From Hippocrates to statistics. A historical perspective

Abstract

AbstractHippocrates introduced some level of philosophical reflection to the art of medical practice and made it a science for the very first time. This is how medicine was born. Introducing his theory of life, which was based on the principle of balance of four liquids (sc. humoral theory), Hippocrates created the first model of living organism in its proper physiological condition as well as in its pathological symptoms. The influence of Hippocratic thought on the development of European medicine was significant and became an inspiration for many generations of physicians seeking a final definition of health and disease. This, in consequence, resulted in the development of methodical tools that could be helpful in the description and interpretation of the phenomenon of life. The introduction of “numerical” methods followed by statistical methods to 19th-century medicine opened new ways for scientific investigation. One of most important pioneers in that field was French physician Pierre-Charles-Alexandre Louis. Statistics played an important role in the formation of new pathological and epidemiological models by Carl Rokitansky, Ignaz Semmelweis, and John Snow, became a standard procedure in clinical research of Carl Wunderlich, and finally found its full development in present-day evidence-based-medicine.