Hippocrates and Medical Education: Selected Papers Read at the XIIth International Hippocrates Colloquium, Universiteit Leiden, 24–26 August 2005 (review)

This elegant volume contains a selection of twenty-three papers read in an international colloquium held in the historic location of the Oud Oestgeest castle in the Netherlands. The stated purpose of the volume was “to assess ancient medical education and its decisive role in the last 24 centuries.” Although the Hippocratic Corpus remains at the core of this study, later medical literature, most notably Galen is also part of this collection. The volume is divided into four parts: (1) Doctors and Laymen; (2) Teachers and Pupils; (3) Teaching of Surgery and Obstetrics; and (4) Galen and the Hippocratic Tradition. The papers, on the whole, are rich with information and a wide diversity of approaches and angles to this broad and complex topic.

In the opening article, Jacques Jouanna follows the progression of the theory of the four humors from Hippocrates to the late Byzantine period, arguing that the link between this progression and western versions of the theory have now been rediscovered. Ineke Sluiter discusses Galen as a textual “therapist,” and the relations among medicine, grammar, and rhetoric in his work. Lesley Dean-Jones proposes an emendation in the opening lines of the study Physician; she argues that hopôs “so as” is to be added after horên “to see.” This suggestion is well argued and has merit, but one needs to be skeptical about the main thesis that the novice instructor and not the novice physician should be understood as the audience of this study. Pankaj K. Agarwalla explores rhetoric in the medical education of the classical period. Although the discussion is very informative, the author has missed the important work of C. Lichtenthaeler (Der Eid des Hippokrates, Cologne, Deutscher Arzte-Verlag, 1984) on the rhetorical composition of the Oath. Pilar Perez Canizares discusses the study Affections and medical learning for the lay-person. Adriaan Radermaker discusses the Art and medical language in instruction and public education. Robert Alessi researches the personality of the master and medical research in Epidemics, books 2, 4, and 6. Roberto Lo Presti in a very useful article explores the typologies of medical errors and the discourse surrounding those errors. Natacha Massar’s inquiry concerns the use of a master’s reputation as a guarantee of a good medical education. Ann Ellis Hanson explores doctors’ literacy through the study of medical papyri. Gabriele Marasco discusses medical curriculum in the Greek part of the Roman Empire, especially Alexandria. Elizabeth Craik places medical education in the context of traditional Greek education and focuses on the teaching of surgery, while the following article by John Scarborough discusses the teaching of surgery in later antiquity and in Byzantine Alexandria. The article of Christian Laes deals with the training of midwives in the Roman empire, and provides a useful index of midwives mentioned in Latin inscriptions. Laurence M. V. Totelin considers the use of recipes in the gynecologi-cal treatises of the Hippocratic corpus as teaching materials, and although this is a very important question to ask for our understanding of medical education in the classical period, the author has missed important bibliographical sources and her treatment of the topic barely scratches the surface. By contrast, Daniela Fausti makes significant progress on the complex issue of understanding scientific method and instruction in the Seed. Ralph M. Rosen discusses satire and humor as a means of instruction in Galen. Caroline Petit comments on the Pseudo-Galenic study Instruction, and how it helps us understand medical education in the Roman Empire. Juan Antonio Lopez Ferez researches Galen’s attitudes to medical education through the study of didaskô “teach” and manthanô “learn” Louise Cilliers discusses the didactic letters prefacing the study of Marchellus On Drugs. Peter E. Pormann discusses trends in medical education in late antiquity, and how these influenced medical education in the nascent universities of Europe in...