Formes de pensée dans la collection hippocratique

was sane when he was committed to an Austrian asylum, and he died from wounds inflicted there. Benedek argues that Semmelweis was suffering from progressive syphilitic paralysis and that he was insane when committed. Syphilis was, of course, an occupational hazard for nineteenth-century obstetricians; a high percentage of patients in maternity clinics were syphilitic and no one knew how to avoid infection. Yet Benedek's view does not explain all the facts. First, none of the recently published official documents relating to Semmelweis's disease mention that he had syphilis. This is hard to explain if, as Benedek argues, all of his colleagues understood the nature of his illness. Second, as both Benedek and Sillo-Seidl point out, Semmelweis's illness and death were almost totally ignored by the medical establishments of Vienna and especially Budapest. Benedek claims that this was an effort to save the reputation of Semmelweis's family and of the University of Pest. But this is doubtful, especially given that the disease was fairly common among obstetricians. Benedek's view is plausible but, from the available facts, Sill6-Seidl's interpretation probably cannot be refuted. All Sill6-Seidel's circumstantial evidence leads one to suspect that Semmelweis's relatives and colleagues were glad to put him away, whether or not they had good cause. [no price stated] (paperback). Hippocratic studies are apparently flourishing. The latest volume of the proceedings of the fourth Colloque Hippocratique (Lausanne, 21-26 September 1981) contains forty-four papers, by authors from Dakar to Newcastle and from Kentucky to Romania. The decision of the organizers to restrict the theme has produced a more coherent volume, yet one that still reveals a refreshing variety of approaches to the investigation of methods of thinking in the Hippocratic writers. Three main lines of attack can be seen, the confrontation of Hippocratic writers with pre-Socratic philosophers, astronomers, historians, and even poets; philological investigation of the precise meaning of certain key terms, especially when looked at from the point of view of their linguistic development; and, finally, the use of parallels from anthropology and folk medicine. It is the last which is potentially the most fruitful, as well as the most dangerous, and not all who have essayed this enterprise are equally convincing in their conclusions. But where the anthropology and the philology are set in a firm historical context, then the results can be impressive, and Lonie's speculations on the impact of literacy on early Greek medicine are the …