Hippocrene

“ Paul, who knew that his respected tutor disliked any one to trace the source of the wonderful spirit which he infused into his critical compositions, affected not to perceive the pewter Hippocrene, and with many apologies for his want of preparatory politeness, seated himself as directed. It was then that the following edifying conversation ensued.
"The ancients," quoth Paul, "were very great men, Mr. MacGrawler."
"They were so, sir," returned the critic; "we make it a rule in our profession to assert that fact." ”

“ Master Gerard Leigh, we are told, “emblazoned them with precious stones and planets, and by these strange arms he intended to signify that the knowledge acquired at the learned seminary of the Inner Temple would raise the professors of the law to the highest honours, adding, by way of motto, volat ad æthera virtus, and he intended to allude to what are esteemed the more liberal sciences, by giving them Pegasus [Pg 371] forming the fountain of Hippocrene, by striking his hoof against the rock, as a proper emblem of lawyers becoming poets, as Chaucer and Gower, who were both of the Temple!” ”

“ I'd rather by a thousand crowns Lord Palmerston were here!—
"'What is't ye seek, ye rebel knaves—what make you there beneath?'
'The bays, the bays! we want the bays! we seek the laureate wreath!
We seek the butt of generous wine that cheers the son of song;
Choose thou among us all, Sir Knight—we may not tarry long!'
"Loud laughed the good Sir James in scorn 'Rare jest it were, I think,
[107] But one poor butt of Xeres, and a thousand rogues to drink!
An' if it flowed with wine or beer, 'tis easy to be seen,
That dry within the hour would be the well of Hippocrene. ”

“ And if there be also pulsation in the hypochondrium, it indicates perturbation or delirium; and the physician should examine the eyes of such persons; for if their pupils be in rapid motion, such persons may be expected to go mad. A swelling in the hypochondrium, that is hard and painful, is very bad, provided it occupy the whole hypochondrium; but if it be on either side, it is less dangerous when on the left. Such swellings at the commencement of the disease prognosticate speedy death; but if the fever has passed twenty days, and the swelling has not subsided, it turns to a suppuration. ”

“ In fact, it is the primitive alimentary apparatus or archenteron, and its wall is termed the hypoblast. The rest of the blastoderm, on the contrary, is the primitive epidermis, and receives the name of epiblast. If the food-yelk were away, and the archenteron enlarged until the hypoblast came in contact with the epiblast, the entire body would be a double-walled sac, containing an alimentary cavity, with a single external aperture. This is the gastrula condition of the embryo; and some animals, such as the common fresh-water polype, are little more than permanent gastrulæ. ”

“ In the explanation of heredity, Hippocrates states "that the body of the male as well as that of the female furnishes the semen. That which is weak (unhealthy) is derived from weak (unhealthy) parts, that which is strong (healthy) from strong (healthy) parts, and the fetus will correspond to the quality of the semen. If the semen of one part come in greater quantity from the male than from the female, this part will resemble more closely the father; if, however, it comes more from the female, the part will rather resemble the mother. ”

“ In the final stages of the segmentation the cells become distinctly divided into two layers. A layer of small cells is placed at the formative pole, and constitutes the epiblast. The cells composing it are divided, like those of Teleostei, etc., into a superficial epidermic and a deeper nervous layer. The remaining cells constitute the primitive hypoblast (the eventual hypoblast and mesoblast) ; they form a great mass of yolk-cells at the lower pole, and also spread along the roof of the segmentation cavity, on the inner side of the epiblast. ”

“ Hypochondria inflamed not from retention of flatus, tension of the diaphragm, checked respiration, with dry orthopnœa, when no pus is formed, but when these complaints are connected with obstructed respiration; but more especially strong pains of the liver, heaviness of the spleen, and other phlegmasiæ and intense pains above the diaphragm, diseases connected with collections of humors,—all these diseases do not admit of resolution, if treated at first by medicine, but venesection holds the first place in conducting the treatment ”

“ It is not easy to understand why growth should have been less rapid here than elsewhere, as the position does not seem to correspond to any feature in the embryo. In some specimens the hypoblast cells at the extreme edge of the pellucid area are smaller than the cells immediately internal to them. At about the twenty-third hour these cells begin rapidly to lose the refractive spherules they contained in the earlier stages of incubation, and come [Pg 38] to consist of a nucleus surrounded simply by granular protoplasm. ”

“ In the region in front of the primitive streak, where the first trace of the embryo will shortly appear, the layers at first undergo no important changes, except that the hypoblast becomes somewhat thicker. Soon, however, as shewn in longitudinal section in fig. 98, the hypoblast along the axial line becomes continuous behind with the front end of the primitive streak. Thus at this point, which is the future hind end of the embryo, the mesoblast, the epiblast, and the hypoblast all unite together; just as they do in all the types of Ichthyopsida. ”

“ Hippocrates further exposes the mistake of those who endeavour to push down the projecting bone, which, he justly remarks, cannot be effected. The part which projects, as he states, is almost universally the extremity attached to the sternum, the other portion being dragged down by the weight of the arm; and hence the mistake is obvious of those who attempt to push down the upper extremity. He recommends the patient to lie in bed until adhesion takes place, which generally occurs between the fourteenth and twentieth day. ”

“ All sudden changes of diet are held to be attended with danger, and to be avoided. It is also an important rule of practice that, in venesection, blood should be abstracted from a part as distant as possible from the seat of the pain and of the collection of blood. There can be no doubt, in a word, as we have stated in the preceding section, on the authority of Galen, that Hippocrates was well acquainted with the principle of revulsion in the practice of medicine. ”

