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diff --git a/24456-8.txt b/24456-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..047bd94 --- /dev/null +++ b/24456-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2881 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Fathers of Biology, by Charles McRae + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Fathers of Biology + +Author: Charles McRae + +Release Date: January 29, 2008 [EBook #24456] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FATHERS OF BIOLOGY *** + + + + +Produced by Bryan Ness, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + FATHERS OF BIOLOGY + + + BY + CHARLES McRAE, M.A., F.L.S. + FORMERLY SCHOLAR OF EXETER COLLEGE, OXFORD + + + PERCIVAL & CO. + _KING STREET, COVENT GARDEN_ + LONDON + 1890 + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. Archaic + and variant spellings remain as originally printed. Greek text has + been transliterated and is shown between {braces}. The oe ligature + is shown as [oe]. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +It is hoped that the account given, in the following pages, of the lives +of five great naturalists may not be found devoid of interest. The work +of each one of them marked a definite advance in the science of Biology. + +There is often among students of anatomy and physiology a tendency to +imagine that the facts with which they are now being made familiar have +all been established by recent observation and experiment. But even the +slight knowledge of the history of Biology, which may be obtained from a +perusal of this little book, will show that, so far from such being the +case, this branch of science is of venerable antiquity. And, further, if +in the place of this misconception a desire is aroused in the reader for +a fuller acquaintance with the writings of the early anatomists the +chief aim of the author will have been fulfilled. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + + HIPPOCRATES 1 + + ARISTOTLE 19 + + GALEN 45 + + VESALIUS 63 + + HARVEY 83 + + + + +HIPPOCRATES. + + + + +_HIPPOCRATES._ + + +Owing to the lapse of centuries, very little is known with certainty of +the life of Hippocrates, who was called with affectionate veneration by +his successors "the divine old man," and who has been justly known to +posterity as "the Father of Medicine." + +He was probably born about 470 B.C., and, according to all accounts, +appears to have reached the advanced age of ninety years or more. He +must, therefore, have lived during a period of Greek history which was +characterized by great intellectual activity; for he had, as his +contemporaries, Pericles the famous statesman; the poets Æschylus, +Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, and Pindar; the philosopher +Socrates, with his disciples Xenophon and Plato; the historians +Herodotus and Thucydides; and Phidias the unrivalled sculptor. + +In the island of Cos, where he was born, stood one of the most +celebrated of the temples of Æsculapius, and in this temple--because he +was descended from the Asclepiadæ--Hippocrates inherited from his +forefathers an important position. Among the Asclepiads the habit of +physical observation, and even manual training in dissection, were +imparted traditionally from father to son from the earliest years, thus +serving as a preparation for medical practice when there were no written +treatises to study.[1] + +Although Hippocrates at first studied medicine under his father, he had +afterwards for his teachers Gorgias and Democritus, both of classic +fame, and Herodicus, who is known as the first person who applied +gymnastic exercises to the cure of diseases. + +The Asclepions, or temples of health, were erected in various parts of +Greece as receptacles for invalids, who were in the habit of resorting +to them to seek the assistance of the god. These temples were mostly +situated in the neighbourhood of medicinal springs, and each devotee at +his entrance was made to undergo a regular course of bathing and +purification. Probably his diet was also carefully attended to, and at +the same time his imagination was worked upon by music and religious +ceremonies. On his departure, the restored patient usually showed his +gratitude by presenting to the temple votive tablets setting forth the +circumstances of his peculiar case. The value of these to men about to +enter on medical studies can be readily understood; and it was to such +treasures of recorded observations--collected during several +generations--that Hippocrates had access from the commencement of his +career. + +Owing to the peculiar constitution of the Asclepions, medical and +priestly pursuits had, before the time of Hippocrates, become combined; +and, consequently, although rational means were to a certain extent +applied to the cure of diseases, the more common practice was to resort +chiefly to superstitious modes of working upon the imagination. It is +not surprising, therefore, to find that every sickness, especially +epidemics and plagues, were attributed to the anger of some offended +god, and that penance and supplications often took the place of personal +and domestic cleanliness, fresh air, and light. + +It was Hippocrates who emancipated medicine from the thraldom of +superstition, and in this way wrested the practice of his art from the +monopoly of the priests. In his treatise on "The Sacred Disease" +(possibly epilepsy), he discusses the controverted question whether or +not this disease was an infliction from the gods; and he decidedly +maintains that there is no such a thing as a sacred disease, for all +diseases arise from natural causes, and no one can be ascribed to the +gods more than another. He points out that it is simply because this +disease is unlike other diseases that men have come to regard its cause +as divine, and yet it is not really more wonderful than the paroxysms +of fevers and many other diseases not thought sacred. He exposes the +cunning of the impostors who pretend to cure men by purifications and +spells; "who give themselves out as being excessively religious, and as +knowing more than other people;" and he argues that "whoever is able, by +purifications and conjurings, to drive away such an affection, will be +able, by other practices, to excite it, and, according to this view, its +divine nature is entirely done away with." "Neither, truly," he +continues, "do I count it a worthy opinion to hold that the body of a +man is polluted by the divinity, the most impure by the most holy; for, +were it defiled, or did it suffer from any other thing, it would be like +to be purified and sanctified rather than polluted by the divinity." As +an additional argument against the cause being divine, he adduces the +fact that this disease is hereditary, like other diseases, and that it +attacks persons of a peculiar temperament, namely, the phlegmatic, but +not the bilious; and "yet if it were really more divine than the +others," he justly adds, "it ought to befall all alike." + +Again, speaking of a disease common among the Scythians, Hippocrates +remarks that the people attributed it to a god, but that "to me it +appears that such affections are just as much divine as all others are, +and that no one disease is either more divine or more human than +another, but that all are alike divine, for that each has its own +nature, and that no one arises without a natural cause." + +From this it will be seen that Hippocrates regarded all phenomena as at +once divine and scientifically determinable. In this respect it is +interesting to compare him with one of his most illustrious +contemporaries, namely, with Socrates, who distributed phenomena into +two classes: one wherein the connection of antecedent and consequent was +invariable and ascertainable by human study, and wherein therefore +future results were accessible to a well-instructed foresight; the +other, which the gods had reserved for themselves and their +unconditional agency, wherein there was no invariable or ascertainable +sequence, and where the result could only be foreknown by some omen or +prophecy, or other special inspired communication from themselves. Each +of these classes was essentially distinct, and required to be looked at +and dealt with in a manner radically incompatible with the other. +Physics and astronomy, in the opinion of Socrates, belonged to the +divine class of phenomena in which human research was insane, fruitless, +and impious.[2] + +Hippocrates divided the causes of diseases into two classes: the one +comprehending the influence of seasons, climates, water, situation, and +the like; the other consisting of such causes as the amount and kind of +food and exercise in which each individual indulges. He considered that +while heat and cold, moisture and dryness, succeeded one another +throughout the year, the human body underwent certain analogous changes +which influenced the diseases of the period. With regard to the second +class of causes producing diseases, he attributed many disorders to a +vicious system of diet, for excessive and defective diet he considered +to be equally injurious. + +In his medical doctrines Hippocrates starts with the axiom that the body +is composed of the four elements--air, earth, fire, and water. From +these the four fluids or humours (namely, blood, phlegm, yellow bile, +and black bile) are formed. Health is the result of a right condition +and proper proportion of these humours, disease being due to changes in +their quality or distribution. Thus inflammation is regarded as the +passing of blood into parts not previously containing it. In the course +of a disorder proceeding favourably, these humours undergo spontaneous +changes in quality. This process is spoken of as _coction_, and is the +sign of returning health, as preparing the way for the expulsion of the +morbid matters--a state described as the _crisis_. These crises have a +tendency to occur at certain periods, which are hence called _critical +days_. As the critical days answer to the periods of the process of +coction, they are to be watched with anxiety, and the actual condition +of the patient at these times is to be compared with the state which it +was expected he ought to show. From these observations the physician may +predict the course which the remainder of the disease will probably +take, and derive suggestions as to the practice to be followed in order +to assist Nature in her operations. + +Hippocrates thus appears to have studied "the natural history of +diseases." As stated above, his practice was to watch the manner in +which the humours were undergoing their fermenting coction, the +phenomena displayed in the critical days, and the aspect and nature of +the critical discharges--not to attempt to check the process going on, +but simply to assist the natural operation. His principles and practice +were based on the theory of the existence of a restoring essence (or +{physis}) penetrating through all creation; the agent which is +constantly striving to preserve all things in their natural state, and +to restore them when they are preternaturally deranged. In the +management of this _vis medicatrix naturæ_ the art of the physician +consisted. Attention, therefore, to regimen and diet was the principal +remedy Hippocrates employed; nevertheless he did not hesitate, when he +considered that occasion required, to administer such a powerful drug as +hellebore in large doses. + +The writings which are extant under the name of Hippocrates cannot all +be ascribed to him. Many were doubtless written by his family, his +descendants, or his pupils. Others are productions of the Alexandrian +school, some of these being considered by critics as wilful forgeries, +the high prices paid by the Ptolemies for books of reputation probably +having acted as inducements to such fraud. The following works have +generally been admitted as genuine:-- + + 1. On Airs, Waters, and Places. + 2. On Ancient Medicine. + 3. On the Prognostics. + 4. On the Treatment in Acute Diseases. + 5. On Epidemics [Books I. and III.]. + 6. On Wounds of the Head. + 7. On the Articulations. + 8. On Fractures. + 9. On the Instruments of Reduction. + 10. The Aphorisms [Seven Books]. + 11. The Oath. + +The works "On Fractures," "On the Articulations," "On Injuries to the +Head," and "On the Instruments of Reduction," deal with anatomical or +surgical matters, and exhibit a remarkable knowledge of osteology and +anatomy generally. It has sometimes been doubted if Hippocrates could +ever have had opportunities of gaining this knowledge from dissections +of the human body, for it has been thought that the feeling of the age +was diametrically opposed to such a practice, and that Hippocrates would +not have dared to violate this feeling. The language used, however, in +some passages in the work "On the Articulations," seems to put the +matter beyond doubt. Thus he says in one place, "But if one will strip +the point of the shoulder of the fleshy parts, and where the muscle +extends, and also lay bare the tendon that goes from the armpit and +clavicle to the breast," etc. And again, further on in the same +treatise, "It is evident, then, that such a case could not be reduced +either by succussion or by any other method, unless one were to cut open +the patient, and then, having introduced the hand into one of the great +cavities, were to push outwards from within, which one might do in the +dead body, but not at all in the living." + +His descriptions of the vertebræ, with all their processes and +ligaments, as well as his account of the general characters of the +internal viscera, would not have been as free from error as they are if +he had derived all his knowledge from the dissection of the inferior +animals. Moreover, it is indisputable that, within less than a hundred +years from the death of Hippocrates, the human body was openly dissected +in the schools of Alexandria--nay, further, that even the vivisection of +condemned criminals was not uncommon. It would be unreasonable to +suppose that such a practice as the former sprang up suddenly under the +Ptolemies, and it seems, therefore, highly probable that it was known +and tolerated in the time of Hippocrates. It is not surprising, when we +remember the rude appliances and methods which then obtained, that in +his knowledge of minute anatomy Hippocrates should compare unfavourably +with anatomists of the present day. Of histology, and such other +subjects as could not be brought within his direct personal observation, +the knowledge of Hippocrates was necessarily defective. Thus he wrote of +the tissues without distinguishing them; confusing arteries, veins, and +nerves, and speaking of muscles vaguely as "flesh." But with matters +within the reach of the Ancient Physician's own careful observation, the +case is very different. This is well shown in his wonderful chapter on +the club-foot, in which he not only states correctly the true nature of +the malformation, but gives some very sensible directions for rectifying +the deformity in early life. + +When human strength was not sufficient to restore a displaced limb, he +skilfully availed himself of all the mechanical powers which were then +known. He does not appear to have been acquainted with the use of +pulleys for the purpose, but the axles which he describes as being +attached to the bench which bears his name (_Scamnum Hippocratis_) must +have been quite capable of exercising the force required. + +The work called "The Aphorisms," which was probably written in the old +age of Hippocrates, consists of more than four hundred short pithy +sentences, setting forth the principles of medicine, physiology, and +natural philosophy. A large number of these sentences are evidently +taken from the author's other works, especially those "On Air," etc., +"On Prognostics," and "On the Articulations." They embody the result of +a vast amount of observation and reflection, and the majority of them +have been confirmed by the experience of two thousand years. A proof of +the high esteem in which they have always been held is furnished by the +fact that they have been translated into all the languages of the +civilized world; among others, into Hebrew, Arabic, Latin, English, +Dutch, Italian, German, and French. The following are a few examples of +these aphorisms:-- + + "Spontaneous lassitude indicates disease." + + "Old people on the whole have fewer complaints than the