HIPPOCRATIC OAT*T* 
A. M. TRAWICK, M.D. 
NASHVILLE, TENN. 
Hippocrates, born on the Island of Cos, B. C. 460, was the most cele- 
brated physician of antiquity. He belonged to the yEsclepiadas—being 
the seventeenth in descent from Aesculapius. He received his instruction 
in medicine from his father and from Herodicus. Besides being a 
practitioner of medicine, he was a great philosopher. After spending 
some years in traveling through Greece, he settled and practiced his 
profession at Cos, finally, at about the age of eighty, dying at Larissa. 
Hippocrates was guided in his profession by the highest principles of 
honor and humanity. The Hippocratic oath, the formula of which is 
ascribed to him, bound all who sought to practice the noble healing 
art in the most rigorous bonds of honor and brotherhood. (Text of oath 
omitted). 
After practicing medicine for more than a score of years, and studying 
men almost as much as medicine, and noting the motives that prompt 
the actions of men in connection with the practice of medicine, and in 
studying this in connection with the Hippocratic oath, I am able to 
reach some conclusions: 
1. Hippocrates, in the opening sentence of the oath, recognized the 
divine source of the power to heal. 
2. The sacredness of the oath, which involves the idea of a professional 
obligation, is indicated by his appealing to the gods by name as wit- 
nesses to his supreme purpose to hold aloft the highest standard. 
3. We also are made to realize his recognition of the high position 
occupied by the medical preceptor, and the reverence due him as one 
who conveys the knowledge of the high art. 
4. Hippocrates emphasized the obligation to transmit a knowledge 
of medicine and the power to heal to those who are qualified both by 
ability and principle to use such knowledge rightly. 
5. He brings out the sacredness of life, and the obligation of a 
physician to save and preserve it by proper treatment. 
6. This physician of ancient times showed his deep conviction of 
moral obligations to restrain and keep under control the power conferred 
upon him and his profession, which might be used to the injury of others. 
*Read before the Tennessee State Medical Socretrrffashvrlle. April rr, 1599. 
- tr -~3"V -<V n % r 7. The highest ideal of both personal and professional life is held up 
to view. 
8. When called in counsel by a brother physician, I should treat 
him as my host. 
g. When I call a brother physician in counsel, I should treat him 
as my guest. 
10. There is a clear recognition of the limitations of the departments 
of medical and surgical professions respectively, and an expression of 
an honest purpose to keep within those limits. In this we find the primal 
elements of an ethical system which has come down to us through 
the centuries. 
ii. Hippocrates not only realized, but urged, the sacredness of the 
physician’s trust, and his duty to preserve inviolate the purity and 
sanctity of the patient’s home. 
12. The sacredness of professional secrets is incorporated in this oath, 
especially those secrets the divulging of which would be injurious to the 
honor and. reputation of the patient. 
13. The reward which comes from right living, and the inevitable 
consequences of wrongdoing, are set forth, together with the privilege 
of enjoying the one or a willingness to abide by the results growing 
out of a life spent in the service of others. 
14. That if these obligations were binding upon a man living in 
an unenlightened age, they press with the greater responsibility upon 
us, and are the more binding upon those in the practice of a great 
profession which has become illuminated and exalted by the Christian 
ideals of the nineteenth century. 
15. We should, therefore, thoroughly study the word selfishness, and 
should abstain from every appearance of such a hideous characteristic. 
And in close connection with selfishness, but far more damning to the 
best qualities of the physician’s life, stands that most to be dreaded of all 
evils—jealousy. The jealous man of all others carries the marks plainly 
to be read and known of all men, that he is the smallest man in the 
entire community, and is more to be pitied than feared. 
16. To sum it all up in a few words: We must remember that the 
physician comes in the closest and most sacred relations of life. He 
sees men and women in their hours of weakness; sees them when 
judgment and will are overthrown by disease; sees them when the 
intellect is so shattered and enfeebled by disease that its mastery is lost, 
and ignoble passions rule unchecked and unrestrained, and there is, 
therefore, an imperious necessity that he should be a man of sterling 
integrity and stainless purity—chaste as the untrodden and unsunned 
snow.—Memphis Medical Monthly. The baby, like the poor, 
“we have always with us,” and at this particular 
season of the year the mites of humanity commence to 
take on an importance in inverse proportion to their age 
and size. 
During the months of June, July and August, pedi- 
atrics becomes more than ever, the general practitioner's 
specialty, as his clientele consists largely of infants and 
children suffering from the various forms of gastrointes- 
tinal disease, incident to the heated term. That a large 
majority of these cases depend upon an etiological factor 
of a bacteriological nature has been amply demonstrated, 
more recently by Booker, Baginsky and Lesage. This 
fundamental fact being once accepted, it follows that the 
key to successful treatment consists in bowel antisepsis. 
It is manifestly impossible, however, to render the bowel 
aseptic while fermentable food is being administered; 
therefore, milk and milk foods should be rigorously inter- 
dicted for a time, and calomel in fractional doses, or some 
similar agent, should be given to sweep out fermenting 
detritus. 
The question of Nutrition then comes up, and here is 
where Liquid Peptonoids is, for several reasons, of 
such paramount value. 
Ist. It is a nutritious fluid food. 
2nd. It is completely peptonized and entirely ab- 
sorbed by the stomach, thus leaving no detritus for the 
bowel to dispose of. 3rd. It is sufficiently stimulating to combat pros- 
tration. 
4th. It is absolutely aseptic. 
Aside from these advantages, Liquid Peptonoids is 
eminently palatable—a point of importance when dealing 
with children. 
Elimination, Nutrition and Asepsis being thus pro- 
vided for, the question of more active antisepsis arises. 
When an efficient intestinal antiseptic is indicated, why 
not give Liquid Peptonoids with Creosote, thus 
combining aseptic food with antiseptic remedy ? The 
dose of Liquid Peptonoids for children varies from one- 
half to one tcaspoonful every one to three hours, in 
accordance with the age of the child, the severity of the 
case and the amount of prostration present. Liquid 
Peptonoids with Creosote should be given in smaller 
doses, i. e., about one-half teaspoonful four times a day, 
somewhat diluted. 
Samples upon request. 
THE ARLINGTON CHEMICAL CO., 
YONKERS, N. Y. 
Suggestions for Framing the Accompanying Panel. 
In order that the very best and most artistic results may be obtained in 
the mounting and framing of the “ Hippocratic Oath,” we advise a frame of 
about one inch in width, of antique oak of a very dark color, preferably a 
very dark green. The wide margin should be cut down in framing to about 
one inch all around, and the whole should be treated in such a way as to 
convey the impression of age. A mat should not be used; but in case a 
wide margin is desired, it is advisable that the subject be cut out and 
mounted on a colored ground harmonizing with the frame. 
These suggestions, offered for the physician’s consideration, have been 
endorsed by a well-known artist. 
THE ARLINGTON CHEMICAL COMPANY, Yonkers, N. Y.