction_ or
digestion, and finally being expelled by resolution or crisis through
one of the natural channels of the body. The duty of the physician was
to 'assist and not to hinder these changes, so that the sick man might
conquer the disease with the help of the physician.'"

"_Galen_, the man from whom the greater part of modern European medicine
has flowed, lived about 131 to 201 A.D. He was equipped with all the
anatomical, medical, and philosophical knowledge of his time; he had
studied all kinds of natural curiosities and was in close touch with
important political events; he possessed enormous industry, great
practical sagacity, and unbounded literary fluency. At that time there
were numerous sects in the medical profession, various dogmatic systems
prevailed in medical science, and the social standing of physicians was
degraded. He assumed the task of reforming the existing evils and
restoring the unity of medicine as it had been understood by
Hippocrates, at the same time elevating the dignity of medical
practitioners.

In the explanation and healing of diseases he applied the science of