FOLLOWING HIPPOCRATES

Why did Hippocrates (V-th cent, B.C.), already renowned as a medical p ractitioner and as a writer, leave his native island of Cos (south wes t of modern Turkey) to travel in mainland Greece and in the islands? T o enlarge his knowledge and to check his theory on the relationship be tween the gee-climatic situation and local pathology. The question is raised by an analysis of some treatises and recent archaeological disc overies. We examine some case studies, particularly that of a patient suffering from acute fever with dehydratation and delusions; the anony mous ''phrenitis'' sufferer died of this disease.