proof.

FOOTNOTES:

[21] For full description and plates see Dr. John Stewart Milne's
"Surgical Instruments in Greek and Roman Times" (Clarendon Press, 1907).

[22] "Portal," vol. i, p. 74.

CHAPTER IX.

GALEN.

His life and works--His influence on Medicine.

_Claudius Galenus_, commonly known as Galen, has influenced the progress
of medical science by his writings probably more than any other medical
writer. His influence was paramount for fourteen centuries, and although
he made some original contributions, his works are noteworthy mainly as
an encyclopaedia of the medical knowledge of his time and as a review of
the work of his predecessors. There is a great deal of information in
his books about his own life. He was born at Pergamos in A.D. 130 in the
reign of Hadrian. His father was a scholar and his mother somewhat of a
shrew. Galen, in his boyhood, learned much from his father's example and
instruction, and at the age of 15 was taught by philosophers of the
Stoic, Platonist, Peripatetic, and Epicurean schools. He became
initiated, writes Dr. Moore, into "the idealism of Plato, the realism of
Aristotle, the scepticism of the Epicureans, and the materialism of the
Stoics." At the age of 17 he was destined for the profession of medicine
by his father in consequence of a dream. He studied under the most
eminent men of his day. He went to Smyrna to be a pupil of Pelops, the
physician, and Albinus the platonist; to Corinth to study under
Numesianus; to Alexandria for the lectures of Heraclianus; and to
Cilicia, Phoenicia, Palestine, Crete, and Cyprus. At the age of 29 Galen
returned from Alexandria to Pergamos (A.D. 158), and was appointed
doctor to the School of Gladiators, and gained much distinction.

He went to Rome for the first time in A.D. 163-4, and remained for four
years; and during this period he wrote on anatomy and on the teaching of
Hippocrates and Plato. He acquired great fame as a practitioner and, if
he had so desired, might have attended the Emperor; but it is probable
that Galen thought that the office of physician to the Emperor might
prevent him from leaving Rome if he wished to do so. He also gave public
lectures and disputations, and was called not only the "wonder-speaker"
but the "wonder-worker." His success gave rise to envy, and he was
afraid of being poisoned by his less successful rivals. The reason why
he left Rome is not certain, and the possible causes of his depa