Sudhoff's views of the tasks of medical historians in the field of the history of ancient medicine were influenced by the contemporary controversy between classical philologists and medical historians about their competence. On the one hand Sudhoff thought the philologic historical method to be the appropriate one for the investigation of the history of ancient medicine, on the other hand he did not think it to be indispensable for the medical historians. Their main task was in his eyes to publish new items from archaeological and literary sources, as he himself did.