Origin of diseases and their prevention

Abstract

The writings and teachings of Hippocrates had an impact far beyond his life-time, which began on the island of Cos near the Ionian Coast of Asia Minor, about 460 BC and ended (legend has it) when bees swarmed on his grave producing a special honey: the cure for stomatitis in infants. Hippocrates is regarded by many as the father of medicine, although medicine was practised before this time; indeed writings on such matters date back to the earliest civilizations. In Hippocrates’ time, however, there were no boundaries between medicine, art, religion or philosophy.