What medical practice did followers of Hippocrates look down upon; surgery, psychiatry, urine test, or pregnancy test?

Lily	Part of the Hippocratic oath required doctors 'not to cut, not even for stone' but to leave this for others. So I think surgery is the answer. Aug 11 02, 6:24 PM

MotherGoose

Lily is quite right when she says that the Hippocratic Oath precludes doctors from performing surgery. However, many medical historians believe that Hippocrates was not the author of the so-called H. Oath. The collected medical writings of Hippocrates, the Corpus Hippocraticum, are believed to be the collected works of a number of authors from that time. However, one of the volumes is called Joints, Fractures and Surgery. There is much evidence that surgery, including abortions (also precluded by the H. Oath) were performed by Hippocrates and his followers. I guess we may never really know for sure. A good reference is 'Mystique, Magic and {Medicine;} the Healing Art of Ancient Times' by Dr J H Leavesley and also the following website which is an on-line museum-like exhibition. Ref:http://www.med.virginia.edu/hs-library/historical/antiqua/anthome.html For a really fascinating look at urine testing through the ages, see Chapter 3 of the book 'What Killed Jane Austen?' by Dr J Leavesley and Dr G Biro. Unfortunately, these books may be hard to get outside Australia. Aug 12 02, 3:16 AM