Anatomy of the Heart; The heart, Hippocrates

Why you might read The Heart?

The heart is a quick read. It gives us an idea of how the heart was understood in early medicine. As well as giving a basic anatomical description.

For my Self Education project, it mainly is a text that is about having an understanding of the whole corpus of Hippocrates. It gives insight, also, into how anatomical deductions were made at the time.

Content of The Heart

The Heart is a short text on exactly that the Heart. Hippocrates focuses mainly on the physical structure of the heart. He correctly ascertains that there are two main chambers but fails to notice the divisions of those chambers. He does notice the valves of the heart though he incorrectly determines their uses. He does not posit that the heart is for pumping blood, but does come to the conclusion that it is like bellows.

Reflections on The Heart

Hippocrates assumptions around the function of the heart are quite interesting. He thinks it is a hot organ next to the cold lungs. We now know body temperature to be a lot more consistent than that. He rightly points out that without the valves of the heart open no blood would flow. He states that is removing a heart from a cadaver you will find blood on the right side but no the left. He uses this to state that it is just this side that the blood moves through. this is incorrect but it is easy to see how he got to this.


What others have to say about The Heart

"Hippocrates’ writings on the heart contain some of the best clinical descriptions recorded in history" From a paper by Tsung O. Cheng

Comparisons with other texts

This work had a great deal of similarity to The Nature of Man. Both this and the Nature of Man cover the physical reality of medicine. As well as descriptions of the physical parts. The heart is just a description of the physical heart. Whereas the Nature of Man covers most of the body in less detail.

It is less detailed than The Nature of the Child. This is due to the more focused topic. As well as the lack of need for the development stages that we see in the Nature of the Child.

Conclusion

The Heart is a simple description of the heart and its function. Though Hippocrates does make some incorrect deductions it is still very informative. We have seen that Hippocrates was the closest to what we know now that is seen up to his time in history. As well as how this text is similar to the two works that are about the Nature of Man and of the Child.

Have you read The Heart? If so what did you think of it? 

 
Want to read The Heart but haven't? Please leave me a comment and let me know why you want to read it.

Hopefully, this post inspires you to take the time to look into it on your own journey of Self Education.

Get a copy of The Heart.