Galen

• Galen


  An ancient Roman doctor, probably Greek by birth, who built on the ideas of Hippocrates and developed knowledge of his own
• Galen's career


  1. Worked as a surgeon and doctor to Gladiators

  2. Became knowledgeable about anatomy and how the body worked

  3. Became a physician of important Romans including several Emperors
• Galen's ideas


  • Some were correct but others were wrong
  • His insistence on not questioning his work resulted in progress being hindered, particularly by the medieval church and the Renaissance Church
  • Some of his ideas actually did work and were correct
• Theory of the four humors

  A theory that Galen continued to use, which had been developed by Hippocrates
• Theory of opposites


  A refinement of the work of Hippocrates, where opposites are used to balance up the humors and treat illness
• Galen's methods


  1. Used dissection and vivisection on apes and pigs to make discoveries

  2. Made incorrect assumptions about the body based on observations in animals
• Galen proved that the brain controls the body, not the heart
• Perfect Design


  Galen's idea that every organ in the body has a special role to play, as if designed by the gods to fit together perfectly
• Galen identified that the heart worked to pump blood around the body, but he theorized that the blood was produced by the liver and used up like a fuel in the body, which is incorrect
• Galen's pig dissection demonstration


  1. Noticed how some wounds were paralyzing

  2. Demonstrated that cutting specific nerves on the pig caused various types of paralysis

  3. Showed that the brain controlled the body through the nerves
• Galen's mistakes, such as believing the Jawbone was in two parts like in many animals, lasted for centuries, and the medieval doctors were not even allowed to correct them
• Importance of Galen


  • Took the best ideas of the Greeks and Romans and made them better
  • Wrote over 60 books and his ideas were followed for the next 1500 years
  • The Christian Church favoured Galen's work as it reflected their belief in God's creation - his theory of perfect design
  • Galen's mistakes and the reluctance to accept them slowed medical progress in the medieval period