In the various works usually grouped together under the general designation of "Hippocratic" are to be found the earliest opinions upon the subject of antenatal pathology which the medical literature of Greece has handed down to modern times.

That there were medical writers before the time of Hippocrates cannot be doubted, and that the works ascribed to the "Father of Medicine" were immediately followed by those of other physicians, is likewise not to be questioned; but whilst nearly all the writings prior to and after Hippocrates have been long lost to the world, most of those that were written by the Coan physician and his followers have been almost miraculously preserved.

As Littre puts it, "Les ecrits hippocratiques demeurent isoles au milieu des debris de l'antique litterature medicale."-- (Ballantyne.) The first to be considered is the transmission of contagious disease to the fetus in utero.

The first disease to attract attention was small-pox.

Devilliers, Blot, and Depaul all speak of congenital small-pox, the child born dead and showing evidences of the typical small-pox pustulation, with a history of the mother having been infected during pregnancy.