“ Paul quotes this passage (VI. lxxvii) , but alters the wording slightly:
‘Hippocrates directs us to pass a thread consisting of five pieces through the fistula by means of an eyed probe or a dipyrene’ (διὰ τετρημένου κοπαρίου ἢ διπυρήνου) .
[Pg 77] Again in polypus naris (ii. 243) Hippocrates directs us to cut a sponge to the shape of a ball and tie the ball round with thread, and make it hard and of such a size as to fill the nose. To the sponge tie a thread of four pieces, each a cubit long, and make one thread of them. Put the end through a fine tin rod having an eye at the end. ”

“ That's very touching, Grant. Your idea of doing me a favor is to let some Dutch quack experiment on me?"
"Hey, don't be so fast to turn up your nose at this." Shit, he thought, how am I going to make any headway? "His procedure operates at the cell level. The way they say it works is he takes cells from your bone marrow or blood or . . . whatever and makes them 'immortal' with this special enzyme and then injects them into organ tissue. It causes that organ to start regenerating itself." ”

“ This semen Hippocrates says, is composed of two liquors; the one strong, for the production of males; and the other weak, for the production of females. But this supposition is too extended; I do not see how it is to be conceived that a liquor, which is the extract of every part of the female body, should contain particles for the formation of the male organs.
This liquor must enter by some way into the matrix of animals which bear and nourish their fœtus within the body, and in others, as oviparous animals, it must be absorbed by the eggs, which may be looked upon as portable matrixes. ”

“ We have frequent references to eyed probes, and we also possess a considerable number of different types. In dealing with the dipyrene I quoted a passage to show that it sometimes carried an eye in one of its olives. Hippocrates refers to an eyed probe of tin. In treating of fistula he directs us to take a rod of tin having one end pierced with an eye (μήλην κασσιτερίνην ἐπ' ἄκρου τετρημένην) , and having put one end of a twisted piece of lint through the eye put the probe into the fistula, get the end of the specillum, bend it and hold the thread with the finger and withdraw the ends. ”

“ He had a very complete knowledge of the anatomy of joints, was well acquainted with hip-joint disease, and could operate upon joints. Accidents were no doubt common in the gymnasia, and practice in the treatment of fractures and dislocations extensive and of a high order of excellence. Hippocrates used the sound for exploring the bladder, and understood the use of the speculum for examining the rectum, and in operations for fistula and piles. He understood the causation of club-foot, and could cure cases of this deformity by bandaging. ”

“ That it is to be referred to the Cnidian school, as suggested by Gruner, seems doubtful; for, as we are informed by Hippocrates himself, the Cnidian physicians only gave the most obvious symptoms, while their practice was very inert, consisting entirely of drastic purgatives, whey, and milk, whereas in this work the diagnostic symptoms are more profoundly stated then they are in most of the Hippocratic treatises, and the practice, in many instances, is very bold and decided. The knife, the actual cautery, the use of strong purgatives and narcotics, are freely recommended in various diseases. ”

“ Petersen divides the Hippocratic works into nine classes, in the following chronological order:—The first contains those treatises in which the flow of bile and phlegm is considered to be the cause of disease; [85] the second recognizes fire, [86] and the third, air, as the principle of things; [87] in the fourth, bile and phlegm are spoken of as the primary humors of the human body; [88] in the fifth, spirit (πνεῦμα) and humidity are held to be the first principles of generation; [89] in the sixth, the elements of the body are held to be contrary to one another ”

“ The younger the patient is, the greater care should be bestowed on him; when neglected, the case gets worse; when attended to, it improves; and, although there be atrophy in all parts of the limb, it is to a less extent.
Part XXII When there is a dislocation on both sides, the affections of the bones are the same; the flesh is well developed, except within, the nates protrude, the thighs are arched, unless there be sphacelus. If there be curvature of the spine above the hip-joint, the patients enjoy good health, but the body does not grow, with the exception of the head. ”

“ Every part of the body which performs its functional work is strong, but, not withstanding, if inactive, it gets into a bad condition, unless its inactivity arise from fatigue, fever, or inflammation. And in dislocations outward, the limb is shortened, because the bone is lodged in flesh which yields; but, not withstanding, in dislocations inward, it is longer, because the bone is lodged on a projecting bone. Adults, then, who have this dislocation unreduced, are bent at the groins in walking, and the other ham is flexed; they scarcely reach the ground with the ball of the foot ”

“ But if the patients have a bad color, they are to be interrogated whether their head be pained, for they will say that it is. In those cases in which the bowels are pained on the right side, the pains are stronger, and especially when the pain terminates in the hypochondrium at the liver. Such pains are immediately relieved if borborygmi take place in the belly. But when the pain ceases, they pass thick and green urine. The disease is not deadly, but very protracted. But when the disease is already of long standing, the patients have dimness of sight in consequence of it. ”

“ CASE III. Herophon was seized with an acute fever; alvine discharges at first were scanty, and attended with tenesmus; but afterwards they were passed of a thin, bilious character, and frequent; there was no sleep; urine black, and thin. On the fifth, in the morning, deafness; all the symptoms exacerbated; spleen swollen; distention of the hypochondrium; alvine discharges scanty, and black; he became delirious. On the sixth, delirious; at night, sweating, coldness; the delirium continued. ”

“ Both men and women who have long had a bad color, but not in the form of jaundice, are subject to headaches, eat stones and earth, and have piles. Those who have green colors, without decided jaundice, are affected in like manner, only instead of eating stones and earth, they are more subject to pains in the hypochondriac region. Persons who are pale for a length of time, and have the face tumid, will be found to have headache, or pains about the viscera, or some disease in the anus; and in most cases, not one, but many, or all these evils make their appearance. ”