young; but + those chronic diseases which do befall them generally never leave + them." + + "Persons who have sudden and violent attacks of fainting without any + obvious cause die suddenly." + + "Of the constitutions of the year, the dry upon the whole are more + healthy than the rainy, and attended with less mortality." + + "Phthisis most commonly occurs between the ages of eighteen and + thirty-five years." + + "If one give to a person in fever the same food which is given to a + person in good health, what is strength to the one is disease to the + other." + + "Such food as is most grateful, though not so wholesome, is to be + preferred to that which is better, but distasteful." + + "Life is short and the art long; the opportunity fleeting; + experience fallacious and judgment difficult. The physician must not + only do his duty himself, but must also make the patient, the + attendants and the externals, co-operate." + +Hippocrates appears to have travelled a great deal, and to have +practised his art in many places far distant from his native island. A +few traditions of what he did during his long life remain, but +differences of opinion exist as to the truth of these stories. + +Thus one story says that when Perdiccas, the King of Macedonia, was +supposed to be dying of consumption, Hippocrates discovered the disorder +to be love-sickness, and speedily effected a cure. The details of this +story scarcely seem to be worthy of credence, more especially as similar +legends have been told of entirely different persons belonging to widely +different times. There are, however, some reasons for believing that +Hippocrates visited the Macedonian court in the exercise of his +professional duties, for he mentions in the course of his writings, +among places which he had visited, several which were situated in +Macedonia; and, further, his son Thessalus appears to have afterwards +been court physician to Archelaus, King of Macedonia. + +Another story connects the name of Hippocrates with the Great Plague +which occurred at Athens in the time of the Peloponnesian war. It is +said that Hippocrates advised the lighting of great fires with wood of +some aromatic kind, probably some species of pine. These, being kindled +all about the city, stayed the progress of the pestilence. Others +besides Hippocrates are, however, famous for having successfully adopted +this practice. + +A third legend states that the King of Persia, pursuing the plan (which +in the two celebrated instances of Themistocles and Pausanias had proved +successful) of attracting to his side the most distinguished persons in +Greece, wrote to Hippocrates asking him to pay a visit to his court, and +that Hippocrates refused to go. Although the story is discarded by many +scholars, it is worthy of note that Ctesias, a kinsman and contemporary +of Hippocrates, is mentioned by Xenophon in the "Anabasis" as being in +the service of the King of Persia. And, with regard to the refusal of +the venerable physician to comply with the king's request, one cannot +lose sight of the fact that such refusal was the only course consistent +with the opinions he professed of a monarchical form of government. + +After his various travels Hippocrates, as seems to be pretty generally +admitted, spent the latter portion of his life in Thessaly, and died at +Larissa at a very advanced age. + +It is difficult to speak of the skill and painstaking perseverance of +Hippocrates in terms which shall not appear exaggerated and +extravagant. His method of cultivating medicine was in the true spirit +of the inductive philosophy. His descriptions were all derived from +careful observation of its phenomena, and, as a result, the greater +number of his deductions have stood unscathed the test of twenty +centuries. + +Still more difficult is it to speak with moderation of the candour which +impelled Hippocrates to confess errors into which in his earlier +practice he had fallen; or of that freedom from superstition which +entitled him to be spoken of as a man who knew not how to deceive or be +deceived ("qui tam fallere quam falli nescit"); or, lastly, of that +purity of character and true nobility of soul which are brought so +distinctly to light in the words of the oath translated below:-- + + "I swear by Apollo the Physician and Æsculapius, and I call Hygeia + and Panacea and all the gods and goddesses to witness, that to the + best of my power and judgment I will keep this oath and this + contract; to wit--to hold him, who taught me this Art, equally dear + to me as my parents; to share my substance with him; to supply him + if he is in need of the necessaries of life; to regard his offspring + in the same light as my own brothers, and to teach them this Art, if + they shall desire to learn it, without fee or contract; to impart + the precepts, the oral teaching, and all the rest of the instruction + to my own sons, and to the sons of my teacher, and to pupils who + have been bound to me by contract, and who have been sworn according + to the law of medicine. + + "I will adopt that system of regimen which, according to my ability + and judgment, I consider for the benefit of my patients, and will + protect them from everything noxious and injurious. I will give no + deadly medicine to any one, even if asked, nor will I give any such + counsel, and similarly I will not give to a woman the means of + procuring an abortion. With purity and with holiness I will pass my + life and practise my art.... Into whatever houses I enter I will go + into them for the benefit of the sick, keeping myself aloof from + every voluntary act of injustice and corruption and lust. Whatever + in the course of my professional practice, or outside of it, I see + or hear which ought not to be spread abroad, I will not divulge, as + reckoning that all such should be kept secret. If I continue to + observe this oath and to keep it inviolate, may it be mine to enjoy + life and the practice of the Art respected among all men for ever. + But should I violate this oath and forswear myself, may the reverse + be my lot." + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Grote's "Aristotle," vol. i. p. 3. + +[2] Grote's "History of Greece," vol. i. p. 358. + + + + +ARISTOTLE. + + + + +_ARISTOTLE._ + + +About the time that Hippocrates died, Aristotle, who may be regarded as +the founder of the science of "Natural History," was born (B.C. 384) in +Stagira, an unimportant Hellenic colony in Thrace, near the Macedonian +frontier. His father was a distinguished physician, and, like +Hippocrates, boasted descent from the Asclepiadæ. The importance +attached by the Asclepiads to the habit of physical observation, which +has been already referred to in the life of Hippocrates, secured for +Aristotle, from his earliest years, that familiarity with biological +studies which is so clearly evident in many of his works. + +Both parents of Aristotle died when their son was still a youth, and in +consequence of this he went to reside with Proxenus, a native of +Atarneus, who had settled at Stagira. Subsequently he went to Athens and +joined the school of Plato. Here he remained for about twenty years, and +applied himself to study with such energy that he became pre-eminent +even in that distinguished band of philosophers. He is said to have +been spoken of by Plato as "the intellect" of the school, and to have +been compared by him to a spirited colt that required the application of +the rein to restrain its ardour. + +Aristotle probably wrote at this time some philosophical works, the fame +of which reached the ears of Philip, King of Macedonia, and added to the +reputation which the young philosopher had already made with that +monarch; for Philip is said to have written to him on the occasion of +Alexander's birth, B.C. 356: "King Philip of Macedonia to Aristotle, +greeting. Know that a son has been born to me. I thank the gods not so +much that they have given him to me, as that they have permitted him to +be born in the time of Aristotle. I hope that thou wilt form him to be a +king worthy to succeed me and to rule the Macedonians." + +After the death of Plato, which occurred in 347 B.C., Aristotle quitted +Athens and went to Atarneus, where he stayed with Hermias, who was then +despot of that town. Hermias was a remarkable man, who, from being a +slave, had contrived to raise himself to the supreme power. He had been +at Athens and had heard Plato's lectures, and had there formed a +friendship for Aristotle. With this man the philosopher remained for +three years, and was then compelled suddenly to seek refuge in Mitylene, +owing to the perfidious murder of Hermias. The latter was decoyed out of +the town by the Persian general, seized and sent prisoner to +Artaxerxes, by whom he was hanged as a rebel. On leaving Atarneus, +Aristotle took with him a niece of Hermias, named Pythias, whom he +afterwards married. She died young, leaving an infant daughter. + +Two or three years after this, Aristotle became tutor to Alexander, who +was then about thirteen years old. The philosopher seems to have been a +favourite with both the king and the prince, and, in gratitude for his +services, Philip rebuilt Stagira and restored it to its former +inhabitants, who had either been dispersed or carried into slavery. The +king is said also to have established there a school for Aristotle. The +high respect in which Alexander held his teacher is expressed in his +saying that he honoured him no less than his own father, for while to +one he owed life, to the other he owed all that made life valuable. + +In 336 B.C. Alexander, who was then only about twenty years of age, +became king, and Aristotle soon afterwards quitted Macedonia and took up +his residence in Athens once more, after an absence of about twelve +years. Here he opened a school in the Lycæum, a gymnasium on the eastern +side of the city, and continued his work there for about twelve years, +during which time Alexander was making his brilliant conquests. The +lectures were given for the most part while walking in the garden, and +in consequence, perhaps, of this, the sect received the name of the +Peripatetics. The discourses were of two kinds--the _esoteric_, or +abstruse, and the _exoteric_, or familiar; the former being delivered to +the more advanced pupils only. During the greater part of this time +Aristotle kept up correspondence with Alexander, who is said[3] to have +placed at his disposal thousands of men, who were busily employed in +collecting objects and in making observations for the completion of the +philosopher's zoological researches. Alexander is, moreover, said to +have given the philosopher eight hundred talents for the same purpose. + +In spite of these marks of friendship and respect, Alexander, who was +fast becoming intoxicated with success, and corrupted by Asiatic +influences, gradually cooled in his attachment towards Aristotle. This +may have been hastened by several causes, and among others by the +freedom of speech and republican opinions of Callisthenes, a kinsman and +disciple of Aristotle, who had been, by the latter's influence, +appointed to attend on Alexander. Callisthenes proved so unpopular, that +the king seems to have availed himself readily of the first plausible +pretext for putting him to death, and to have threatened his former +friend and teacher with a similar punishment. The latter, for his part, +probably had a deep feeling of resentment towards the destroyer of his +kinsman. + +Meanwhile the Athenians knew nothing of these altered relations between +Aristotle and Alexander, but continued to regard the philosopher as +thoroughly imbued with kingly notions (in spite of his writings being +quite to the contrary); so that he was an object of suspicion and +dislike to the Athenian patriots. Nevertheless, as long as Alexander was +alive, Aristotle was safe from molestation. As soon, however, as +Alexander's death became known, the anti-Macedonian feeling of the +Athenians burst forth, and found a victim in the philosopher. A charge +of impiety was brought against him. It was alleged that he had paid +divine honours to his wife Pythias and to his friend Hermias. Now, for +the latter, a eunuch, who from the rank of a slave had raised himself to +the position of despot over a free Grecian community, so far from +coupling his name (as Aristotle had done in his hymn) with the greatest +personages of Hellenic mythology, the Athenian public felt that no +contempt was too bitter. To escape the storm the philosopher retired to +Chalcis, in Eub[oe]a, then under garrison by Antipater, the Governor of +Macedonia, remarking in a letter, written afterwards, that he did so in +order that the Athenians might not have the opportunity of sinning a +second time against philosophy (the allusion being, of course, to the +fate of Socrates). + +He probably intended to return to Athens again so soon as the political +troubles had abated, but in September, 322 B.C., he died at Chalcis. An +overwrought mind, coupled with indigestion and weakness of the stomach, +from which he had long suffered, was most probably the cause of death. +Some of his detractors, however, have asserted that he took poison, and +others that he drowned himself in the Eub[oe]an Euripus. + +It is not easy to arrive at a just estimate of the character of +Aristotle. By some of his successors he has been reproached with +ingratitude to his teacher, Plato; with servility to Macedonian power, +and with love of costly display. How far these two last charges are due +to personal slander it is impossible to say. The only ground for the +first charge is, that he criticised adversely some of Plato's doctrines. + +The manuscripts of Aristotle's works passed through many vicissitudes. +At the death of the philosopher they were bequeathed to Theophrastus, +who continued chief of the Peripatetic school for thirty-five years. +Theophrastus left them, with his own works, to a philosophical friend +and pupil, Neleus, who conveyed them from Athens to his residence at +Scepsis, in Asia Minor. About thirty or forty years after the death of +Theophrastus, the kings of Pergamus, to whom the city of Scepsis +belonged, began collecting books to form a library on the Alexandrian +plan. This led the heirs of Neleus to conceal their literary treasures +in a cellar, and there the manuscripts remained for nearly a century +and a half, exposed to injury from damp and worms. At length they were +sold to Apellicon, a resident at Athens, who was attached to the +Peripatetic sect. Many of the manuscripts were imperfect, having become +worm-eaten or illegible. These defects Apellicon attempted to remedy; +but, being a lover of books rather than a philosopher, he performed the +work somewhat unskilfully. When Athens was taken by Sylla, 86 B.C., the +library of Apellicon was transported to Rome. There various literary +Greeks obtained access to it; and, among others, Tyrannion, a grammarian +and friend of Cicero, did good service in the work of correction. +Andronicus of Rhodes afterwards arranged the whole into sections, and +published the manuscripts with a tabulated list. + +The three principal works on biology which are extant are: "The History +of Animals;" "On the Parts of Animals;" "On the Generation of Animals." +The other biological works are: "On the Motion of Animals;" "On +Respiration;" "Parva Naturalia;"--a series of essays which are planned +to form an entire work on sense and the sensible. + +"The History of Animals" is the largest and most important of +Aristotle's works on biology. It contains a vast amount of information, +not very methodically arranged, and spoiled by the occurrence here and +there of very gross errors. It consists of nine books. + +The first book opens with a division of the body into similar and +dissimilar parts. Besides thus differing in their parts, animals also +differ in their mode of life, their actions and dispositions. Thus some +are aquatic, others terrestrial; of the former, some breathe water, +others air, and some neither. Of aquatic animals, some inhabit the sea, +and others rivers, lakes, or marshes. Again, some animals are +locomotive, and others are stationary. Some follow a leader, others act +independently. Various differences are in this way pointed out, and +there is no lack of illustration and detail, but a suspicion is excited +that the generalizations are sometimes based upon insufficient facts. +The book closes with a description of the different parts of the human +body, both internal and external. In speaking of the ear, Aristotle +seems to have been aware of what we now call the Eustachian tube, for he +says, "There is no passage from the ear into the brain, but there is to +the roof of the mouth."