This treatise attacks a group who tried to systematize medicine by reducing it to the interactions of hot, cold, wet and dry, claiming that all diseases are caused by one or more of these factors. In essence they were practicing medicine based on a theory of natural philosophy, a notion the treatise's writer countered with a system of medical and scientific method based on observation and experience. In this new translation, Schiefsky (classics, Harvard U.) also provides the Greek text of Jacques Jouanna and an entirely new commentary, as well as an extensive introduction and an index of Greek words. Annotation ©2005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)