In History

Some profoundly important breakthrough inventions are not things and inventions, but rather ways of analyzing our relationship with our environment and ourselves. Once such important concept was the Hippocratic method.

The History of Hippocratic method

The Greek physician Hippocrates (460 – 377 BC) saw disease as a natural process which developed in logical steps, like the acts of a Greek play. Moreover, he saw the patient as an individual whose constitution would react to disease in its own way.

This revolutionary concept was neglected for centuries but it took on increased importance in modern times.

In Greek history, Hippocrates viewed the physician as a man of science instead of a priest. Never before had the world seen a healer and not thought of it as God’s express doing. The Hippocratic doctor observed disease, classified it and predicted its course.

He practiced medicine in accordance with the laws of science as far as science then existed and felt himself bound by the ethical precepts of his profession.

Hippocrates recognized that broken parts must be aligned  for normal mending. Traction had to be applied to both ends of a fracture, and then released, gradually, as the parts fitted together. As always, he urged the doctor to look beyond the local fracture to the patients’ total reaction.

Mobilization was recommended at an early stage, since “exercise strengthens and inactivity wastes.” Today, the maxim is still followed in the doctor’s attempt to avoid “atrophy of disuse”.

In short, the hippocratic method was more than just a revolutionary way of looking at healing.  It is an entire philosophy unto itself, with the importance of doing no harm in the center of every treatment offered, and that’s why even today doctors around the world must take the hippocratic oath to be allowed to practice medicine.

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The Abacus is one of mankind’s oldest machines, and certainly man’s earliest computer.

An abacus is a bead and wire analog counting and calculating device whose earliest form appeared about 3000 BC in Mesopotamia as a sand covered board in which marks were made by finger or stick.

The Abacus was really nothing more than a physical representation of human thought. When it turned out to greatly boost the efficiency of human counting, it became widely used.

Humans had long been capable of counting, adding, subtracting and solving simple and complex mathematical problems.  Stone tools and the wheel gave humankind the ability to master physical obstacles in the environment.

Where does the name abacus come from?

The name abacus derives from the ancient word for ” dust “.

When was the abacus first used?

The abacus was first noted in History around 3000 BC.

It was first used in Mesopotamia. The abacus system evolved as a grooved board and ultimately reached its wire and bead form in Egypt by about 500 BC. The abacus was also found in Greece and India and was in widespread use in China by 190 AD, where it is still commonly used today. (By traditionalists, or simply by those who can’t afford a computer.)

How does one use an abacus?

The Chinese abacus uses 10 wires with seven beads each to represent place values. One set of beads represents ones and others represent fives. By quickly moving the beads, a skilled abacus user can do addition, subtraction, multiplication and division as fast as the average person can work similar problems on an electronic calculator.

Today in America it is difficult to find one, as we prefer computers, or more simple calculators to do the job of counting for us.

Today in history, August 28th, 1964, was a very important day for the trend of Human Rights, especially in America.

Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. It was a pivotal time for the Civil Rights movement and the speech was very well received by not just his loyal followers, but by mostly all of the continent.

Ironically, it was simply a speech describing his hope and vision for a future where blacks and whites would coexist harmoniously as equals. It symbolized a truce in the hatred and bloodshed between the two groups, which were all but at war with each other for the last decade or so.

Without that speech at that time, African Americans might not even have the right to vote or run for the highest office today. President Obama would surely not be our president now.