Galen

• Galen believed that a doctor needed to treat an excess of one humour with its exact opposite
• If the patient suffered from a fever, he taught that cold treatment should be given, such as ice packs.
• If the patient was deemed to have an excess of phlegm, which was cold and moist, something hot and dry would be prescribed, such as a spoonful of hot pepper.
• Galen’s ideas were adopted and promoted by the Christian Church. They strongly defended Galen’s teachings from any criticism.
• Galen's ideas fitted with the Christian belief. For example, Galen believed that the parts of the human body fitted together perfectly and that they were like a well-designed machine. The Bible said that God created man in his own image
• Galen used animal dissections to justify his research on human anatomy basing his research on the anatomy of pigs, monkeys and dogs.
• The Church’s support of Galen’s work prevented any real progress in medicine at the time. Those who dared to question him were seen as challenging the Church.
• The work of Galen was also preserved in the Middle East at a time when much of medieval Britain was warring, pillaging and burning their books.
• Galen had been right about various aspects of human anatomy but he was wrong about his descriptions of the liver, sternum, jaw, bile duct and uterus.
• Galen’s errors can be explained by the fact that human dissection was strictly prohibited in his time.