Abstract
A superficial reading of Galen might lead one to believe that the most illustrious physician of the Hellenistic period, the confidant of Marcus Aurelius, was only the faithful follower of his teachers. For Galen, the nerves are hollow tubes, as they were for Alcmaeon. For Galen, as for Herophilus, these nerves bring the muscles energy which they draw from the brain like water from a well. In spite of Erasistratus’ efforts, Galen had no interest in the solid parts of the brain; in accordance with prevailing tradition, what interested him was the ventricular cavities where the mysterious pneuma was thought to reside.
Moreover, if anyone thinks that nothing is known, he does not even know whether that can be known, since he declares that he knows nothing. I will therefore spare to plead cause against a man who has put his head where his feet ought to be.
Lucretius ([245], p. 313))
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References
Ungulates are “… a diverse group of placental mammals characterised as hoofed, herbivorous quadripeds”. Encyclopedia Britannica (Micropedia).
Souques [374a] remarks: “In Galen’s terminology‘encephalon’ means the cerebrum and‘parencephalon’ means the cerebellum… He puts forward the rather surprising idea that the head was made, not for the brain, but for the eyes, since the eyes must always occupy a salient position to the front of the body, the direction of movement. They could not be placed in the back of the head because they had to receive a soft nerve, the optic nerve, which cannot come from the cerebellum as it only produces hard nerves” (p. 192, n. 2).
See p. 21.
A summary is given here of Use of Parts XII, 11 (Daremberg 1854-1856, II), the text quoted by Souques (p. 196ff.)
Chrysippus (281-205 B.C. ), Greek philosopher of the Stoic school.
This viewpoint is developed in [141c], pp. 278f.
Galen devotes a great deal of space to the function of the optic nerves. In the Dissection of Nerves, 2 (Khn II, 833), he states that the optic nerves are hollow: “but in these nerves alone, there is a clearly perceptible channel…” He adds:“The organ of sight contains a luminous pneuma which emanates continuously from the encephalon, and the optic nerves are hollow to receive this pneuma.”
Use of Parts VII, 14-15 (Daremberg) [92b].
Souques ([374a], pp. 203f). Galen adds: “The physicians do not even know that there are special roots sent out to the skin of the whole upper limb, from which it receives sensation, and others which give rise to the branches that go to the muscles.” Galen’s basic ideas about nerve function are found in The Seat of Diseases IV (Daremberg 1854-1856, II, 58ff.)
Herodotus ([184], vol. I, pp. 275ff. ). Psammetichus desired to learn which was the oldest nation on earth. He devised a plan whereby he took two newborn children and gave them to a shepherd to bring up among his flocks. He charged that no one should speak any word in their hearing. Two years passed, and then one day the children ran to the shepherd and said bekos! On hearing of this, the king summoned his wise men to tell him what language bekos belonged to. He found that it was the Phrygian word for “bread”. Herodotus says: “Reasoning from this fact the Egyptians confessed that the Phrygians were older than they. This is the story which I heard from the priests of Hephaestus’ temple at Memphis…”
Socrates: “… manifestly the gods (this is certain at least) use names correctly, that is to say, those that are correct by nature…”With a very clever use of dialectic’socrates’, in the presence of Hermogenes and Cratylus, demolishes the basis of this position, and in its place proposes a theory of naming by imposition, along with some striking observations about the suggestive power of sounds.
See p. 62.
The German Emperor Frederick II and James IV of Scotland performed the same experiment.
Pindar, 518-438 B.C.
Heraclitus: see p. 7, n. 11.
I, 7, 22 (Dox. 303)
See Robins [345], chapters 2 and 4.
See p. 64.
Epicurus, 341-270 B.C.
Zeno, 335-264 B.C.
Diogenes Laertius, beginning of 3rd cent. Almost nothing is known of him, but his Lives and Opinions of the Philosophers has survived.
See p. 28, n. 5.
Diogenes of Babylonia, 240?-150? B.C., a disciple of Chrysippus.
This is a summary of the account given by Diogenes.
Pythagoras, 6th cent. B.C.
See p. 9.
See Penfield [305c]. It is hardly admissible to interpret the thought of such a remote period in modern terms without further ado.
Luke 2, 51.
Galen, On the Opinions of Hippocrates and Plato II, 8 [141c], pp. 185ff.
Galen, Use of Parts VIII, 2, 3 [92b], vol. I, pp. 527-530.
Avicenna, 980-1037.
Andrea Cesalpino, 1519-1603.
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© 1991 Plenum Press, New York
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Bouton, C.P. (1991). Emergence of Major Themes. In: Neurolinguistics Historical and Theoretical Perspectives. Applied Psycholinguistics and Communication Disorders. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-9570-0_3
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