Report on Galen of Pergamum

1. When and where did this person live? Give a brief historical context to his/her life and work.

The Greek physician Galen of Pergamum (129-203AD) was educated as a philosopher and man of letters. Pergamum, his hometown, was site for a shrine of the healing god, Asclepius, which was visited by many Romans for cures. At age 16 Galen began his career in medicine at Alexandria in Egypt, which held the biggest medical center of the ancient world. Galen served Marcus Aurelius and the later emperors of Rome as a physician. Galen spent his lifetime observing the human body and its functions.

2. What is this person’s major contribution to the development of medicine?

Galen performed vast amounts of dissections and vivisections on animals as well as on humans. His studies of the body include the study of the muscles, spinal cord, heart, and urinary system and also proved that the arteries are full of blood. Galen performed and stressed to his students the importance of human dissections and recommended that his students practice human dissections as often as possible. He distinguished seven pairs of cranial nerves, described the valves of the heart, and observed the structural differences between arteries and veins. Galen’s greatest accomplishment was proving a 400-year-old belief incorrect by demonstrating that arteries carry blood and not air. He also believed that in order for a human to be at equilibrium there must be balance between the body’s four main fluids, or humours, blood, yellow bile, black bile and phlegm. Along with the four main fluids of the body, Galen introduced the spirit system, consisting of natural spirit or “pneuma” (air believed to be in the veins), vital spirit (blood mixed with air believed to be in the arteries) and animal spirit (believed to be found in he nervous system). Galen’s modification of the human’s internal balance theory it allowed doctors to make more precise diagnoses and to prescribe specific remedies to restore the body’s balance. In all Galen was the first person to introduce the idea that experiments were important in medicine. He advocated dissection for both improvement in surgical skills and for research purposes.

3. What was this person’s philosophy and/or approach to the practice of medicine?

Galen’s philosophy was a mixture of ideas from philosophers he revered such as Plato, Aristotle and Hippocrates. He viewed the body as consisting of three systems: the brain and nerves, the heart and arteries, and the liver and veins. Galen believed that blood was formed in the liver and was carried away by veins to all parts of the body. A small amount of this blood would seep into the lungs where it would be mixed with air, and then it would seep into the ventricles of the heart through tiny pores. This theory proved to be extremely popular and at that time there was no one skilled who could really challenge it for centuries to come.

4. What was the role of herbs in this person’s treatments?

From my research there was no mention of Galen using herbs in any of his treatments or experimentations.

5. Relate a famous experiment or incident associated with this person.

A possible famous event in Galen’s life would be when he was called by the joint emperors Lucius Verus and Marcus Aurelius to accompany them on a military campaign that would lead them through northern Italy. After Verus’ death, Galen served Marcus Aurelius and the later emperors Commodus and Septimius Severus as doctor.

6. What conflicts and/or opposition did this person face during his life?

There was not much about challenges experienced by Galen except that of human dissections not being as accepted as he wanted them to be. One other aspect of Galen’s ideas that did not make much sense extended from his dissection on animals. Galen believed that humans have a five-lobed liver (which dogs do) and that that heart only had two chambers.

7. What other areas besides medicine did this person’s work influence?

Galen’s writings, which extended up to 500 writing in all, reached wide circulation during his lifetime. Galen’s interpretations of the functions of the body were not only accepted by the Greeks but also later on, via translations, by the Muslims. Galen’s influence as authority on his studies reached translations into Arabic, Hebrew, and Latin in the Renaissance, inspired generations to follow to new ideas and new practices. During the Renaissance Galen promoted the development of anatomy and medical botany, clinical medical teaching, and epidemiology (the branch of medicine which treats of the origin, nature, pathology, and prevention of epidemic diseases).

8. From the vantage point of history was this person mostly right in his/her assumptions or mostly wrong?

Much of Galen’s theories about the functions and descriptions of the human body have been proven wrong. His beliefs that humans had five-lobed liver that the heart only had two chambers were proven completely wrong. Galen’s notion of experimentation was kept strong and is still continued to this day. In general, Galen’s several theories about the human body have been proven wrong but his belief in human experimentation and continued study of the human body continue strong.

9. What is your overall evaluation of this person?

There was not that much information available about his work and his experiments on humans but rather his experiments on animals. Galen’s strong belief in experimentation influenced the field of medicine for centuries to follow. Galen’s stress on human dissection for experimentation paved the way for new theories and methods to be developed about the human body and its functions.

10. List your references and resources

http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Galen.html

http://www.anat.ucl.ac.uk/brochure/page40.htm

http://www.timelinescience.org/resource/students/blood/galen.htm

http://www.bium.univ-paris5.fr/hitmed/medica/galien_va.htm