[4] + +In the second book he passes on to describe the organs of animals. The +animals are dealt with in groups--viviparous and oviparous quadrupeds, +fish, serpents, birds, etc. The ape, elephant, chameleon, and some +others are especially noticed. + +The third book continues the description of the internal organs. +References which are made to a diagram by letters, _a_, _b_, _c_, _d_, +show that the work was originally illustrated. At the close of this +book Aristotle has some remarks on milk, and mentions the occasional +appearance of milk in male animals. He speaks of a male goat at Lemnos +which yielded so much that cakes of cheese were made from it. Similar +instances of this phenomenon have been recorded by Humboldt, Burdach, +Geoffroy St. Hilaire, and others. + +In the first four chapters of the fourth book the anatomy of the +invertebrata is dealt with, and the accounts given of certain mollusca +and crustacea are very careful and minute. The rest of the book is +devoted to a description of the organs of sense and voice; of sleep, and +the distinctions of sex. The accurate knowledge which Aristotle exhibits +of the anatomy and habits of marine animals, such as the Cephalopoda and +the larger Crustacea, leaves no doubt that he derived it from actual +observation. Professor Owen says, "Respecting the living habits of the +Cephalopoda, Aristotle is more rich in detail than any other zoological +author." What is now spoken of as the _hectocotylization_ of one or more +of the arms of the male cephalopod did not escape Aristotle's eye. And +while he speaks of the teeth and that which serves these animals for a +tongue, it is plain from the context that he means in the one case the +two halves of the parrot-like beak, and in the other the anterior end of +the odontophore. + +Books five to seven deal with the subject of generation. + +The eighth book contains a variety of details respecting animals, their +food, migrations, hibernation, and diseases; with the influence of +climate and locality upon them. + +The ninth book describes the habits and instincts of animals. The +details are interesting; but there is, as usual, very little attempt at +classification. Disjointed statements and sudden digressions occur, the +subjects being treated in the order in which they presented themselves +to the author. Such curious statements as the following are met with: +"The raven is an enemy to the bull and the ass, for it flies round them +and strikes their eyes." "If a person takes a goat by the beard, all the +rest of the herd stand by, as if infatuated, and look at it." "Female +stags are captured by the sound of the pipe and by singing. When two +persons go out to capture them, one shows himself, and either plays upon +a pipe or sings, and the other strikes behind, when the first gives him +the signal." "Swans have the power of song, especially when near the end +of their life; for they then fly out to sea, and some persons sailing +near the coast of Libya have met many of them in the sea singing a +mournful song, and have afterwards seen some of them die." "Of all wild +animals, the elephant is the most tame and gentle; for many of them are +capable of instruction and intelligence, and they have been taught _to +worship the king_." + +In the work "On the Parts of Animals," the author considers not only the +phenomena of life exhibited by each species, but also the cause or +causes to which these phenomena are attributable. After a general +introduction, he proceeds to enumerate the three degrees of composition, +viz.:-- + + (1) "Composition out of what some call the elements, such as air, + earth, water, and fire," or "out of the elementary forces, hot + and cold, solid and fluid, which form the material of all + compound substances." + + (2) Composition out of these primary substances of the homogeneous + parts of animals, e.g. blood, fat, marrow, brain, flesh, and + bone. + + (3) Composition into the heterogeneous parts or organs. These parts he + describes in detail, considering those belonging to sanguineous + animals first and most fully. + +These divisions correspond roughly to the threefold study of structure +which we nowadays recognize as chemical, histological, and anatomical. + +As examples of Aristotle's method of treatment, his descriptions of +blood, the brain, the heart, and the lung may be considered. + +Of the _blood_ he says, "What are called fibres are found in the blood +of some animals, but not of all. There are none, for instance, in the +blood of deer and of roes, and for this reason the blood of such +animals as these never coagulates.... Too great an excess of water makes +animals timorous.... Such animals, on the other hand, as have thick and +abundant fibres in their blood are of a more choleric temperament, and +liable to bursts of passion.... Bulls and boars are choleric, for their +blood is exceedingly rich in fibres, and the bull's, at any rate, +coagulates more rapidly than that of any other animal.... If these +fibres are taken out of the blood, the fluid that remains will no longer +coagulate." + +From these quotations it will be noted that Aristotle attributed the +coagulum to the presence of fibres, and in this he anticipated +Malpighi's discovery made in the seventeenth century. His remarks on the +proportion of coagulum and serum in different animals, which is enlarged +upon in the "History of Animals,"[5] harmonize with modern observations. +In another of his works[6] he remarks that the blood in certain diseased +conditions will not coagulate. This is known to be the case in cholera, +certain fevers, asphyxia, etc.; and the fact was probably obtained from +Hippocrates. Although Aristotle speaks here of entire absence of +coagulation in the blood of the deer and the roe, in the "History of +Animals" he admits an imperfect coagulation, for he says, "so that their +blood does not coagulate like that of other animals." The animals named +are commonly hunted, and it was probably after they had been hunted to +death that he examined them. Now, it is generally admitted that +coagulation under such circumstances is imperfect and even uncommon. The +statement as to the richness in fibres of the blood of bulls and boars +has been confirmed by some modern investigations, which have shown that +the clot bears a proportion to the strength and ferocity of the animal. +The remarks, however, as to the relative rapidity of coagulation would +appear to be contradicted by later observations, for Thackrah came to +the conclusion that coagulation commenced sooner in small and weak +animals than in strong. + +Of the _brain_ Aristotle makes the following among other assertions: "Of +all parts of the body there is none so cold as the brain.... Of all the +fluids of the body it is the one that has the least blood, for, in fact, +it has no blood at all in its proper substance.... That it has no +continuity with the organs of sense is plain from simple inspection, and +still more closely shown by the fact that when it is touched no +sensation is produced.... The brain tempers the heat and seething of the +heart.... In order that it may not itself be absolutely without heat, +blood-vessels from the aorta end in the membrane which surrounds the +brain.... Of all animals man has the largest brain in proportion to his +size: and it is larger in men than in women. This is because the region +of the heart and of the lung is hotter and richer in blood in man than +in any other animal; and in men than in women. This again explains why +man alone of animals stands erect. For the heat, overcoming any opposite +inclination, makes growth take its own line of direction, which is from +the centre of the body upwards.... Man again has more sutures in his +skull than any other animal, and the male more than the female. The +explanation is to be found in the greater size of the brain, which +demands free ventilation proportionate to its bulk.... There is no brain +in the hinder part of the head.... The brain in all animals that have +one is placed in the front part of the head ... because the heart, from +which sensation proceeds, is in the front part of the body." + +Although it would perhaps be difficult to find anywhere as many errors +in as few words, yet it should be observed that Aristotle here shows +himself to have been aware of the existence of the membranes of the +brain--the _pia mater_ and the _dura mater_; and elsewhere[7] he says +more explicitly, "Two membranes enclose the brain; that about the skull +is the stronger; the inner membrane is slighter than the outer one." And +further, it should be noted that he describes the latter membrane as a +vascular one. The fact of the brain substance being insensible to +mechanical irritation was known to Aristotle, and may have been learnt +from the practice of Hippocrates. Lastly, it should be remembered +that--though this may have been but a lucky guess on Aristotle's +part--the relative weight of brain to the entire body has been shown, +with few exceptions, to be greater in man than in any other animal. + +In describing the _heart_ Aristotle says: "The heart lies about the +centre of the body, but rather in its upper than in its lower half, and +also more in front than behind.... In man it inclines a little towards +the left, so that it may counterbalance the chilliness of that side. It +is hollow, to serve for the reception of the blood; while its wall is +thick, that it may serve to protect the source of heat. For here, and +here alone, in all the viscera, and in fact in all the body, there is +blood without blood-vessels, the blood elsewhere being always contained +within vessels. The heart is the first of all the parts of the body to +be formed, and no sooner is it formed than it contains blood.... For no +sooner is the embryo formed than its heart is seen in motion like a +living creature, and this before any of the other parts. The heart is +abundantly supplied with sinews.... In no animal does the heart contain +a bone, certainly in none of those that we ourselves have inspected, +with the exception of the horse and a certain kind of ox. In animals of +great size the heart has three cavities; in smaller animals it has two; +and in all it has at least one." + +It will be observed that here Aristotle so correctly describes the +position of the human heart as to render it probable that he is speaking +from actual inspection; although man is not the only animal in which the +heart is turned towards the left. In contrasting the heart with the +other viscera he appears to have overlooked the existence of the +coronary vessels, and to have imagined that the nutrition of the heart +was effected directly by the blood in its cavities. Although the heart +is not really the first part to appear, the observation of its very +early appearance in the embryo, which he treats more fully elsewhere,[8] +is alone enough to establish his reputation as an original observer. It +is remarkable that Aristotle should have overlooked the presence of the +valves of the heart, the structure and functions of which were fully +investigated within thirty years of his death by the anatomists of the +Alexandrian school. This is the more remarkable, as he calls attention +here, and in the "History of Animals," to the sinews or tendons +({neura}) with which, he says, the heart is supplied, and by which he +probably meant chiefly the _chordæ tendineæ_. The "bone in the heart" of +which he speaks was probably the cruciform ossification which is +normally found in the ox and the stag below the origin of the aorta. It +is found in the horse only in advanced age, or under abnormal +conditions. The statement that the heart contains no more than three +chambers has always been considered as a very gross blunder on the part +of Aristotle. Even Cuvier, who generally lavishes upon the philosopher +the most extravagant praise, sneers at this. Professor Huxley,[9] +however, has shown, by a comparison of several passages from the +"History of Animals," that what we now call the right auricle was +regarded by the author as a venous sinus, as being a part not of the +heart, but of the great vein (_i.e._ the superior and the inferior _venæ +cavæ_). + +Aristotle speaks of the _lung_ as a single organ, sub-divided, but +having a common outlet--the trachea. Elsewhere[10] he says, "Canals from +the heart pass to the lung and divide in the same fashion as the +windpipe does, closely accompanying those from the windpipe through the +whole lung." His theory of respiration, as explained in his treatise on +the subject, is that it tempers the excessive heat produced in the +heart. The lung is compared to a pair of bellows. When the lung is +expanded, air rushes in; when it is contracted, the air is expelled. The +heat from the heart causes the lung to expand--cold air rushes in, the +heat is reduced, the lung collapses, and the air is expelled. The cold +air drawn into the lung reaches the bronchial tubes, and as the vessels +containing hot blood run alongside these tubes, the air cools it and +carries off its superfluous heat. Some of the air which enters the lung +gets from the bronchial tubes into the blood-vessels by transudation, +for there is no direct communication between them; and this air, +penetrating the body, rapidly cools the blood throughout the vessels. +But Aristotle did not consider the "pneuma," which thus reached the +interior of the blood-vessels, to be exactly the same thing as air--it +was "a subtilized and condensed air."[11] And this we now know to be +oxygen. + +The treatise "On the Generation of Animals" is an extraordinary +production. "No ancient and few modern works equal it in +comprehensiveness of detail and profound speculative insight. We here +find some of the obscurest problems of biology treated with a mastery +which, when we consider the condition of science at that day, is truly +astounding. That there are many errors, many deficiencies, and not a +little carelessness in the admission of facts, may be readily imagined; +nevertheless at times the work is frequently on a level with, and +occasionally even rises above, the speculations of many advanced +embryologists."