poultices to the hand itself. Galen, being called in
consultation, pointed out that the injury was probably not in the
hand itself, but in the ulner nerve, which controls sensation in
the fourth and fifth fingers. Surmising that the nerve must have
been injured in some way, he made careful inquiries of the
patient, who recalled that he had been thrown from his chariot
some time before, striking and injuring his back. Acting upon
this information, Galen applied stimulating remedies to the
source of the nerve itself--that is, to the bundle of
nerve-trunks known as the brachial plexus, in the shoulder. To
the surprise and confusion of his fellow-physicians, this method
of treatment proved effective and the patient recovered
completely in a short time.

Although the functions of the organs in the chest were not well
understood by Galen, he was well acquainted with their anatomy.
He knew that the lungs were covered by thin membrane, and that
the heart was surrounded by a sac of very similar tissue. He made
constant comparisons also between these organs in different
animals, as his dissections were performed upon beasts ranging in
size from a mouse to an elephant. The minuteness of his
observations is shown by the fact that he had noted and described
the ring of bone found in the hearts of certain animals, such as
the horse, although not found in the human heart or in most
animals.

His description of the abdominal organs was in general accurate.
He had noted that the abdominal cavity was lined with a peculiar
saclike membrane, the peritoneum, which also surrounded most of
the organs contained in the cavity, and he made special note that
this membrane also enveloped the liver in a peculiar manner. The
exactness of the last observation seems the more wonderful when
we reflect that even to-day the medical, student finds a correct
understanding of the position of the folds of the peritoneum one
of the most difficult subjects in anatomy.

As a practical physician he was held in the highest esteem by the
Romans. The Emperor Marcus Aurelius called him to Rome and
appointed him physician-inordinary to his son Commodus, and on
special occasions Marcus Aurelius himself called in Galen as his
medical adviser. On one occasion, the three army surgeons in
attendance upon the emperor declared that he was about to be
attacked by a fever. Galen relates how "on special command I felt
his pulse, and finding it quite normal, considering his age and
the time of day, I declared it was no fever but a digestive
disorder, due to the food he had eaten, which must be converted
into phlegm before being excreted. Then the emperor repeated
three times, 'That's the very thing,' and asked what was to be
done. I answered that I usually gave a glass of wine with pepper
sprinkled on it, but for you kings we only use the safest
remedies, and it will suffice to apply wool soaked in hot nard
ointment locally. The emperor ordered the wool, wine, etc., to be
brought, and I left the room. His feet were warmed by rubbing
with hot hands, and after drinking the peppered wine, he said to
Pitholaus (his son's tutor), 'We have only one doctor, and that
an honest one,' and went on to describe me as the first of
physicians and the only philosopher, for he had tried many before
who were not only lovers of money, but also contentious,
ambitious, envious, and malignant."[7]

It will be seen from this that Galen had a full appreciation of
his own abilities as a physician, but inasmuch as succeeding
generations for a thousand years concurred in the alleged
statement made by Marcus Aurelius as to his ability, he is
perhaps excusable for his open avowal of his belief in his
powers. His faith in his accuracy in diagnosis and prognosis was
shown when a colleague once said to him, "I have used the
prognostics of Hippocrates as well as you. Why can I not
prognosticate as well as you?" To this Galen replied, "By God's
help I have never been deceived in my prognosis."[8] It is
probable that this statement was made in the heat of argument,
and it is hardly to be supposed that he meant it literally.

His systems of treatment were far in advance of his theories
regarding the functions of organs, causes of disease, etc., and
some of them are still first principles with physicians. Like
Hippocrates, he laid great stress on correct diet, exercise, and
reliance upon nature. "Nature is the overseer by whom health is
supplied to the sick," he says. "Nature lends her aid on all
sides, she decides and cures diseases. No one can be saved unless
nature conquers the disease, and no one dies unless nature
succumbs."

From the picture thus drawn of Galen as an anatomist and
physician, one might infer that he should rank very high as a
scientific exponent of medicine, even in comparison with modern
physicians. There is, however, another side to the picture. His
knowledge of anatomy was certainly very considerable, but many of
his deductions and theories as to the functions of organs, the
cause of diseases, and his methods of treating them, would be
recognized as absurd by a modern school-boy of average
intelligence. His greatness must be judged in comparison with
ancient, not with modern, scientists. He maintained, for example,
that respiration and the pulse-beat were for one and the same
purpose--that of the reception of air into the arteries of the
body. To him the act of breathing was for the purpose of
admitting air into the lungs, whence it found its way into the
heart, and from there was distributed throughout the body by
means of the arteries. The skin also played an important part in
supplying the body with air, the pores absorbing the air and


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