Alcmaeon, Empedocles, Diogenes of Apollonia, Anaxagoras and Pausanias, whose names are mentioned above in the list of eminent men who flourished during the golden age of Greek history, are entitled to further consideration. Alcmaeon of Crotona was a contemporary and disciple of Pythagoras. He was specially devoted to the study of anatomy and physiology, and is credited with the distinction of having been the first person to dissect animals for the purpose of learning the formation of the different parts of their bodies. With the exception of a few fragments that are to be found scattered throughout ancient medical literature, Alcmaeon’s writings have all been lost. The discovery of the optic nerve is credited to him, and Neuburger states that he deserves still greater credit for having been the first to declare that the brain is the central organ of all intellectual activity. Of all the disciples of Pythagoras, Empedocles attained the greatest celebrity. He flourished about 444 B. C., his residence being at Agrigentum, in Sicily. Much of his reputation appears to have been due to the mystery which surrounded many of his actions. He was even reputed to have brought again to life persons who were believed to be dead. His works were all in verse, but only fragments have come down to us. He placed the seat of hearing in the labyrinth of the temporal bone. His death occurred in Peloponnesus at the age of sixty, as the result of an accident. Anaxagoras was born at Clazomenae, in Ionia, 500 B. C. He was the teacher of Euripides, the Athenian poet, and Pericles, the greatest of Athenian statesmen. He and his contemporary, Diogenes of Apollonia, in Crete, devoted a great deal of attention to the study of anatomy. They dissected animals and made some genuine discoveries; Anaxagoras noting the existence of the lateral ventricles of the brain, and Diogenes furnishing a description--very erroneous, it is true--of the vascular system of the body. Puschmann says that, according to Aristotle, the philosophers of that period considered the study of man and his diseases the most important one to which they could devote their time and thoughts. Many of them indeed had been educated as physicians, and not a few were actual practitioners of medicine. CHAPTER VII HIPPOCRATES THE GREAT