Hippocrates was initiated in the study of medicine by his own father, Heraclides; but in the medical art he also had as a teacher the gymnasiarch Herodicus of Selymbria; besides, he studied eloquence under the sophist Gorgia and philosophy under the celebrated Democritus. He treasured up all the records of medical practice that were preserved in the temple of Cos; but according to some ancient authors he is said to have set fire afterward to this temple, and to have left his native country in order to flee from the resentment he had aroused. Probably it was the priests themselves who attributed the burning of the temple (which certainly took place at that time) to Hippocrates, out of jealousy for his growing fame; though it may also be possible that this great man, having first collected together all that was useful among the medical records that were to be found there, afterward courageously destroyed this centre of superstition, so that medicine, ceasing to be confused with imposture and being despoiled of the supernatural character attributed to it, which paralyzed its progress, should become a liberal and human art, based purely on the observation of clinical facts and the study of natural laws. For a long time, Hippocrates travelled in various parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, everywhere making valuable observations. He finally returned to his native country, where through the practice of medicine and by his immortal writings he acquired such esteem and veneration that his compatriots almost tributed him with divine honors after death. Not all, however, of the works that make up the so-called collection of Hippocrates were really written by the father of medicine. Two of his sons—Thessalus and Draco—and his son-in-law Polybius also distinguished themselves by the practice of medicine and by their admirable writings, which together with those of other doctors of that period were erroneously included in the collection of Hippocrates’ works. At any rate, the collection of Hippocrates faithfully represents the state of medicine and surgery at the epoch in which he and his disciples flourished, that is, toward the end of the fifth and during the fourth century before the Christian era.[45] Neither Hippocrates nor others before him had ever dissected corpses; it is, therefore, not to be wondered at that the anatomical notions contained in the Hippocratic works should be scarce and very often inexact. The physiological notions also are highly deficient and imperfect, which is, indeed, very natural, for an exact knowledge of the functions of the human body presupposes an exact knowledge of the relative organs.