38 Medicine and Philosophy in Classical Antiquity
that a particular observation is ‘worth writing down’ (axion graph ̄es);^56 and
an interesting passage inOn Regimen in Acute Diseasesrefers to initial codi-
fication (sungraphein) of the ‘Cnidian sentences’ and subsequent revision
(epidiaskeuazesthai) by a later generation in the light of further discoveries
and growing experience ( 2. 224 – 8 L.). Another remarkable reference to the
use of written records is to be found atEpidemics 6. 8. 7 ( 5. 346 L.), where
a section of text is introduced by the words ‘(data) derived from the small
writing-tablet’ (ta ek tou smikrou pinakidiou), suggesting that the author
is drawing on an existing collection (an archive or ‘database’) of informa-
tion.^57 As Langholf has suggested, the fact that many ‘chapters’ or ‘sections’
in the HippocraticEpidemicsare of approximately the same length, may
be explained by reference to the material conditions in which information
was stored, such as the size of writing-tablets.^58
These passages indicate that the Hippocratic writers gradually realised
the importance of written documents for the preservation and transmission
of knowledge; also that they regarded these written records not as the in-
tellectual property of one person, but as a common reservoir of knowledge
accessible to a group of physicians (who copied and used the same informa-
tion more than once, as can be seen from the doublets in the Hippocratic
writings) and admitting of additions and changes by this same group of
physicians. The significance of this for our understanding of these texts can
hardly be overstated. Rather than claiming that in the case of Hippocratic
medicine the transition from orality to literacybrought abouta change in
mental attitude and even in thinking, as has been suggested by Miller and
Lonie,^59 it seems more likely that, conversely, the development of prose
writing, and the various forms in which the Hippocratic writers expressed
themselves, is to be understood as aconsequenceof new ways of thinking –
or rather as the result of a new attitude towards knowledge, resulting in
a desire to store data gained by practical experience, to systematise them
and to make them accessible for future use. It seems very likely that the
Hippocratic authors regarded writing as an instrument for theorganisation
of knowledge concerning a great variety of phenomena, that is, not only
in order to prevent knowledge from being forgotten – a desire they shared
with, for example Herodotus – but also to keep knowledge available for
(^56) On Regimen in Acute Diseases 3 ( 2. 238 L.); 16 ( 2. 254 L.);On Joints 10 ( 4. 104 L.).
(^57) For a discussion of this phrase, and in general of the material conditions for writing in the Hippocratic
Corpus, see Langholf ( 1989 a); Nieddu ( 1993 ); Althoff ( 1993 ). Cf. also the HippocraticProrrheticon
2. 4 ( 9. 20 L.).
(^58) Langholf ( 1989 a).
(^59) G. L. Miller ( 1990 ); Lonie ( 1983 ); more in general Goody ( 1968 ) and Havelock ( 1982 a).