J. Antall szerk.: Medical history in Hungary 1972. Presented to the XXIII. International Congress of the History of Medicine / Orvostörténeti Közlemények – Supplementum 6. (Budapest, 1972)
M. Vida: State-Models (Utopias) and Sociology of Medicine
16 Medical History in Hungary 1972 (Comm. Hist. Artis Med. Suppl. 6.) berries and cottage-cheese, furthermore onions and greens, —the sort of peasant meals —and they will cook for themselves." 5 That "inflated-state" —as Plato called the city-state of his age —essentially needs professionists, who did not serve their real necessity of life anymore. Among them were physicians. 6 Owing to far gone diseases caused by lack of discipline consulting rooms and court houses opened "and the profession of lawyers and physicians became more important." 7 Socrates asks and notes: "Is it not a burning disgrace, that people badly need medical care not because of injuries or annually recurring epidemic, but as a result of inactivity or the above mentioned way of life, and they saturated with juices and gases like a poole, compelling the Asklepios-clan to name these different illnesses 'swelling' and 'diarrhoea'" s Plato also defined his attitude in the question of applied medicine in his own age and further back. In contradiction to the method of Asclepios and his followers —they had cured breaking out diseases only —scorned and ignored the new methods of Herodikos, who wanted to maintain health by regulating the way of life. In other words he adopted diets preventing diseases. "Asclepios paid attention only to those, whose body was well-constructed and basically healthy, as a result of their way of life and suffered only in temporary diseases, and he established medicine for their sake, when diseases could be driven out by drugs or excisions, and later ordering them to the accustomed way of life."" At the same time Herodicos "when becoming ill, confused physical training and therapy so much that he destroyed primarily and mainly himself, but later on a lot of people too" 1 0 Proclaiming a one-sided opinion, Plato attached great importance only to "doric-asclepiados" applying magic and subjective black art, and he even did not mention the "great" Hippocrates. Nevertheless Hippocrates, being only 30 years old, was almost his contemporary. He lived in B. C. 460 — 377, and not only established a new school by creating reational and empiric medicine, but also became a symbol of ionic medical science itself during his lifetime. Returning to Herodicos, who was sharply refused by Plato, although he might be regarded progressive, on account of his diatetic principles, he was opposed even by Hippocrates, because of his drastic therapies. — How does a good physician look like? — asks finally Plato and states: "In fact those could make a good physician, who have not only been studying their profession from childhood, but also can get in touch with people more unhealthy body or themselves suffer all kind of diseases, moreover their bodies are not quite healthy." 1 1 The suggestive method of Asclepios is the only proper way of therapy "surely one does not cure body by body, but body by spirit ; and if the spirit 5 Plato op. cit. 805 p. 6 Plato op. cit. 807 p. 7 Plato op. cit. 854 p. 8 Plato op. cit. 855 p. 9 Plato op. cit. 858 p. 1 0 Plato op. cit. 856 p. 1 1 Plato op. cit. 859 p.
