Hippocrates

Abstract

The first complete Latin edition of Hippocrates’ Opera appeared in Rome in 1525, and in Greek in 1526. Separate translations of the most popular Hippocratic works were available earlier. The most important translations of the Hippocratic works on generation, those by Gorraeus and Cornarius, saw separate publication in 1545 and 1549. Both were extremely popular:

There are contradictions and inconsistencies in the ‘Hippocratic’ account. The works combine two distinct theories of the origin of the semen. In one, the semen derives from the brain and spinal cord, while in the other, the dominant one, it comes together from all, or the most important, parts of the bodies of the parents – the theory called pangenesis. Both parents contribute semen and there is no distinction made between the nature or importance of their contributions. The works most likely to have been taken by Renaissance doctors as epitomising Hippocrates’ ideas on generation, De genitura and De natura pueri, together with their companion-treatise, De morbis iv, are probably by the same author, and they present a relatively consistent account. Hippocrates’ explanation of generation is almost entirely mechanical. It requires no guidance by an intelligent, animated soul-substance.