anatomy,)physiology,)medicine) in)the)ancientworld)adamson/biol446/greekspart3.pdf · •...
TRANSCRIPT
Hippocrates 460 to 370 BC
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Born on isle of Kos. Two schools of medicine: the Knidian School and the Koan School (Hippocrates and his followers).
Hippocrates categorized
• Endemic, epidemic • Acute, chronic • Crisis, resoluHon, relapse, convalescence • Diagnosed pulmonary diseases: e.g., clubbing of fingers
• Cauterized wounds • Importance of exercise
Herophilos b 335 to 280 BC
• Born in Chalcedon. • Educated in Alexandria under Praxagoras (Koan).
• Greatest Physician of AnHquity
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Herophilos’ wriHngs
• None exist: perhaps lost in Alexandrian fire (4th C).
• Galen (129 to 200+ AD) le[ detailed comparaHve references to his work (and that of Erasistratus)
• Von Staden, H. 1989 Herophilus: the Art of Medicine in early Alexandria. Cambridge U
How did he do it?
• Herophilus and Erasistratus • Von Staden, H. 1992. The discovery of the body: human dissecHon and its cultural contexts in Ancient Greece. Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine 65: 223-‐241.
Empiricism
• Knowledge comes uniquely from sensory experience.
• Early empiricism: advocated data collecHon for things as they present themselves.
• More acHve intervenHons became associated with empiricism in and a[er the Renaissance
• David Leith 2015. Erasistratus’ triplokia of arteries veins and nerves. Apeiron 48: 251–262.
• Arteries carry vital pneuma: basic bodily funcHon
• Veins carry blood; nutriHon and growth • Nerves carry psychic pneuma; sensaHon and movement.
Disease occurs when substance of one vessel is allowed to enter another
vessel type.
• E.g., blood from veins mixes with psychic pneuma (nerves): paralysis.
• E.g., blood from veins enters arteries: inflammaHon and fever.
Triplokia
• Metaphor of weaving. • Each of the vessel types is closely associated with smallest forms of the other two
Erasistratus did pracHce surgery
• Anatomy, Physiology led to understanding: a higher calling
• Clinical medicine led to wellness of paHent: knowledge less permanent, of lower stature.
Liiman and Liiman (1973) Galen and the Antonine Plague. The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 94, No. 3, pp. 243-‐255) IdenHfy the culprit as smallpox
Galen on diagnosis
• Like Herophilus, included a prognosHc element; look for signs that can tell you how the disease will resolve.
• Prevailing methods involved divinaHon and more mysHcal acHviHes.
Galen’s dissecHons
• Anatomy of Trachea and larynx (source of the voice)
• Both veins and arteries contain blood • One system fed, the other aerated the body • Misapprehensions: heart sucked blood (arteries pumped); blood use dup in its bodily transit-‐regenerated in liver.
A priori or a posteriori knowledge
• Frede, Michael. "The Empiricist Amtude toward Reason and Theory" Apeiron. 21 (1988): 79-‐97.
On the locaHon of the life force
• Soul is divided among:
• Brain: raHonal • Heart: spiritual • Liver: nutriHve
• Heart is the centre of the soul (raHonal, spiritual and nutriHve)
On reproducHon
• Aristotle: male contributes the soul which provides efficient cause (movement, acHvity)to the form. Female contribute only material. Metaphor: seed planted in ferHle ground
• Galen: Both male and female provide semen. Sperm from the parents combine to form new individual.