[12] + +It commences with the statement that the present work is a sequel to +that "On the Parts of Animals;" and first the masculine and feminine +_principles_ are defined. The masculine principle is the origin of all +motion and generation; the feminine principle is the origin of the +material generated. Aristotle's philosophy of nature was teleological, +and the imperfect character of his anatomical knowledge often gives him +occasion to explain particular phenomena by final causes. Thus animals +producing soft-shelled eggs (_e.g._ cartilaginous fish and vipers) are +said to do so because they have so little warmth that the external +surface of the egg cannot be dried. + +Among insects, some (_e.g._ grasshopper, cricket, ant, etc.) produce +young in the ordinary way, by the union of the sexes; in other cases +(_e.g._ flies and fleas) this union of the sexes results in the +production of a _skolex_; while others have no parents, nor do they have +congress--such are the ephemera, tipula, and the like. Aristotle +discusses and rejects the theory that the male reproductive element is +derived from every part of the body. He concludes that "instead of +saying that it comes _from_ all parts of the body, we should say that it +goes _to_ them. It is not the nutrient fluid, but that which is _left +over_, which is secreted. Hence the larger animals have fewer young than +the smaller, for by them the consumption of nutrient material will be +larger and the secretion less. Another point to be noticed is, that the +nutrient fluid is universally distributed through the body, but each +secretion has its separate organ.... It is thus intelligible why +children resemble their parents, since that which makes all the parts of +the body, resembles that which is left over as secretion: thus the +hand, or the face, or the whole animal pre-exists in the sperm, though +in an undifferentiated state ({adioristôs}); and what each of these is +in actuality ({energeia}), such is the sperm in potentiality +({dynamei})." + +In later times the two great rival theories put forward to account for +the development of the embryo have been-- + + (_a_) The theory of Evolution, which makes the embryo pre-existent in + the germ, and only rendered visible by the unfolding and + expansion of its organs. + + (_b_) The theory of Epigenesis, which makes the embryo arise, by a + series of successive differentiations, from a simple + homogeneous mass into a complex heterogeneous organism. + +The above quotation will show how closely Aristotle held to the theory +of Epigenesis; and in another place he says, "Not at once is the animal +a man or a horse, for the end is last attained; and the specific form is +the end of each development." + +Spontaneous generation is nowadays rejected by science; but Aristotle +went so far as to believe that insects, molluscs, and even eels, were +spontaneously generated. It is, however, noteworthy, in view of modern +investigations, that he looked upon _putrefying_ matter as the source of +such development. + +A chapter of this work is devoted to the consideration of the hereditary +transmission of peculiarities from parent to offspring. + +The fifth and last book contains inquiries into the cause of variation +in the colour of the eyes and hair, the abundance of hair, the sleep of +the embryo, sight and hearing, voice and the teeth. + +Widely different opinions have been held from time to time of the value +of Aristotle's biological labours. This philosopher's reputation has, +perhaps, suffered most from those who have praised him most. The praise +has often been of such an exaggerated character as to have become +unmeaning, and to have carried with it the impression of insincerity on +the part of the writer. Such are the laudations of Cuvier. To say as he +does, "Alone, in fact, without predecessors, without having borrowed +anything from the centuries which had gone before, since they had +produced nothing enduring, the disciple of Plato discovered and +demonstrated more truths and executed more scientific labours in a life +of sixty-two years than twenty centuries after him were able to do," is +of course to talk nonsense, for the method which Aristotle applied was +that which Hippocrates had used so well before him; and it is evident to +any one that both his predecessors and contemporaries are frequently +laid under contribution by Aristotle, although the authority is rarely, +if ever, stated by him unless he is about to refute the view put +forward. Exaggerated praise of any author has a tendency to excite +depreciation correspondingly unjust and untrue. It has been so in the +case of this great man. In the endeavour to depose him from the +impossible position to which his panegyrists had exalted him, his +detractors have gone to any length. The principal charges brought +against his biological work have been inaccuracy and hasty +generalization. In support of the charge of inaccuracy, some of the +extraordinary statements which are met with in his works are adduced. +"These," Professor Huxley says, "are not so much to be called errors as +stupidities." Some, however, of the inaccuracies alleged against +Aristotle are fancied rather than real. Thus he is charged with having +represented that the arteries contained nothing but air; that the aorta +arose from the right ventricle; that the heart did not beat in any other +animal but man; that reptiles had no blood, etc.; although in reality he +made no one of these assertions. There remain, nevertheless, the gross +misstatements referred to above, and which really do occur. Such, for +instance, as that there is but a single bone in the neck of the lion; +that there are more teeth in male than in female animals; that the mouth +of the dolphin is placed on the under surface of the body; that the back +of the skull is empty, etc. Although these absurdities undoubtedly occur +in Aristotle's works, it by no means follows that he is responsible for +them. Bearing in mind the curious history of the manuscripts of his +treatises, we shall find it far more reasonable to conclude that such +errors crept in during the process of correction and restoration, by men +apparently ignorant of biology, than that (to take only one case) an +observer who had distinguished the cetacea from fishes and had detected +their hidden mammæ, discovered their lungs, and recognized the distinct +character of their bones, should have been so blind as to fancy that the +mouth of these animals was on the under surface of the body. + +That Aristotle made hasty generalizations is true; but it was +unavoidable. Biology was in so early a stage that a theory had often of +necessity to be founded on a very slight basis of facts. Yet, +notwithstanding this drawback, so great was the sagacity of this +philosopher, that many of his generalizations, which he himself probably +looked upon as temporary, have held their ground for twenty centuries, +or, having been lost sight of, have been discovered and put forward as +original by modern biologists. Thus "the advantage of physiological +division of labour was first set forth," says Milne-Edwards, "by myself +in 1827;" and yet Aristotle had said[13] that "whenever Nature is able +to provide two separate instruments for two separate uses, without the +one hampering the other, she does so, instead of acting like a +coppersmith, who for cheapness makes a spit-and-a-candlestick in +one.[14] It is only when this is impossible that she uses one organ for +several functions." + +In conclusion, we may say that the great Stagirite expounded the true +principles of science, and that when he failed his failure was caused by +lack of materials. His desire for completeness, perhaps, tempted him at +times to fill in gaps with such makeshifts as came to his hand; but no +one knew better than he did that "theories must be abandoned unless +their teachings tally with the indisputable results of observation."[15] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[3] Pliny, "Natural History," viii. c. 16. + +[4] "History of Animals," i. 11. + +[5] Bk. iii. 19. + +[6] "Meteorology," iv. 7-11. + +[7] "History of Animals," i. 16. + +[8] "History of Animals," vi. 3. + +[9] "On some of the errors attributed to Aristotle." + +[10] "History of Animals," i. 17. + +[11] See Professor Huxley's article already referred to. + +[12] "Aristotle," by G. H. Lewes, p. 325. + +[13] "De Part. Anim.," iv. 6. + +[14] {obeliskolychnion}. + +[15] "De Gener.," iii. 10, quoted by Dr. Ogle. + + + + +GALEN. + + + + +_GALEN._ + + +Under the Ptolemies a powerful stimulus was given to biological studies +at Alexandria. Scientific knowledge was carried a step or two beyond the +limit reached by Aristotle. Thus Erasistratus and Herophilus thoroughly +investigated the structure and functions of the valves of the heart, and +were the first to recognize the nerves as organs of sensation. But, +unfortunately, no complete record of the interesting work carried on by +these men has come down to our times. The first writer after Aristotle +whose works arrest attention is Caius Plinius Secundus, whose so-called +"Natural History," in thirty-seven volumes, remains to the present day +as a monument of industrious compilation. But, as a biologist properly +so called, Pliny is absolutely without rank, for he lacked that +practical acquaintance with the subject which alone could enable him to +speak with authority. Of information he had an almost inexhaustible +store; of actual knowledge, the result of observation and experience, so +far as biological studies were concerned, he had but little. This was +largely due to the encyclopædic character of the work he undertook; his +mental powers were weighed down by an enormous mass of unarranged and +ill-digested materials. But it was due also to the peculiar bent of +Pliny's mind. He was not, like Aristotle, an original thinker; he was +essentially a student of books, an immensely industrious but not always +judicious compiler. Often his selections from other works prove that he +failed to appreciate the relative importance of the different subjects +to which he made reference. His knowledge of the Greek language appears, +too, to have been defective, for he gives at times the wrong Latin names +to objects described by his Greek authorities. To these defects must be +added his marvellous readiness to believe any statement, provided only +that it was uncommon; while, on the other hand, he showed an +indefensible scepticism in regard to what was really deserving of +attention. The chief value of his work consists in the historical and +chronological notes of the progress of some of the subjects of which he +treats--fragments of writings which would otherwise be lost to us. Pliny +was killed in the destruction of Pompeii, A.D. 79. + +Claudius Galenus was born at Pergamus, in Asia Minor, in the hundred and +thirty-first year of the Christian era. Few writers ever exercised for +so long a time such an undisputed sway over the opinions of mankind as +did this wonderful man. His authority was estimated at a much higher +rate than that of all the biological writers combined who flourished +during a period of more than twelve centuries, and it was often +considered a sufficient argument against a hypothesis, or even an +alleged matter of fact, that it was contrary to Galen. + +Endowed by nature with a penetrating genius and a mind of restless +energy, he was eminently qualified to profit by a comprehensive and +liberal education. And such he received. His father, Nicon, an +architect, was a man of learning and ability--a distinguished +mathematician and an astronomer--and seems to have devoted much time and +care to the education of his son. The youth appears to have studied +philosophy successively in the schools of the Stoics, Academics, +Peripatetics, and Epicureans, without attaching himself exclusively to +any one of these, and to have taken from each what he thought to be the +most essential parts of their system, rejecting, however, altogether the +tenets of the Epicureans. At the age of twenty-one, on the death of his +father, he went to Smyrna to continue the study of medicine, to which he +had now devoted himself. After leaving this place and having travelled +extensively, he took up his residence at Alexandria, which was then the +most favourable spot for the pursuit of medical studies. Here he is said +to have remained until he was twenty-eight years of age, when his +reputation secured his appointment, in his native city of Pergamus, to +the office of physician in charge of the athletes in the gymnasia +situated within the precincts of the temple of Æsculapius. For five or +six years he lived in Pergamus, and then a revolt compelled him to leave +his native town. The advantages offered by Rome led him to remove +thither and take up his residence in the capital of the world. Here his +skill, sagacity, and knowledge soon brought him into notice, and excited +the jealousy of the Roman doctors, which was still further increased by +some wonderful cures the young Greek physician succeeded in effecting. +Possibly it was owing to the ill feeling shown to Galen that, on the +outbreak of an epidemic a year afterwards, he left the imperial city and +proceeded to Brindisi, and embarked for Greece. It was his intention to +devote his time to the study of natural history, and for this purpose he +visited Cyprus, Palestine, and Lemnos. While at the last-named place, +however, he was suddenly summoned to Aquileia to meet the Emperors +Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus. He travelled through Thrace and +Macedonia on foot, met the imperial personages, and prepared for them a +medicine, for which he seems to have been famous, and which is spoken of +as the _theriac_. It was probably some combination of opium with various +aromatics and stimulants, for antidotes of many different kinds were +habitually taken by the Romans to preserve them from the ill effects of +poison and of the bites of venomous animals.[16] + +With the Emperor M. Aurelius he returned to Rome, and became afterwards +doctor to the young Emperor Commodus. He did not, however, remain for a +long period at Rome, and probably passed the greater part of the rest of +his life in his native country. + +Although the date of his death is not positively known, yet it appears +from a passage[17] in his writings that he was living in the reign of +Septimius Severus; and Suidas seems to have reason for asserting that he +reached his seventieth year. + +Galen's writings represent the common depository of the anatomical +knowledge of the day; what he had learnt from many teachers, rather than +the results of his own personal research. Roughly speaking, they deal +with the following subjects: Anatomy and Physiology, Dietetics and +Hygiene, Pathology, Diagnosis and Semeiology, Pharmacy and Materia +Medica, Therapeutics. + +The only works of this voluminous writer at which we can here glance are +those dealing with Anatomy and Physiology. These exhibit numerous +illustrations of Galen's familiarity with practical anatomy, although it +was most likely comparative rather than human anatomy at which he +especially worked. Indeed, he seems to have had but few opportunities of +carrying on human dissections, for he thinks himself happy in having +been able to examine at Alexandria two human skeletons; and he +recommends the dissection of monkeys because of their exact resemblance +to man. To this disadvantage may, perhaps, be attributed the readiness, +which sometimes appears, to assume identity of organization between man +and the brutes. Thus, because in certain animals he found a double +biliary duct, he concluded the same to be the case in man, and in one +instance he proceeded to deduce the cause of disease from this erroneous +assumption. + +He supposed that there were three modes of existence in man, namely-- + + (_a_) The nutritive, which was common to all animals and plants, of + which the liver was the source. + + (_b_) The vital, of which the heart was the source. + + (_c_) The rational, of which the brain was the source. + +Again, he considered that the animal economy possessed four natural +powers-- + + (1) The attractive. + + (2) The alterative or assimilative. + + (3) The retentive or digestive. + + (4) The expulsive. + +Like his predecessors, he asserted that there were four humours, namely, +blood, yellow bile, black bile, and aqueous serum. He held that it was +the office of the liver to complete the process of sanguification +commenced in the stomach, and that during this process the yellow bile +was attracted by the branches of the hepatic duct and gall-bladder; the +black bile being attracted by the spleen, and the aqueous humour by the +two kidneys; while the liver itself retained the pure blood, which was +afterwards attracted by the heart through the vena cava, by whose +ramifications it was distributed to the various parts of the body. + +Following Aristotle especially, he regarded hair, nails, arteries, +veins, cartilage, bone, ligament, membranes, glands, fat, and muscle as +the simplest constituents of the body, formed immediately from the +blood, and perfectly homogeneous in character. The organic members, +_e.g._ lungs, liver, etc., he looked upon as formed of several of the +foregoing simple parts. + +The osteology contained in Galen's works is nearly as perfect as that of +the present day. He correctly names and describes the bones and sutures +of the cranium; notices the quadrilateral shape of the parietals, the +peculiar situation and shape of the sphenoid, and the form and character +of the ethmoid, malar, maxillary, and nasal bones. He divides the +vertebral columns into cervical, dorsal, and lumbar portions. + +With regard to the nervous system, he taught that the nerves of the +senses are distinct from those which impart the power of motion to +muscles--that the former are derived from the anterior parts of the +brain, while the latter arise from the posterior portion, or from the +spinal cord. He maintained that the nerves of the finer senses are +formed of matter too soft to be the vehicles of muscular motion; +whereas, on the other hand, the nerves of motion are too hard to be +susceptible of fine sensibility. His description of the method of +demonstrating the different parts of the brain by dissection is very +interesting, and, like his references to various instruments and +contrivances, proves him to have been a practical and experienced +anatomist. + +In his description of the organs and process of nutrition, absorption by +the veins of the stomach is correctly noticed, and the union of the +mesenteric veins into one common _vena portæ_ is pointed out. The +communications between the ramifications of the vena portæ and of the +proper veins of the liver are supposed by Galen to be effected by means +of anastomosing pores or channels. Although it is evident that Galen was +ignorant of the true absorbent system, yet he appears to have been aware +of the _lacteals_; for he says that in addition to those mesenteric +veins which by their union form the vena portæ, there are visible in +every part of the mesentery other veins, proceeding also from the +intestines, which terminate in glands; and he supposes that these veins +are intended for the nourishment of the intestines themselves. Some of +Galen's contemporaries asserted that upon exposing the mesentery of a +sucking animal several small vessels were seen filled _first_ with air, +and _afterwards_ with milk. They had, doubtless, mistaken colourless +lymph for air; but Galen ridicules both assertions, and thereby shows +that he had not examined the contents of the lacteals. This is somewhat +remarkable, because as a rule he omitted no opportunity of determining +with certainty, by vivisection and experiments on living animals, the +uses of the various parts of the body. As an illustration of this, we +have his correct statement, established by experiment, that the pylorus +acts as a valve _only_ during the process of digestion, and that it is +relaxed when digestion is completed. + +He recognizes that the flesh of the heart is somewhat different to that +of the muscles of voluntary motion. Its fibres are described as being +arranged in longitudinal and transverse bundles; the former by their +contractions shortening the organ, the latter compressing and narrowing +it. Such statements show that he regarded the heart as essentially +muscular. He thought, however, that it was entirely destitute of nerves. +Although he admitted that possibly it had one small branch derived from +the _nervus vagus_ sent to it, yet he entirely overlooked the great +nervous plexus surrounding the roots of the blood-vessels, from which +branches proceed in company with the branches of the coronary arteries +and veins, and penetrate the muscular substance of the ventricles. He +endeavoured to prove, by experiment, observation, and reasoning, that +the arteries as well as the veins contained blood, and in this +connection he tells an amusing story. A certain teacher of anatomy, who +had declared that the aorta contained no blood, was earnestly desired by +his pupils, who were ardent disciples of Galen, to exhibit the requisite +demonstration, they themselves offering animals for the experiment. He, +however, after various subterfuges, declined, until they promised to +give him a suitable remuneration, which they raised by subscription +among themselves to the amount of a thousand drachmæ (perhaps £30). The +professor, being thus compelled to commence the experiment, totally +failed in his attempt to cut down upon the aorta, to the no small +amusement of his pupils, who, thereupon taking up the experiment +themselves, made an opening into the thorax in the way in which they had +been instructed by Galen, passed one ligature round the aorta at the +part where it attaches itself to the spine, and another at its origin, +and then, by opening the intervening portion of the artery, showed that +blood was contained in it. + +The arteries, Galen thought, possessed a pulsative and attractive power +of their own, independently of the heart, the moment of their dilatation +being the moment of their activity. They, in fact, _drew_ their charge +from the heart, as the heart by its diastole _drew_ its charge from the +vena cava and the pulmonary vein. The pulse of the arteries, he also +thought, was propagated by their coats, not by the wave of blood thrown +into them by the heart. He taught that at every systole of the arteries +a certain portion of their contents was discharged at their extremities, +namely, by the exhalents and secretory vessels. Though he demonstrated +the anastomosis of arteries and veins, he nowhere hints his belief that +the contents of the former pass into the latter, to be conveyed back to +the heart, and from it to be again diffused over the body. He made a +near approach to the Harveian theory of the circulation, as Harvey +himself admits in his "De Motu Cordis;"[18] but the grand point of +difference between Galen and Harvey is the question whether or not, at +every systole of the left ventricle, more blood is thrown out than is +expended on exhalation, secretion, and nutrition. Upon this point Galen +held the negative, and Harvey, as we all know, the affirmative. + +The famous Asclepiads held that respiration was for the generation of +the soul itself, breath and life being thus considered to be identical. +Hippocrates thought it was for the nutrition and refrigeration of the +innate heat, Aristotle for its ventilation, Erasistratus for the +filling of the arteries with spirits. All these opinions are discussed +and commented upon by Galen, who determines the purposes of respiration +to be (1) to preserve the animal heat; (2) to evacuate from the blood +the products of combustion. + +He conjectured that there was in atmospheric air not only a quality +friendly to the vital spirit, but also a quality inimical to it, which +conjecture he drew from observation of the various phenomena +accompanying the support and the extinction of flame; and he says that +if we could find out why flame is extinguished by absence of the air, we +might then know the nature of that substance which imparts warmth to the +blood during the process of respiration. + +On another occasion he says that it is evidently the _quality_ and not +the _quantity_ of the air which is necessary to life. He further shows +that he recognized the analogy between respiration and combustion, by +comparing the lungs to a lamp, the heart to its wick, the blood to the +oil, and the animal heat to the flame. + +From certain observations in various parts of his works, it appears +that, although ignorant of the doctrine of atmospheric pressure, he was +acquainted with some of its practical effects. Thus, he says, if you put +one end of an open tube under water and suck out the air with the other +end, you will draw up water into the mouth, and that it is in this way +that infants extract the milk from the mother's breast. + +Again, Erasistratus supposed that the vapour of charcoal and of certain +pits and wells was fatal to life because _lighter_ than common air, but +Galen maintained it to be _heavier_. + +He describes two kinds of respiration, one by the mouths of the arteries +of the lungs, and one by the mouths of the arteries of the skin. In each +case, he says, the surrounding air is drawn into the vessels during +their diastole, for the purpose of cooling the blood, and during their +systole the fuliginous particles derived from the blood and other fluids +of the body are forced out. + +He considers the diaphragm to be the principal muscle of respiration, +but he makes a clear distinction between ordinary respiration, which he +calls a natural and involuntary effort, and that deliberate and forced +respiration which is obedient to the will; and he says that there are +different muscles for the two purposes. Elsewhere he particularly points +out the two sets of intercostal muscles and their mode of action, of +which, before his time, he asserts that anatomists were ignorant. + +He describes various effects produced on respiration and on the voice by +the division of those nerves which are connected with the thorax; and +shows particularly the effect of dividing the recurrent branch of his +sixth pair of cerebral nerves (the pneumogastric of modern anatomy). He +explains how it happens that after division of the spinal cord, provided +that division be _beneath_ the lower termination of the neck, the +diaphragm will still continue to act--in consequence, namely, of the +origin of the phrenic nerve being _above_ the lower termination of the +neck. + +Before the time of Galen the medical profession was divided into several +sects, _e.g._ Dogmatici, Empirici, Eclectici, Pneumatici, and +Episynthetici, who were always disputing with one another. After his +time all sects seem to have merged in his followers. The subsequent +Greek and Roman biological writers were mere compilers from his works, +and as soon as his writings were translated into Arabic they were at +once adopted throughout the East to the exclusion of all others. He +remained paramount throughout the civilized world until within the last +three hundred years. In the records of the College of Physicians of +England we read that Dr. Geynes was cited before the college in 1559 for +impugning the infallibility of Galen, and was only admitted again into +the privileges of his fellowship on acknowledgment of his error, and +humble recantation signed with his own hand. Kurt Sprengel has well said +that "if the physicians who remained so faithfully attached to Galen's +system had inherited his penetrating mind, his observing glance, and his +depth, the art of healing would have approached the limit of perfection +before all the other sciences; but it was written in the book of +destiny that mind and reason were to bend under the yoke of superstition +and barbarism, and were only to emerge after centuries of lethargic +sleep." + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[16] Hence the name {thêriakai}. + +[17] "De Antidotis," i. 13, vol. xiv. p. 65, Kuhn. + +[18] "Ex ipsius etiam Galeni verbis hanc veritatem confirmari posse, +scilicet: non solum posse sanguinem e vena arteriosa in arteriam venosam +et inde in sinistrum ventriculum cordis, et postea in arterias +transmitti."--"De Motu Cordis," cap. vii. + + + + +VESALIUS. + + + + +_VESALIUS._ + + +The authority of Galen, at once a despotism and a religion, was scarcely +ever called in question until the sixteenth century. No attempt worth +recording was made during thirteen hundred years to extend the boundary +of scientific knowledge in anatomy and physiology. It is true that the +scholastic philosopher, Albertus Magnus, who was for a short time +(1260-1262) Bishop of Ratisbon, in the middle of the thirteenth century +wrote a "History of Animals," which was a remarkable production for the +age in which he lived; although Sir Thomas Browne, in his famous +"Enquiries into Common Errors," speaks of these "Tractates" as requiring +to be received with caution, adding as regards Albertus that "he was a +man who much advanced these opinions by the authoritie of his name, and +delivered most conceits, with strickt enquirie into few." + +As regards human anatomy, it was considered, during the Middle Ages, to +be impiety to touch with a scalpel "the dead image of God," as man's +body was called. Mundinus, the professor of medicine at Bologna from +1315 to 1318, was the first to attempt any such thing. He exhibited the +public dissection of three bodies, but by this created so great a +scandal that he gave up the practice, and contented himself with +publishing a work, "De Anatome," which formed a sort of commentary on +Galen. This work, with additions, continued to be the text-book of the +schools until the time of Vesalius, who founded the study of anatomy as +nowadays pursued. + +Andreas Vesalius was born at Brussels, on the last day of the year 1514, +of a family which for several generations had been eminent for medical +attainments. He was sent as a boy to Louvain, where he spent the greater +part of his leisure in researches into the mechanism of the lower +animals. He was a born dissector, who, after careful examination, in his +early days, of rats, moles, dogs, cats, monkeys, and the like, came, in +after-life, to be dissatisfied with any less knowledge of the anatomy of +man. + +He acquired great proficiency in the scholarship of the day. Indeed the +Latin, in which he afterwards wrote his great work, is so singularly +pure that one of his detractors pretended that Vesalius must have got +some good scholar to write the Latin for him. Latin was not the only +language in which he was proficient; he added Greek and Arabic to his +other accomplishments, and this for the purpose of reading the great +biological works in the languages in which they were originally written. +From Louvain the youth went to Paris, where he studied anatomy under a +most distinguished physician, Sylvius. It was the practice of that +illustrious professor to read to his class Galen on the "Use of Parts," +omitting nearly all the sections where exact knowledge of anatomical +detail was necessary. Sometimes an attempt was made to illustrate the +lecture by the dissection of a dog, but such illustration more often +exposed the professor's ignorance than it added to the student's +knowledge. Indirectly, however, it did good, for whenever Sylvius, after +having tried in vain to demonstrate some muscle, or nerve, or vein, left +the room, his pupil Vesalius slipped down to the table, dissected out +the part with great neatness, and triumphantly called the professor's +attention to it on his return. + +Besides studying under Sylvius, Vesalius had for his teacher at Paris +the famous Winter, of Andernach, who was physician to Francis I. This +learned man, in a work published three years after this period, speaks +of Vesalius as a youth of great promise. At the age of nineteen Vesalius +returned to Louvain; and here for the first time he openly demonstrated +from the human subject. In this connection a somewhat ghastly story is +told, which serves to show the intensity of the enthusiasm with which +our anatomist was inspired. On a certain evening it chanced that +Vesalius, in company with a friend, had rambled out of the gates of +Louvain to a spot where the bodies of executed criminals were wont to +be exposed. A noted robber had been executed. His body had been chained +to a stake and slowly roasted; and the birds had so entirely stripped +the bones of every vestige of flesh, that a perfect skeleton, complete +and clean, was suspended before the eyes of the anatomist, who had been +striving hitherto to piece together such a thing out of the bones of +many people, gathered as occasion offered. Mounting upon the shoulder of +his friend, Vesalius ascended the charred stake and forcibly tore away +the limbs, leaving only the trunk, which was securely bound by iron +chains. With these stolen bones under their clothes the two youths +returned to Louvain. In the night, however, and alone, the sturdy +Vesalius found his way again to the place--which to most men, at any +rate in those times, would have been associated with unspeakable +horrors--and there, by sheer force, wrenched away the trunk, and buried +it. Then leisurely and carefully, day after day, he smuggled through the +city gates bone after bone. Afterwards, when he had set up the perfect +skeleton in his own house, he did not hesitate to demonstrate from it. +But such an act of daring plunder could not escape detection, and he was +banished from Louvain for the offence. This story is here quoted only to +show the extraordinary physical and moral courage which the anatomist +possessed; which upheld him through toils, dangers, and disgusts; and by +which he was strengthened to carry on, even in a cruel and +superstitious age, and placed, as he was, on the very threshold of the +Inquisition, a work at all times repulsive to flesh and blood. + +After serving for a short time as a surgeon in the army of the Emperor +Charles V., Vesalius went to Italy, where he at once attracted the +attention of the most learned men, and became, at the age of twenty-two, +Professor of Anatomy at the University of Padua. This was the first +purely anatomical professorship that had been established out of the +funds of any university. For seven years he held the office, and he was +at the same time professor at Bologna and at Pisa. During these years +his lectures were always well attended, for they were a striking +innovation on the tameness of conventional routine. In each university +the services of the professor were confined to a short course of +demonstrations, so that his duties were complete when he had spent, +during the winter, a few weeks at each of the three towns in succession. +He then returned to