courage enough to put them to the test.


GALEN--THE LAST GREAT ALEXANDRIAN

There is one other field of scientific investigation to which we
must give brief attention before leaving the antique world. This
is the field of physiology and medicine. In considering it we
shall have to do with the very last great scientist of the
Alexandrian school. This was Claudius Galenus, commonly known as
Galen, a man whose fame was destined to eclipse that of all other
physicians of antiquity except Hippocrates, and whose doctrines
were to have the same force in their field throughout the Middle
Ages that the doctrines of Aristotle had for physical science.
But before we take up Galen's specific labors, it will be well to
inquire briefly as to the state of medical art and science in the
Roman world at the time when the last great physician of
antiquity came upon the scene.

The Romans, it would appear, had done little in the way of
scientific discoveries in the field of medicine, but,
nevertheless, with their practicality of mind, they had turned to
better account many more of the scientific discoveries of the
Greeks than did the discoverers themselves. The practising
physicians in early Rome were mostly men of Greek origin, who
came to the capital after the overthrow of the Greeks by the
Romans. Many of them were slaves, as earning money by either
bodily or mental labor was considered beneath the dignity of a
Roman citizen. The wealthy Romans, who owned large estates and
numerous slaves, were in the habit of purchasing some of these
slave doctors, and thus saving medical fees by having them attend
to the health of their families.

By the beginning of the Christian era medicine as a profession
had sadly degenerated, and in place of a class of physicians who
practised medicine along rational or legitimate lines, in the
footsteps of the great Hippocrates, there appeared great numbers
of "specialists," most of them charlatans, who pretended to
possess supernatural insight in the methods of treating certain
forms of disease. These physicians rightly earned the contempt of
the better class of Romans, and were made the object of many
attacks by the satirists of the time. Such specialists travelled
about from place to place in much the same manner as the
itinerant "Indian doctors" and "lightning tooth-extractors" do
to-day. Eye-doctors seem to have been particularly numerous, and
these were divided into two classes, eye-surgeons and eye-doctors
proper. The eye-surgeon performed such operations as cauterizing
for ingrowing eyelashes and operating upon growths about the
eyes; while the eye-doctors depended entirely upon salves and
lotions. These eye-salves were frequently stamped with the seal
of the physician who compounded them, something like two hundred
of these seals being still in existence. There were besides these
quacks, however, reputable eye-doctors who must have possessed
considerable skill in the treatment of certain ophthalmias. Among
some Roman surgical instruments discovered at Rheims were found
also some drugs employed by ophthalmic surgeons, and an analysis
of these show that they contained, among other ingredients, some
that are still employed in the treatment of certain affections of
the eye.

One of the first steps taken in recognition of the services of
physicians was by Julius Caesar, who granted citizenship to all
physicians practising in Rome. This was about fifty years before
the Christian era, and from that time on there was a gradual
improvement in the attitude of the Romans towards the members of
the medical profession. As the Romans degenerated from a race of
sturdy warriors and became more and more depraved physically, the
necessity for physicians made itself more evident. Court
physicians, and physicians-in-ordinary, were created by the
emperors, as were also city and district physicians. In the year
133 A.D. Hadrian granted immunity from taxes and military service
to physicians in recognition of their public services.

The city and district physicians, known as the archiatri
populaires, treated and cared for the poor without remuneration,
having a position and salary fixed by law and paid them
semi-annually. These were honorable positions, and the archiatri
were obliged to give instruction in medicine, without pay, to the
poor students. They were allowed to receive fees and donations
from their patients, but not, however, until the danger from the
malady was past. Special laws were enacted to protect them, and
any person subjecting them to an insult was liable to a fine "not
exceeding one thousand pounds."

An example of Roman practicality is shown in the method of
treating hemorrhage, as described by Aulus Cornelius Celsus (53
B.C. to 7 A.D.). Hippocrates and Hippocratic writers treated
hemorrhage by application of cold, pressure, styptics, and
sometimes by actual cauterizing; but they knew nothing of the
simple method of stopping a hemorrhage by a ligature tied around
the bleeding vessel. Celsus not only recommended tying the end of
the injured vessel, but describes the method of applying two
ligatures before the artery is divided by the surgeon--a common
practice among surgeons at the present time. The cut is made
between these two, and thus hemorrhage is avoided from either end
of the divided vessel.

Another Roman surgeon, Heliodorus, not only describes the use of
the ligature in stopping hemorrhage, but also the practice of
torsion--twisting smaller vessels, which causes their lining


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