The growth of medicine from the earliest times to about 1800Buck, Albert H. (Albert Henry)
History
The growth of medicine from the earliest times to about 1800
Buck, Albert H. (Albert Henry)
Medicine -- History
Not very long after he had returned to Pergamum, Galen was summoned
by the Emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, who were then with
the army at Aquileia, a few miles north of the present Trieste, to
join them at that city; and he was, of course, obliged to obey. A
fresh outbreak of the Plague had occurred and there had already been
many fatal cases among the troops. It was therefore decided by the
emperors, almost immediately after Galen’s arrival, to return to Rome
with a part of the army. A start was accordingly made, and the company
had already advanced some distance on their way, when Lucius Verus
died. This unexpected event greatly increased the difficulties of
the return journey, as it was deemed necessary to carry the remains
of the deceased Emperor back to the imperial city. Thus Galen found
himself once more settled in Rome, this time in the capacity of private
physician to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius and his sons Commodus and
Sextus. The position was extremely well adapted to the needs of Galen,
who, from that time forward, for a period of several years, had at his
disposal ample time for writing and for conducting his experimental
work in anatomy and physiology, a privilege of which he appears to have
made excellent use. He lived to be seventy years of age, his death
occurring during the latter part of the reign of Severus, or at the
beginning of that of Caracalla (about 201 A. D.).
All Galen’s critics agree that he possessed his full share of
peculiarities,--not to call them by the harsher name of faults. He was
constantly ready, for example, to praise his own doings and sayings,
and he rarely lost an opportunity of holding up the physicians of Rome
to ridicule and contempt. He was specially bitter in his criticisms of
Methodism and its adherents--“the donkeys of Thessalus,” as he called
them. At the same time, no other physician of ancient or modern times
has manifested to an equal degree such extraordinary industry as a
writer and original investigator in a great variety of departments of
knowledge. Although many of his works have been lost,[39] those which
have come down to our time are still very numerous--“a sufficient
number,” says Neuburger, “to constitute a library by themselves.” I
give here a few of the titles of these works, in order that the reader
may get at least some idea of the great variety of medical topics which
Galen has discussed in his writings. The more complete list furnished
by Daniel Le Clerc contains nearly two hundred titles, and yet even
this is believed to fall short of the actual number.
SELECTED LIST OF THE WORKS OF GALEN RELATING TO
MEDICINE. (FROM LE CLERC.)
Explanation of some of the Ancient Terms Employed by Hippocrates.
On the Establishment of the Art of Medicine.
Definitions of Medical Terms.
On the Different Sects in Medicine.
Discourse against the Empirics.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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