Venice, which he appears to have made his +head-quarters. At this city, as well as at Pisa, special facilities were +offered to the professor for obtaining bodies either of condemned +criminals or others. At Padua and Bologna the enthusiasm of the +students, who became resurrectionists on their teacher's behalf, kept +the lecture-table supplied with specimens. They were in the habit of +watching all the symptoms in men dying of a fatal malady, and noting +where, after death, such men were buried. The seclusion of the graveyard +was then invaded, and the corpse secretly conveyed by Andreas to his +chamber, and concealed sometimes in his own bed. A diligent search was +at once made to determine accurately the cause of death. This pitiless +zeal for correct details in anatomy, associated as it was with +indefatigable practice in physic, appeared to Vesalius, as it does to +his successors of to-day, to be the only satisfactory method of +acquiring that knowledge which is essential to a doctor. Thus it was +that he, who at the age of twenty-two was able to name, with his eyes +blindfolded, any human bone put into his hand, who was deeply versed in +comparative anatomy, and had more accurate knowledge of the human frame +than any graybeard of the time, enjoyed afterwards a reputation as a +physician which was unbounded. One illustration of his sagacity in +diagnosis will suffice. A patient of two famous court physicians at +Madrid had a big and wonderful tumour on the loins. It would have been +easily recognized in these days as an aneurismal tumour, but it greatly +puzzled the two doctors. Vesalius was therefore consulted, and said, +"There is a blood-vessel dilated; that tumour is full of blood." They +were surprised at such a strange opinion; but the man died, the tumour +was opened; blood was actually found in it, and we are told _in +admirationem rapti fuère omnes_. + +It was not until after Vesalius had been three years professor that he +began to distrust the infallibility of Galen's anatomical teaching. +Constant practical experience in dissection, both human and comparative, +slowly convinced him that--great anatomist as the "divus homo" had +undoubtedly been--his statements were not only incomplete, but often +wrong; further, that Galen very rarely wrote from actual inspection of +the human subject, but based his teaching on a belief that the structure +of a monkey was exactly similar to that of a man. With this conviction +established, Vesalius proceeded to note with great care all the +discrepancies between the text of Galen and the actual parts which it +endeavoured to describe, and in this way a volume of considerable +thickness was soon formed, consisting entirely of annotations upon +Galen. The generally received authorities being thus found to be +unreliable, it became necessary in the next place to collect and arrange +the fundamental facts of anatomy upon a new and sounder basis. To this +task Vesalius, at the age of twenty-five, devoted himself, and began his +famous work on the "Fabric of the Human Body." Owing possibly to the +good fortune of his family, and to the income which he derived from his +professorships, Andreas was able to secure for his work the aid of some +of the best artists of the day. To Jean Calcar, one of the ablest of the +pupils of Titian, are due the splendid anatomical plates which +illustrate the "Corporis Humani Fabrica," and which are incomparably +better than those of any work which preceded it. To him most likely is +due also the woodcut which adorns the first page, and which represents +the young Vesalius, wearing professor's robes, standing at a +lecture-table and pointing out, from a robust subject that lies before +him, the inner secrets of the human body; while the tiers of benches +that surround the professor are completely crowded with grave doctors +struggling to see, even climbing upon the railings to do so. + +But throughout the work the plates are used simply to illustrate and +elucidate the text, and the information furnished in the latter is +minute and accurate, and stated in well-polished Latin. As the author +proceeds, he finds it necessary to disagree with Galen, and the reasons +for this disagreement are given. The inevitable result follows that +Vesalius is placed at issue not only with "the divine man," but also +with all those who for thirteen centuries had unquestioningly followed +him. Such a result Vesalius must have foreseen. It was not, therefore, a +great surprise to him, perhaps, to receive, soon after the publication +of his work, a violent onslaught from his old master Sylvius. He simply +replied to it by a letter full of respect and friendly feeling, +inquiring wherein he had been guilty of error. The answer he got was +that he must show proper respect for Galen, if he wished to be regarded +as a friend of Sylvius. + +In 1546, three years after the publication of his great work, Andreas +was summoned to Ratisbon to exercise his skill upon the emperor, and +from that date he was ranked among the court physicians. In the same +year, 1546, in a long letter, entitled "De usu Radicis Chinæ," he not +only treats of the medicine by which the emperor's health had been +restored, but he vindicates his teaching against his assailants, and +again gives cumulative proof of the fact that Galen had dissected only +brutes. + +It was the practice of Vesalius, while he was professor in Italy, to +issue a public notice the day before each demonstration, stating the +time at which it would take place, and inviting all who decried his +errors to attend and make their own dissections from his subject, and +confound him openly. It does not appear that any one was rash enough +ever to accept the challenge; yet, although the majority of the young +men were on the side of Vesalius, the older teachers continued to regard +him as a heretic, and in 1551 Sylvius published a bitterly personal +attack. It was nothing to him that the results of actual dissection were +against him--he even went so far as to assert that the men of his time +were constructed somewhat differently to those of the time of Galen! +Thus, to the proof that Vesalius gave that the carpal bones were not +absolutely without marrow, as Galen had asserted, Sylvius replied that +the bones were harder and more solid among the ancients, and were, in +consequence, destitute of medullary substance. Again, when Vesalius +showed that Galen was wrong in describing the human femur and humerus as +greatly curved, Sylvius explained the discrepancy by saying that the +wearing of narrow garments by the moderns had straightened the limbs. + +Through these attacks, however, the writings of Vesalius fell into +somewhat bad odour in the court; for in that very superstitious age +there was a kind of vague dread felt of reading the works of a man +against whom such serious charges of arrogance and impiety were brought. +And so it came about that when he received the summons to take up his +residence permanently at Madrid, and the orthodoxy of the day seemed for +the moment to triumph, in a fit of proud indignation, he burned all his +manuscripts; destroying a huge volume of annotations upon Galen; a whole +book of medical formulæ; many original notes on drugs; the copy of Galen +from which he lectured, and which was covered with marginal notes of new +observations that had occurred to him while demonstrating; and the +paraphrases of the books of Rhases, in which the knowledge of the +Arabian was collated with that of the Greeks and others. The produce of +the labour of many years was thus reduced to ashes in a short fit of +passion, and from this time Vesalius lived no more for controversy or +study. He gave himself up to pleasure and the pursuit of wealth, resting +on his reputation and degenerating into a mere courtier. As a +practitioner he was held in high esteem. When the life of Don Carlos, +Philip's son, was despaired of, it was Vesalius who was called in, and +who, seeing that the surgeons had bound up the wound in the head so +tightly that an abscess had formed, promptly brought relief to the +patient by cutting into the pericranium. The cure of the prince, +however, was attributed by the court to the intercession of St. Diego, +and it is possible that on the subject of this alleged miraculous +recovery Vesalius may have expressed his opinion rather more strongly +than it was safe for a Netherlander to do. At any rate, the priests +always looked upon him with dislike and suspicion, and at length they +and the other enemies of the great anatomist had their revenge. + +A young Spanish nobleman had died, and Vesalius, who had attended him, +obtained permission to ascertain, if possible, by a post-mortem +examination, the cause of death. On opening the body, the heart was +said--by the bystanders--to beat; and a charge, not merely of murder, +but of impiety also, was brought against Vesalius. It was hoped by his +persecutors that the latter charge would be brought before the +Inquisition, and result in more rigorous punishment than any that would +be inflicted by the judges of the common law. The King of Spain, +however, interfered and saved him, on condition that he should make a +pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Accordingly he set out from Madrid for +Venice, and thence to Cyprus, from which place he went on to Jerusalem, +and was returning, not to Madrid, but to Padua, where the professorship +of physic had been offered him, when he suffered shipwreck on the island +of Zante, and there perished miserably of hunger and grief, on October +15, 1564, before he had reached the age of fifty. His body was found by +a travelling goldsmith, who recognized, notwithstanding their starved +outlines, the features of the renowned anatomist, and respectfully +buried his remains and raised a statue to his memory. + +Two of the works of this great man have been already referred to, +namely: "De Corporis Humani Fabrica;" "De usu Radicis Chinæ." Besides +these the following have appeared: "Examen Observationum Gabrielis +Fallopii;" "Gabrielis Cunei Examen, Apologiæ Francisci Putei pro Galeno +in Anatome;" a great work on Surgery in seven books. + +With respect to the last of these, it may be sufficient to remark that +there is every reason to believe that the name of the famous anatomist +was stolen after his death to give value to the production, which was +compiled and published by a Venetian named Bogarucci; and that Vesalius +is not responsible for the contents. + +The other works are undoubtedly genuine. In 1562 Andreas seems to have +been roused for a short time from the lethargy into which he had sunk, +by an attack from Franciscus Puteus; for to this attack a reply +appeared--from a writer calling himself Gabriel Cuneus--which has always +been attributed by the most competent authorities to Vesalius himself. +In this rather long work, covering as it does more than fifty pages in +the folio edition, the views of Vesalius, which are at variance with +Galen, are gone through _seriatim_ and defended. + +In 1561 Fallopius, who had studied under Vesalius, published his +"Anatomical Observations," containing several points in which he had +extended the knowledge of anatomy beyond the limits reached by his +master. He had taught publicly for thirteen years at Ferrara, and had +presided for eight years over an anatomical school, so that he was no +novice in the field of biology. Yet so completely had Vesalius lost the +philosophic temperament that he regarded this publication as an +infringement of his rights, and in this spirit wrote an "Examen +Observationum Fallopii," in which he decried the friend who had made +improvements on himself, as he had been decried for his improvements on +Galen. The manuscript of this work, finished at the end of December, +1561, was committed by the author to the care of Paulus Teupulus of +Venice, orator to the King of Spain, who was to give it to Fallopius. +The orator, however, did not reach Padua until after the death of +Fallopius, and he consequently retained the document until Vesalius, on +his way to Jerusalem, took possession of it, and caused it to be +published without delay. It appeared at Venice in 1564.[19] + +The letter on the China root--a plant we know nowadays as +sarsaparilla--by the use of which the emperor's recovery was effected, +has been already referred to. It was addressed to the anatomist's +friend, Joachim Roelants. Very little space, however, is taken up with a +description of the medicine which gives title to the letter. Something +certainly is said of the history and nature of the plant, the +preparation of the decoction and its effects; but the writer soon +introduces the subject which was at that time of very vital importance +to him, namely, his position with regard to the statements of Galen and +his followers. He collects together various assertions of the Greek +anatomist, on the bones, the muscles and ligaments, the relations of +veins and arteries, the nerves, the character of the peritoneum, the +organs of the thorax, the skull and its contents, etc., and shows from +each and all of these that reference had not been made to the human +subject, and that therefore the statements were unreliable. + +To the work on the "Fabric of the Human Body" we have already alluded, +as well as to the causes which led to its being written. More than half +of this great treatise is occupied with a minute description of the +build of the human body--its bones, cartilages, ligaments, and muscles. +It may have been owing to the thorough acquaintance which Vesalius +showed with these parts that his detractors pretended afterwards that he +only understood superficial injuries. But other branches of anatomy are +fully dealt with. The veins and arteries are described in the third +book, and the nerves in the fourth; the organs of nutrition and +reproduction are treated of in the next; while the remaining two books +are devoted to descriptions of the heart and brain. + +Vesalius gives a good account of the sphenoid bone, with its large and +small wings and its pterygoid processes; and he accurately describes the +vestibule in the interior of the temporal bone. He shows the sternum to +consist, in the adult, of three parts and the sacrum of five or six. He +discovered the valve which guards the _foramen ovale_ in the f[oe]tus; +and he not only verified the observation of Etienne as to the valve-like +fold guarding the entrance of each hepatic vein into the inferior vena +cava, but he also fully described the _vena azygos_. He observed, too, +the canal which passes in the f[oe]tus between the umbilical vein and +vena cava, and which has since been known as the _ductus venosus_. He +was the first to study and describe the mediastinum, correcting the +error of the ancients, who believed that this duplicature of the pleura +contained a portion of the lungs. He described the omentum and its +connections with the stomach, the spleen, and the colon; and he +enunciated the first correct views of the structure of the pylorus, +noticing at the same time the small size of the cæcal appendix in man. +His account of the anatomy of the brain is fuller than that of any of +his predecessors, but he does not appear to have well understood the +inferior recesses, and his description of the nerves is confused by +regarding the optic as the first pair, the third as the fifth, and the +fifth as the seventh. The ancients believed the optic nerve to be hollow +for the conveyance of the visual spirit, but Vesalius showed that no +such tube existed. He observed the elevation and depression of the brain +during respiration, but being ignorant of the circulation of the blood, +he wrongly explained the phenomenon. + +Exclusively an anatomist, he makes but brief references in his great +work to the functions of the organs which he describes. Where he differs +from Galen on these matters he does so apologetically. He follows him in +regarding the heart as the seat of the emotions and passions--the +hottest of all the viscera and source of heat of the whole body; +although he does not, as Aristotle did, look upon the heart as giving +rise to the nerves. He considers the heart to be in ceaseless motion, +alternately dilating and contracting, but the diastole is in his opinion +the influential act of the organ. He knows that eminences or projections +are present in the veins, and indeed speaks of them as being analogous +to the valves of the heart, but he denies to them the office of valves. +To him the motion of the blood was of a to-and-fro kind, and valves in +the veins acting as such would have interfered with anything of the +sort. He expresses clearly the idea, that was entertained in the old +physiology, of the attractions exerted by the various parts of the body +for the blood; and especially that of the veins and heart for the blood +itself. "The right sinus of the heart," he says, "attracts blood from +the vena cava, and the left attracts air from the lungs through the +_arteria venalis_ (pulmonary vein), the blood itself being attracted by +the veins in general, the vital spirit by the arteries." Again, he +speaks of the blood filtering through the septum between the ventricles +as if through a sieve, although he knows perfectly well from his +dissection that the septum is quite impervious. + +It will thus be seen that the physiological teaching of Galen was left +undisturbed by Vesalius. