HISTNEUR-L: The History of Neuroscience Internet Forum

Re: from Agnosia to diagnosis to the Pissing Evile

• Date:   Wed, 10 Mar 2004 11:32:49 -0500
• To:   histneur-l@library.ucla.edu, babin@creighton.edu
• From:   Andrew L. Lautin <Andrew.Lautin@med.va.gov>
• Subject:   Re: from Agnosia to diagnosis to the Pissing Evile
• Message-ID:   ABB9C5FE42D02740B05177E6F673953B18CD75@VHAV03MSG2.v03.med.va.gov

Hi Professor Prioreschi,

In your helpful letter on diabetes you suggest Hippocrates employed the term in the 
sense of "to walk" or "stand with legs wide apart" ("diabainein"). One wonders if 
the legs apart refer to the frequent urinations on the part of the patient. 

But the term diabetes is usually attributed to Aretaeus (Greek, ca. A.D. 70). Isn't it? 


Is there any inconsistency here, as Hippocrates lived several centuries before Aretaeus.


Andy Lautin MD