[p. 60]
PART 1
Those who composed what are called "The Cnidian Sentences" The Cnidian Sentences in all probability were the results of the observations and theories made in the Temple of Health at Cnidos. We may reasonably conclude from what we know of them, that, like the Coacae Praenotiones at Cos, the Cnidian Sentences at Cnidos were looked up to in the time of Hippocrates as the great guides to medical practice. How much, then, it is to be regretted that they have not come down to us like the other! It is clear, however, from Galen's commentary, that the work was extant in his time, and from it, as will be seen, we are enabled to draw a few particulars respecting the theoretical and practical views of the Cnidians. Le Clerc considers it likely that Euryphon was the author of the Cnidian Sentences (Hist. Phys., i., 3, 30); but it is evident, from the terms in which Hippocrates refers to them, that they were not the work of a single author. He makes mention, it will be remarked, of more than one person being concerned in remodelling them. | have described
accurately what symptoms the sick experience in every disease, and
how certain of them terminate; and in so far a man, even who is not
a physician, might describe them correctly, provided he put the proper
inquiries to the sick themselves what their complaints are. But those
symptoms which the physician ought to know beforehand without being
informed of them by the patient, are, for the most part, omitted,
some in one case and some in others, and certain symptoms of vital
importance for a conjectural judgment.By this our author means that the Cnidians neglected Prorrhetics and prognostics. This must be obvious to every person who had entered properly into the spirit of the Hippocratic system of medicine. | But when, in addition to the
diagnosis, they describe how each complaint should be treated, in
these cases I entertain a still greater difference of opinion with
them respecting the rules they have laid down; and not only do I not
agree with them on this account, but also because the remedies they
use are few in number; for, with the exception of acute diseases,
the only medi-
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