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[19] See Professor Morley's article on "Anatomy in Long Clothes," in +_Fraser's Magazine_, 1853, from which most of the facts in this sketch +have been taken. + + + + +HARVEY. + + + + +_HARVEY._ + + +The importance of Harvey's discovery of the circulation of the blood can +only be properly estimated by bearing in mind what was done by his +predecessors in the same field of inquiry. Aristotle had taught that in +man and in the higher brutes the blood was elaborated from the food in +the liver, conveyed to the heart, and thence distributed by it through +the veins to the whole body. Erasistratus and Herophilus held that, +while the veins carried blood from the heart to the members, the +arteries carried a subtle kind of air or spirit. Galen discovered that +the arteries were not merely air-pipes, but that they contained blood as +well as vital air or spirit. Sylvius, the teacher of Vesalius, was aware +of the presence of valves in the veins; and Fabricius, Harvey's teacher +at Padua, described them much more accurately than Sylvius had done; but +neither of these men had a true idea of the significance of the +structures of which they wrote. Servetus, the friend and contemporary of +Vesalius, writing in 1533, correctly described the course of the lesser +circulation in the following words: "This communication (_i.e._ between +the right and left sides of the heart) does not take place through the +partition of the heart, as is generally believed; but by another +admirable contrivance, whereby from the right ventricle the subtle blood +is agitated in a lengthened course through the lungs, wherein prepared, +it becomes of a crimson colour, and from the vena arterialis (pulmonary +artery) is transferred into the arteria venalis (pulmonary vein). +Mingled with the inspired air in the arteria venalis, freed by +respiration from fuliginous matter, and become a suitable home of the +vital spirit, it is attracted at length into the left ventricle of the +heart by the diastole of the organ." But when Servetus comes to speak of +the systemic circulation, what he has to say is as old as Galen. + +The opinions, therefore, on the subject of the blood and its +distribution which were prevalent at the end of the sixteenth century +prove-- + + (1) That although the blood was not regarded as stagnant, yet its + circulation, such as is nowadays recognized, was unknown; + + (2) That one kind of blood was thought to flow from the liver to the + right ventricle, and thence to the lungs and general system by + the veins, while another kind flowed from the left ventricle to + the lungs and general system by the arteries; + + (3) That the septum of the heart was regarded as admitting of the + passage of blood directly from the right to the left side; + + (4) That there was no conception of the functions of the heart as the + motor power of the movement of the blood, for biologists of that + day doubted whether the substance of the heart were really + muscular; they supposed the pulsations to be due to expansion of + the spirits it contained; they believed the only dynamic effect + which it had on the blood to be that of sucking it in during its + active diastole, and they supposed the chief use of its constant + movements to be the due mixture of blood and spirits. + +This was the state of knowledge before Harvey's time. By his great work +he established-- + + (1) That the blood flows continuously in a circuit through the whole + body, the force propelling it in this unwearied round being the + rhythmical contractions of the muscular walls of the heart; + + (2) That a portion only of the blood is expended in nutrition each time + that it circulates; + + (3) That the blood conveyed in the systemic arteries communicates heat + as well as nourishment throughout the body, instead of exerting a + cooling influence, as was vulgarly supposed; and + + (4) That the pulse is not produced by the arteries enlarging and so + filling, but by the arteries being filled with blood and so + enlarging. + +We can now consider the method by which Harvey arrived at these results. +The work, "De Motu Cordis et Sanguinis," after giving an account of the +views of preceding physiologists, ancient and modern, commences with a +description of the heart as seen in a living animal when the chest has +been laid open and the pericardium removed. Three circumstances are +noted-- + + (_a_) The heart becomes erect, strikes the chest, and gives a beat; + + (_b_) It is constricted in every direction; + + (_c_) Grasped by the hand, it is felt to become harder during the + contraction. + +From these circumstances it is inferred-- + + (1) That the action of the heart is essentially of the same nature as + that of voluntary muscles, which become hard and condensed when + they act; + + (2) That, as the effect of this, the capacity of the cavities is + diminished, and the blood is expelled; + + (3) That the intrinsic motion of the heart is the systole, and not the + diastole, as previously imagined. + +The motions of the arteries are next shown to be dependent upon the +action of the heart, because the arteries are distended by the wave of +blood that is thrown into them, being filled like sacs or bladders, and +not expanding like bellows. These conclusions are confirmed by the +jerking way in which blood flows from a cut artery. + +In the heart itself two distinct motions are observed--first of the +auricles, and then of the ventricles. These alternate contractions and +dilatations can have but one result, namely, to force the blood from the +auricle to the ventricle, and from the ventricle, on the right side, by +the pulmonary artery to the lungs, and on the left side by the aorta to +the system. + +These considerations suggest to the mind of Harvey the idea of the +circulation. "I began to think," he says, "whether there might not be a +motion, as it were, in a circle." This is next established by proving +the three following propositions:-- + + (1) The blood is incessantly transmitted by the action of the heart + from the vena cava to the arteries in such quantity that it + cannot be supplied from the ingesta, and in such wise that the + whole mass must very quickly pass through the organ; + + (2) The blood, under the influence of the arterial pulse, enters, and + is impelled in a continuous, equable, and incessant stream + through every part and member of the body, in much larger + quantity than were sufficient for nutrition, or than the whole + mass of fluids could supply; + + (3) The veins in like manner return this blood incessantly to the heart + from all parts and members of the body. + +As to the first proposition Harvey says, "Did the heart eject but two +drachms of blood on each contraction, and the beats in half an hour were +a thousand, the quantity expelled in that time would amount to twenty +pounds and ten ounces; and were the quantity an ounce, it would be as +much as eighty pounds and four ounces. Such quantities, it is certain, +could not be supplied by any possible amount of meat and drink consumed +within the time specified. It is the same blood, consequently, that is +now flowing out by the arteries, now returning by the veins; and it is +simply matter of necessity that the blood should perform a circuit, or +return to the place from whence it went forth." + +Demonstration of the second proposition--that the blood enters a limb by +the arteries and returns from it by the veins--is afforded by the +effects of a ligature. For if the upper part of the arm be _tightly_ +bound, the arteries below will not pulsate, while those above will throb +violently. The hand under such circumstances will retain its natural +colour and appearance, although, if the bandage be kept on for a minute +or two, it will begin to look livid and to fall in temperature. But if +the bandage be now slackened a little, the hand and the arm will +immediately become suffused, and the superficial veins show themselves +tumid and knotted, the pulse at the wrist in the same instant beginning +to beat as it did before the application of the bandage. The tight +bandage not only compresses the veins, but the arteries also, so that +blood cannot flow through either. The slacker ligature obstructs the +veins only, for the arteries lie deeper and have firmer coats. "Seeing, +then," says Harvey, "that the moderately tight ligature renders the +veins turgid, and the whole hand full of blood, I ask, Whence is this? +Does the blood accumulate below the ligature coming through the veins, +or through the arteries, or passing by certain secret pores? Through the +veins it cannot come; still less can it come by any system of invisible +pores; it must needs, then, arrive by the arteries." + +The third position to be proved is that the veins return the blood to +the heart from all parts of the body. That such is the case might be +inferred from the presence and disposition of the valves in the veins; +for the office of the valves is by no means explained by the theory that +they are to hinder the blood from flowing into inferior parts by +gravitation, since the valves do not always look upwards, but always +towards the trunks of the veins, invariably towards the seat of the +heart. The action of the valves is then demonstrated experimentally on +the arm bound as for blood-letting. The point of a finger being kept on +a vein, the blood from the space above may be streaked upwards till it +passes the valve, when that portion of the vein between the valve and +the point of pressure will not only be emptied of its contents, but will +remain empty as long as the pressure is continued. If the pressure be +now removed, the empty part of the vein will fill instantly and look as +turgid as before. + +Other confirmatory evidence is then added, e.g. the absorption of animal +poisons and of medicines applied externally, the muscular structure of +the heart and the necessary working of its valves. + +William Harvey, the illustrious physiologist, anatomist, and physician, +to whom this discovery is due, was the eldest son of a Kentish yeoman, +and was born in April, 1578. At the age of ten he entered the Canterbury +Grammar School, where he appears to have remained for some years. At +sixteen he passed to Caius-Gonvil College, Cambridge, and three years +afterwards took his B.A. degree and quitted the university. Like most +students of medicine of that day, he found it necessary to seek the +principal part of his professional education abroad. He travelled to +Italy, selected Padua as his place of study, and there continued to +reside for four years, having as one of his teachers the famous +Fabricius of Aquapendente. On his return to England, in 1602, he took +his doctor's degree at Cambridge, and entered on the practice of his +profession. + +In 1604 he joined the College of Physicians, and three years later was +elected a Fellow of that learned body. Two years afterwards he applied +for the post of physician to St. Bartholomew's Hospital; and his +application being supported by letters of recommendation to the +governor, from the king and from the president of the College of +Physicians, he was duly elected to the office in the same year, as soon +as a vacancy occurred. + +In 1615, when thirty-seven years of age, Harvey was chosen to deliver +the lectures on surgery and anatomy to the College of Physicians, and it +is possible that at this time he gave an exposition of his views on the +circulation. He continued to lecture on the same subject for many years +afterwards, although he did not publish his views until 1628, when they +appeared in the work "De Motu Cordis." + +Some few years after his appointment as lecturer to the college, he was +chosen one of the physicians extraordinary to King James I., and about +five or six years after the accession of Charles I. he became physician +in ordinary to that unfortunate monarch. The physiologist's +investigations seem to have interested King Charles, for he had several +exhibitions made of the _punctum saliens_ in the embryo chick, and also +witnessed dissections from time to time. + +When, in 1630, the young Duke of Lennox made a journey on the Continent, +Harvey was chosen to travel with him, and probably remained abroad +about two years. During this time Harvey most likely visited Venice. Of +this tour the doctor speaks in the following terms in a letter written +at the time: "I can only complayne that by the waye we could scarce see +a dogg, crow, kite, raven, or any bird or any thing to anatomise; only +sum few miserable poeple the reliques of the war and the plauge, where +famine had made anatomies before I came." + +Six years after this, in April, 1636, he accompanied the Earl of Arundel +in his embassy to the emperor. Having to visit the principal cities of +Germany, he was thus afforded an opportunity of meeting the leading +biologists of the time, and at Nuremberg he probably met Caspar +Hoffmann, and made that public demonstration of the circulation of the +blood which he had promised in his letter dated from that city, and +which convinced every one present except Hoffmann himself. Hollar, the +artist, informs us that Harvey's enthusiasm in his search for specimens +often led him into danger, and caused grave anxiety to the Earl of +Arundel. "For he would still be making of excursions into the woods, +making observations of strange trees, plants, earths, etc., and +sometimes like to be lost; so that my lord ambassador would be really +angry with him, for there was not only danger of wild beasts, but of +thieves." + +Soon after his return to England, as court physician, his movements +became seriously restricted by the fortunes of the king. Aubrey says, +"When King Charles I., by reason of the tumults, left London, Harvey +attended him, and was at the fight of Edgehill with him; and during the +fight the Prince and the Duke of York were committed to his care. He +told me that he withdrew with them under a hedge, and tooke out of his +pockett a booke and read; but he had not read very long before a bullet +of a great gun grazed on the ground neare him, which made him remove his +station.... I first sawe him at Oxford, 1642, after Edgehill fight, but +was then too young to be acquainted with so great a doctor. I remember +he came severall times to our Coll. (Trin.) to George Bathurst, B.D., +who had a hen to hatch egges in his chamber, which they dayly opened to +see the progress and way of generation." + +In 1645, Charles, after the execution of Archbishop Laud, took upon +himself the functions of visitor of Merton College, and having removed +Sir Nathaniel Brent from the office of warden for having joined "the +Rebells now in armes against" him, he directed the Fellows to take the +necessary steps for the election of a successor. This course consisted +in giving in three names to the visitor, in order that one of the three +(the one named first, probably) should be appointed. Harvey was so named +by five out of the seven Fellows voting, and was accordingly duly +elected. A couple of days after his admission he summoned the Fellows +into the hall and made a speech to them, in which he pointed out that +it was likely enough that some of his predecessors had sought the office +in order to enrich themselves, but that his intentions were quite of +another kind, wishing as he did to increase the wealth and prosperity of +the college; and he finished by exhorting them to cherish mutual concord +and amity. After the surrender of Oxford, July, 1646, Harvey retired +from the court. He was in his sixty-ninth year, and doubtless found the +hardships and inconveniences which the miserable war entailed far from +conducive to health. The rest and seclusion to be had at the residence +of one or other of his brothers offered him the much-needed opportunity +of renewing his inquiries into the subject of generation, and it is of +this time that Dr. Ent speaks in the preface to the published work on +that subject which appeared in 1651. "Harassed with anxious and in the +end not much availing cares, about Christmas last, I sought to rid my +spirit of the cloud that oppressed it, by a visit to that great man, the +chief honour and ornament of our college, Dr. William Harvey, then +dwelling not far from the city. I found him, Democritus-like, busy with +the study of natural things, his countenance cheerful, his mind serene, +embracing all within its sphere. I forthwith saluted him, and asked if +all were well with him. 