Erasistratus elaborated the view of the pneuma, one
form of which he believed came from the inspired air,
and passed to the left side of the heart and to the
arteries of the body. It was the cause of the
heart-beat and the source of the innate heat of the
body, and it maintained the processes of digestion
and nutrition. This was the vital spirit; the
animal spirit was elaborated in the brain, chiefly
in the ventricles, and sent by the nerves to all parts
of the body, endowing the individual with life and
perception and motion. In this way a great division
was made between the two functions of the body, and
two sets of organs: in the vascular system, the
heart and arteries and abdominal organs, life was
controlled by the vital spirits; on the other hand,
in the nervous system were elaborated the animal spirits,
controlling motion, sensation and the various special
senses. These views on the vital and animal spirits
held unquestioned sway until well into the eighteenth
century, and we still, in a measure, express the views
of the great Alexandrian when we speak of “high”
or “low” spirits.
GALEN
Pergamon has become little more than a name associated
in our memory with the fulminations of St.
John against
the seven churches of Asia; and on hearing the chapter
read, we wondered what was “Satan’s seat”
and who were the “Nicolaitanes” whose
doctrine he so hated. Renewed interest has been
aroused in the story of its growth and of its intellectual
rivalry with Alexandria since the wonderful discoveries
by German archaeologists which have enabled us actually
to see this great Ionian capital, and even the “seat
of Satan.” The illustration here shown is
of the famous city, in which you can see the Temple
of Athena Polis on the rock, and the amphitheatre.
Its interest for us is connected with the greatest
name, after Hippocrates, in Greek medicine, that of
Galen, born at Pergamon A. D. 130, in whom was united
as never before—and indeed one may say,
never since—the treble combination of observer,
experimenter and philosopher. His father, Nikon,
a prosperous architect, was urged in a dream to devote
his son to the profession of medicine, upon which
study the lad entered in his seventeenth year under
Satyrus. In his writings, Galen gives many details
of his life, mentioning the names of his teachers,
and many incidents in his Wanderjahre, during which
he studied at the best medical schools, including Alexandria.
Returning to his native city he was put in charge of
the gladiators, whose wounds he said he treated with
wine. In the year 162, he paid his first visit
to Rome, the scene of his greatest labors. Here
he gave public lectures on anatomy, and became “the
fashion.” He mentions many of his successes;
one of them is the well-worn story told also of Erasistratus
and Stratonice, but Galen’s story is worth telling,
and it is figured as a miniature in the manuscripts
