“Parte del ayre”: el concepto del pneuma y el beso erótico

El concepto del pneuma –“aire”, “aliento”– aparece ya en la filosofía presocrática y posteriormente en el corpus hippocraticum y las obras de Platón y Aristóteles. Es un término filosófico y médico que tiene que ver con la materia que constituye el universo y el proceso de respiración. Después, pasa al pensamiento paulino y da pie al pneuma cristiano. En tanto el beso, desde la Antigüedad, se consideró un intercambio de alientos, el concepto del pneuma está estrechamente relacionado con él. Este artículo rastrea su historia desde sus orígenes clásicos hasta el Renacimiento y muestra cómo se volvió un elemento indispensable en la representación del beso.

Heraclitus and Hippocrates: the Paradigm of the Elements

The article analyses the remaining fragments and testimonies of Heraclitean philosophy and their connection with Hippocratic medicine. It is claimed that both schools belong to the same philosophical-scientific paradigm of the elements. Therefore, theoretical insights of the school of Cos might well serve explaining complicated and often difficult to interpret Heraclitean thoughts. Moreover, it is plausible that parts of Corpus Hippocraticum were written under the influence of the Heraclitean philosophy and therefore its analysis and interpretative application allows us to partially reconstruct the fragmented Heraclitean ideas into the single unified system. The article uses comparative analysis of both thinking traditions in regard to psychological, ethical, physiological, cosmological, and medical ideas. Similarities in explaining human nature are revealed. It is shown that science (medicine) and philosophy in Antiquity use the same paradigmatic utterances to describe reality. Therefore, there are many mutual interconnecting principles between early philosophy and medicine.

Hepar uterinum

The means of fetal nutrition has been debated for over two millennia, with the controversy of oral versus parenteral nutrition already in the Corpus Hippocraticum. In 1587, Aranzio rejected connections between maternal and fetal blood vessels, and coined the term hepar uterinum for the placenta. From the 16th to 18th century, fervent debate focused on the type and extent of connection between maternal and fetal vessels. But up to the middle of the 19th century, an important nutritive function was attributed to amniotic fluid. When with the discovery of oxygen the placenta’s respiratory function became understood, its nutritional function fell from grace. Most scientists realized reluctantly that the organ had numerous functions. As late as the 19th century, the advent of microscopy allowed cell theory to develop, and analytical chemistry furthered the understanding of the transport of nutrients across the placenta. The identification of the syncytiotrophoblast made passive diffusion unlikely. Radioisotopes, molecular biology, and the fluid mosaic model of the cell membrane revealed active transport mechanisms for nearly all macronutrients.

Von der anatomischen Lehrsektion zum Unterricht am Krankenbett – eine geschichtliche Würdigung

ZusammenfassungZu allen Zeiten waren die Anatomen bemüht, der Medizin wissenschaftliche Grundlagen zu vermitteln. Der Anatom hat den toten Körper zergliedert, um damit den Lebenden zu dienen. Das Verständnis physiologischer und pathophysiologischer Prozesse setzt die Kenntnis der Anatomie voraus. Im Corpus Hippocraticum findet man keinen sicheren Hinweis auf die Durchführung menschlicher Sektionen. In Alexandria wurde um 300 vor Christus zum ersten Mal Anatomie an der menschlichen Leiche gelehrt. Mehr als 1300 Jahre standen die Anatomie und die Heilkunde dann unter dem Einfluss des Galen von Pergamon (131–201 n. Chr.). Der Italiener Mondino dei Luzzi (1275–1326) war der Erste, der den systematischen Anatomieunterricht unter regelmäßiger Einbeziehung von Lehrsektionen in den Lehrbetrieb in Bologna eingeführt hat. Andreas Vesalius (1514–1564) aus Belgien hat in der Neuzeit die wissenschaftlich fundierte Humananatomie begründet und viele Fehler der von Galen tradierten Ansichten der Anatomie korrigiert. Im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert waren die niederländischen Universitäten, allen voran die Universität in Leiden, führend im Hinblick auf die klinische und praktische Studentenausbildung.

Jesús Ángel y Espinós & Alicia Esteban Santos (eds.), Estudios sobre la lengua del Corpus Hippocraticum y su tradición, Madrid: Guillermo Escolar, 2019, 307 págs. ISBN: 978-84-17134-92-1

Breve reseña acerca de los artículos que se compendian en el libro de Jesús Ángel y Espinós & Alicia Esteban Santos (eds.), Estudios sobre la lengua del Corpus Hippocraticum y su tradición, Madrid: Guillermo Escolar, 2019, 307 págs. ISBN: 978-84-17134-92-1

Letter to the Editor: Dengue fever in the Corpus Hippocraticum

Dengue fever (DF) is a globally significant infection which causes a range of severe and non-severe clinical manifestations. It is transmitted by mosquitoes of the Aedes genus (primarily Aedes aegypti, but also Aedes al- bopictus). In this letter, a possible DF epidemic on Thasos Island in Greece, which is described in the Book of Epidemics I of the Corpus Hippocraticum, is presented and analyzed. To my knowledge, it is the first report of DF in the history of medicine. Keywords: Dengue fever; Corpus Hippocraticum.

Heracles and epilepsy: the sacred disease

ABSTRACT Epilepsy is one of the most dreaded and terrifying human afflictions. One of the many names it has received was Sacred Disease, during Greek times. Heracles served as a source of the divine connotation that epilepsy received in ancient times, as he was one of the most important demigods in Greek mythology. However, several authors have attributed Heracles’ actions to a seizure, including Hippocrates, who described the sacred disease on his “Corpus Hippocraticum.” This paper reviewed some of the publications on the myth and content of the text of Hippocrates, in relation to the current knowledge of the disease.

CIENCIA, FILOSOFÍA Y TEKHNE. LA INFLUENCIA PRESOCRÁTICA EN LA FILOSOFÍA BIOLÓGICA DE LOS HIPOCRÁTICOS

Resumen En este artículo queremos estudiar la influencia de la filosofía presocrática en el pensamiento biológico del Corpus Hippocraticum. Comenzamos definiendo lo que entendemos por medicina hipocrática, así como su carácter bifronte (conocimiento y “arte”). A continuación, trazamos una línea de demarcación entre saber científico (o precientífico) y saber filosófico a partir de la Teoría del Cierre Categorial de Gustavo Bueno. A partir de aquí analizamos las diversas escuelas de pensamiento presocráticas y sus influencias en el Corpus. Abstract In this article we want to study the influence of the pre-Socratic philosophy in the biological thinking of the Corpus Hippocraticum. We begin by defining what we understand by Hippocratic medicine, as well as its bifronte character (knowledge and “art”). Next, we draw a line of demarcation between scientific (or pre-scientific) knowledge and philosophical knowledge based on Gustavo Bueno’s Theory of Category Closure. From here we analyze the various presocratic schools of thought and their influences in the Corpus. Palabras claves: Categorial, Elemento, Humor, Medicina Hipocrática, Physis, Presocráticos, Tekhne. Key words: Categorial, Element, Humor, Hypocritical Medicine, Physis, Presocratics, Tekhne.