'How can it,' said he, 'whilst the Commonwealth +is full of distractions, and I myself am still in the open sea? And +truly,' he continued, 'did I not find solace in my studies, and a balm +for my spirit in the memory of my observations of former years, I should +feel little desire for longer life. But so it has been, that this life +of obscurity, this vacation from public business, which causes tedium +and disgust to so many, has proved a sovereign remedy to me.'" + +Harvey died in June, 1657. Aubrey, his contemporary, says, "On the +morning of his death, about ten o'clock, he went to speake, and found he +had the dead palsey in his tongue; then he sawe what was to become of +him, he knew there was then no hopes of his recovery, so presently sends +for his young nephews to come up to him, to whom he gives one his watch, +to another another remembrance, etc.; made sign to Sambroke his +Apothecary to lett him blood in the tongue, which did little or no good, +and so he ended his dayes.... The palsey did give him an easie +passeport.... He lies buried in a vault at Hempsted in Essex, which his +brother Eliab Harvey built; he is lapt in lead, and on his brest, in +great letters, 'Dr. William Harvey.' I was at his Funerall, and helpt to +carry him into the vault." + +The publication of Harvey's views on the movement of the blood excited +great surprise and opposition. The theory of a complete circulation was +at any rate novel, but novelty was far from being a recommendation in +those days. According to Aubrey, the author was thought to be +crackbrained, and lost much of his practice in consequence. He himself +complains that contumelious epithets were levelled at the doctrine and +its author. It was not until after many years had elapsed, and the facts +had become familiar, that men were struck with the simplicity of the +theory, and tried to prove that the idea was not new after all, and that +it was to be found in Hippocrates, or in Galen, or in Servetus, or in +Cæsalpinus--anywhere, in fact, except where alone it existed, namely, in +the work, "De Motu Cordis et Sanguinis." No one seems to have denied, +while Harvey lived, that he was the discoverer of the circulation of the +blood; indeed, Hobbes of Malmesbury, his contemporary, said of him, "He +is the only man, perhaps, that ever lived to see his own doctrine +established in his lifetime." + +In one important respect Harvey's account of the circulation was +incomplete. He knew nothing of the vessels which we now speak of as +capillaries. Writing to Paul Marquard Slegel, of Hamburg, in 1651, he +says, "When I perceived that the blood is transferred from the veins +into the arteries through the medium of the heart, by a grand mechanism +and exquisite apparatus of valves, I judged that in like manner, +wherever transudation does not take place through the pores of the +flesh, the blood is returned from the arteries to the veins, not +without some other admirable artifice" (_non sine artificio quodam +admirabili_). It was this _artificium admirabile_ of which Harvey was +unable to give a description. On account of the minuteness of their +structure, the capillaries were beyond his sight, aided as it was by a +magnifying glass merely. He indeed demonstrated physiologically the +existence of some such passages; but it remained for a later observer, +with improved appliances, to verify the fact. This was done by Malpighi +in 1661, who saw in the lung of a frog, which was so mounted in a frame +as to be viewed by transmitted light, the network of capillaries which +connect the last ramifications of the arteries with the radicles of the +veins. + +Harvey rightly denied that the arteries possessed any pulsific power of +their own, and maintained that their pulse is owing solely to the sudden +distension of their walls by the blood thrown into them at each +contraction of the ventricles. But the remission which succeeds the +pulse was regarded by him as caused simply by collapse of the walls of +the arteries due to elastic reaction. Knowing nothing of the muscular +coat of the arteries, he was unaware of the fact that the elastic +reaction of the arteries, after their distension, is aided by the tonic +contractility of their walls; the two forces, physical and vital, acting +in concert with each other--the former converting the intermittent flow +from the heart into an even stream in the capillaries and veins; the +latter, through the vaso-motor system, regulating the flow of blood to +particular parts in order to meet changing requirements. + +It is somewhat surprising to find that such an accurate observer as +Harvey should have failed to recognize the significance and importance +of the system of lacteal vessels. But such was the case. Eustachius, in +the sixteenth century, had discovered the thoracic duct in the horse, +although he seems to have thought that it was peculiar to that animal. +Aselli, while dissecting the body of a dog in 1622, accidentally +discovered the lacteals, and thought at first that they were nerves; but +upon puncturing one of them, and seeing the milky fluid which escaped, +found them to be vessels. He, however, failed to trace them to the +thoracic duct, and believed them to terminate in the liver. Pecquet of +Dieppe followed them from the intestines to the mesenteric glands, and +from these into a common sac or reservoir, which he designated +_receptaculum chyli_, and thence to their entry by a single slender +conduit into the venous system at the junction of the jugular and +subclavian veins. The existence of the lacteals had not entirely escaped +Harvey, however. He had himself noticed them in the course of his +dissections before Aselli's book was published, but "for various +reasons" could not bring himself to believe that they contained chyle. +The smallness of the thoracic duct seemed to him a difficulty, and as +it was a demonstrated fact that the gastric veins were largely +absorptive, the lacteals appeared to him superfluous. He is not +"obstinately wedded to his own opinion," and does not doubt "but that +many things, now hidden in the well of Democritus, will by-and-by be +drawn up into day by the ceaseless industry of a coming age." + +Late in the author's life, as we have seen, the work on the "Generation +of Animals" appeared; but neither physiological nor microscopical +science was sufficiently advanced to admit of the production of an +enduring work on a subject necessarily so abstruse as that of +generation. It was impossible, however, for so shrewd and able an +investigator as Harvey to work at a subject even as difficult as this +without leaving the impress of his original genius. He first announced +the general truth, "Omne animal ex ovo," and clearly proved that the +essential part of the egg, that in which the reproductive processes +begin, was not the _chalazæ_, but the _cicatricula_. This Fabricius had +looked upon as a blemish, a scar left by a broken peduncle. Harvey +described this little cicatricula as expanding under the influence of +incubation into a wider structure, which he called the eye of the egg, +and at the same time separating into a clear and transparent part, in +which later on, according to him, there appeared, as the first rudiment +of the embryo, the heart, or _punctum saliens_, together with the +blood-vessels. He was clearly of opinion that the embryo arose by +successive formation of parts out of the homogeneous and nearly liquid +mass. This was the doctrine of epigenesis, which, notwithstanding its +temporary overthrow by the erroneous theory of evolution,[20] is, with +modifications, the doctrine now held. + +Of Harvey's scholarship and culture we are not left in ignorance. Bishop +Pearson, writing about seven years after the doctor's death, and +Aubrey[21] have told us of his appreciation of the works of Aristotle, +and in his own writings he refers more frequently to the Stagirite than +to any other individual. Sir William Temple[22] has also put it on +record that the famous Dr. Harvey was a great admirer of Virgil, whose +works were frequently in his hands. His store of individual knowledge +must have been great; and he seems never to have flagged in his anxiety +to learn more. He made himself master of Oughtred's "Clavis Mathematica" +in his old age, according to Aubrey, who found him "perusing it and +working problems not long before he dyed." + +Nor should it be forgotten that this illustrious physiologist and +scholar was also the first English comparative anatomist. Of his +knowledge of the lower animals he makes frequent use, and he says (in +his work on the heart), "Had anatomists only been as conversant with the +dissection of the lower animals as they are with that of the human body, +many matters that have hitherto kept them in a perplexity of doubt, +would, in my opinion, have met them freed from every kind of +difficulty." Aubrey says that Harvey often told him "that of all the +losses he sustained, no grief was so crucifying to him as the loss of +his papers (containing notes of his dissections of the frog, toad, and +other animals), which, together with his goods in his lodgings at +Whitehall, were plundered at the beginning of the rebellion." + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[20] According to the theory of evolution, the egg contained from the +first an excessively minute, but complete animal, and the changes which +took place during incubation consisted not in a formation of parts, but +in a growth, _i.e._ in an expansion of the already existing embryo (see +p. 40). + +[21] See p. lxxxii. of "Life," by Dr. Willis. + +[22] "Miscellanies:" Part II. on Poetry, p. 314. + + + + +INDEX. + + + Albertus Magnus, 65 + + Alexander the Great, 23, 24 + + Andronicus of Rhodes, 27 + + "Animals, History of," by Aristotle, 27 + + "Animals, On the Parts of," by Aristotle, 31 + + Antipater, Governor of Macedonia, 25 + + Apellicon, 27 + + "Aphorisms" of Hippocrates, 12 + + Aristotle, birth, 21; + youth, 22; + zoological researches, 24; + charge against, 25; + death, 26; + history of the manuscripts of his works, 26; + account of his biological writings, 27-44; + his philosophy of nature teleological, 39 + + Arundel, Earl of, 94 + + Asclepiads, physical training among the, 4 + + Asclepions, description of the, 4 + + Aselli, 100 + + Aubrey, 95, 97, 98, 102 + + + Bathurst, George, 95 + + Blood, description of, by Aristotle, 31 + + Blood, opinions before the time of Harvey as to the movements of the, + 85, 86 + + Bogarucci, 76 + + Brain, description of the, by Aristotle, 33 + + Browne, Sir Thomas, 65 + + + Cæsalpinus, 98 + + Calcar, Jean, 71 + + Callisthenes, 24 + + Capillaries, discovery of the, 99 + + "Corporis Humani Fabrica," 72 + + Cuvier's exaggerated praise of Aristotle, 41 + + + "Dead image of God," the, 65 + + "De Anatome," 66 + + "De Motu Cordis et Sanguinis," 88-92 + + "De usu Radicis Chinæ," 73 + + Disease, causes of, 7 + + "Disease, The Sacred," 6 + + Diseases, natural history of, 9 + + Dissection of the human body, 10, 52 + + "Divine old man," the, 3 + + Don Carlos, cure of, 75 + + _Ductus venosus_, observed by Vesalius, 79 + + + Ent, Dr., 96 + + "Epigenesis" and "evolution" compared, 40, 102 + + Erasistratus, 47, 58, 85 + + Etienne's observation confirmed by Vesalius, 79 + + Eustachius, discovery of the thoracic duct of the horse by, 100 + + + Fabricius of Aquapendente, 85, 92 + + Fallopius, anatomical observations of, 77 + + "Father of medicine," the, 3 + + _Foramen ovale_, valve guarding the, 79 + + Franciscus Puteus, reply to, by Gabriel Cuneus, 77 + + + Galen, birth, 48; + influence, 49, 60, 65; + education, 49; + at Smyrna, 49; + at Alexandria, 49; + at Pergamus, 50; + at Rome, 50; + return to Greece, 50; + summoned to meet the Emperors at Aquileia, 50; + death, 51; + writings, 51; + views as to the modes of existence, 52; + and osteology, 53; + and the nervous system, 53; + and the lacteals, 54; + the heart, 55; + the arteries, 56; + and respiration, 57-59; + made a near approach to the Harveian theory of the circulation, 57 + + Generation of animals, the, 38, 101 + + Geynes, Dr., 60 + + + Harvey, date and place of birth, 92; + at Canterbury School, 92; + at Cambridge, 92; + at Padua, 92; + elected Fellow of the College of Physicians, 93; + appointed physician to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, 93; + physician to Charles I., 93; + foreign travels, 94; + present at the battle of Edgehill, 95; + elected Warden of Merton College, 95; + death, 97; + discovery of the circulation incomplete in one respect, 98, 99; + work on the generation of animals, 101; + a scholar, 102; + and comparative anatomist, 103 + + Heart, description of the, by Aristotle, 35 + + Hellebore, administered by Hippocrates, 9 + + Hermias, despot of Atarneus, 22; + murder of, 23 + + Herophilus, 47, 58, 85 + + Hippocrates, date of birth, 3; + Greek contemporaries, 3; + birthplace, 3; + his freedom from superstition, 5, 16; + compared with Socrates, 7; + medical doctrines of, 8; + works, 10; + knowledge of osteology, 10; + traditions concerning, 14; + oath of, 16 + + Hobbes of Malmesbury, 98 + + Hoffmann, Caspar, 94 + + Humours, the four, 8 + + Huxley, Professor, on errors attributed to Aristotle, 37, 42 + + + Lacteals, the, 54, 100 + + Lennox, Duke of, 93 + + Lungs, Aristotle's description of the, 37 + + + Malpighi, discovery of the capillaries by, 99 + + Marcus Aurelius, 50 + + Marine animals, description of, by Aristotle, 29 + + _Mediastinum_, correct description of the, by Vesalius, 79 + + Milk in male animals, occasional appearance of, 29 + + Mundinus, 66 + + + Neleus, 26 + + Nicon, father of Galen, 49 + + + _Omentum_, the, and its connections, 80 + + Owen, Professor, on Aristotle's knowledge of the cephalopoda, 29 + + + "Parva naturalia," 27 + + Pausanias, 15 + + Pecquet of Dieppe, 100 + + Peripatetics, the, 24 + + Philip, father of Alexander, 22, 23 + + "Physiological division of labour," 43 + + Plato, 22 + + Pliny, 47, 48 + + _Pneuma_, 38 + + _Punctum saliens_, 35, 93, 101 + + _Pylorus_, the, described by Vesalius, 80 + + Pythias, 23 + + + _Receptaculum chyli_, 100 + + Roelants, Joachim, 78 + + + _Scamnum Hippocratis_, 12 + + Servetus, 86 + + Septimius Severus, 51 + + Slegel of Hamburg, 98 + + Socrates compared with Hippocrates, 7 + + Sprengel's opinion of Galen, 60 + + Sylla, 27 + + Sylvius, 67, 72, 73, 74 + + + Teupulus, Paulus, 77 + + Theophrastus, 26 + + _Theriac_, the, 50 + + Thoracic duct, discovery of, 100 + + Tyrannion, 27 + + + Vesalius, birth, 66; + scholarship, 66; + studied under Sylvius, 67; + and Winter of Andernach, 67; + adventure at Louvain, 67, 68; + appointed professor at Padua, at Bologna, and at Pisa, 69; + zeal for correctness in anatomy, 70; + skill in diagnosis, 70; + distrusts infallibility of Galen's teaching, 71; + writes "Fabric of the Human Body," 72; + is summoned to Ratisbon, 73; + destroys his manuscripts, 74; + his success as a practitioner, 75; + charged with impiety, 75; + is sent on pilgrimage, 75; + shipwreck and death at Zante, 76; + works, 76-80 + + _Vis medicatrix naturæ_, 9 + + + Winter of Andernach, 67 + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Fathers of Biology, by Charles McRae + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FATHERS OF BIOLOGY *** + +***** This file should be named 24456-8.txt or 24456-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/4/5/24456/ + +Produced by Bryan Ness, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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