THE LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY FOUNDED BY JAMES
LOEB, LL D.
EDITED BY
PAGE,
C.H., LiTT.D. tT. E. tW. H. D. ROUSE, litt...
113 downloads
842 Views
11MB Size
Report
This content was uploaded by our users and we assume good faith they have the permission to share this book. If you own the copyright to this book and it is wrongfully on our website, we offer a simple DMCA procedure to remove your content from our site. Start by pressing the button below!
Report copyright / DMCA form
THE LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY FOUNDED BY JAMES
LOEB, LL D.
EDITED BY
PAGE,
C.H., LiTT.D. tT. E. tW. H. D. ROUSE, litt.d. tE. CAPPS, PH.D., LL.D. L. A. POST, M.A. E. H. WARMINGTON, m.a. f.r hist.soc.
GALEN ON THE NATURAL FACULTIES
GALEN ON THE NATURAL FACULTIES WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY
ARTHUR JOHN
BROCK,
M.D.
XDINBCBQB
LONDON
WILLIAM HEINEMANN LTD CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSEITS
HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS lICMLn
First Printed 1916 Reprinted 1928, 1947, 1952
;
PREFACE The
text used
is
(\vith
a few uu important modifi-
cations) that of Kiihn (Vol. II), as edited
Helmreich
by Georg
The numbers
Teubner, Leipzig, 1893.
;
of the pages of Kiihn's edition are printed at the side
mark
of the Greek text, a parallel
the
indicating
exact
of
point
(
||
)
in the line
division
betveen
Kiihn's pages.
Words
in the English text
which are enclosed
in
square brackets are supplementary or explanatory practically all explanations, however, are relegated to
In the footnotes,
the footnotes or introduction. attention
is
drawn to
philological interest
Avords
also,
which are of particular
from the point of view of modern
medicine. I
have made the translation directly from the
Greek I
;
whei*e passages of special difficulty occurred,
have been able to compare
my own
Linacre's Latin translation (1523)
version with
and the French
rendering of Charles Daremberg (1854-56) respect
I
am
;
in this
also peculiarly fortunate in having
had
W. Pickard Cambridge of Balliol Oxford, who most kindly went througli the
the help of Mr. A. College,
V
PREFACE proofs
and made many valuable suggestions from the
point of view of exact scholarship.
My
best thanks are due to the Editors for their
courtesy and for the kindly interest they have taken in the work.
have also gratefully to acknowledge
I
much
assistance and encouragement from Sir William Osier, Regius Professor of Medi-
the receipt of
cine at Oxford,
and from Dr.
J.
D. Comrie,
first
lecturer on the History of Medicine at Edinburgh University.
D'Arcy W. Thompson of UniDundee, and Sir W. T. Tiiiseltondirector of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Professor
versity College,
Dyer, late
Kew, have very kindly helped me
to identify several
animals and plants mentioned by Galen. I
cannot conclude without expressing a word of
gratitude to Patrick
my former
Geddes
and
biological teachers. Professors J.
Arthur
Thomson.
The
experience reared on the foundation of their teaching has gone far to help
me
in interpreting the great
medical biologist of Greece. I should be glad to think that the present work might help, however little;, to hasten the coming reunion between the "humanities" and modern bio-
logical science
;
their present separation
I
believe to
be against the best interest of both. A.
22nd Stationary Hospital, Aldershot. March, 1916. VI
J. B.
CONTENTS PAGR
PKKFACB
V
INTRODUCTION
Lx
BIBLIOGRAPHY
xli
SYXOPSIS OF CHAPTEBS
BOOK
I
BOOK
II
xliii
1
115
BOOK in
221
INDEX AND GLOSSART
333
INTRODUCTION If the
work of Hippocrates be taken
as repre- Hippocr«tee
renting the foundation upon wliieh the edifice of
Greek medicine was reared, then the work who lived some six hundred years later, may be looked upon as the summit or apex of the same edifice. Galen's merit is to have crystallised or brought to a focus all the best work of the Greek medical schools which had preceded his own time. It is essentially in the form of Galenism that Greek medicine was transmitted to after ages. historical
of Galen,
The ancient Greeks referred the origins of medicine to a
god Asklepios
(called in Latin Aesculapius),
The BeginM^fTc-aie ^**e.. -This is the foundation for the war that Galen waged a outrance on the Methodists, to vhom diseases were things without relation to anything. This dispute is, unfortunately, not touched upon in the present volume. What Galen combated was the tendency, familiar enough in our own day, to reduce medicine to the science of finding a label for each patient, and then treating not the patient, but the label. (This aivironmenl of that
we may remark
tendency,
which
is
in
parenthesis,
purposes of a State medical service, and
one which at heart
days that
is
one
obviously well suited for the standardisi?ig
all
who have the weal
must most jealously watch lie
is
therefore
of the profession in the difficult
ahead.)
(5) His realisation of the inappropriateness and inadequacy of physical formulae in explaining physio-
/« , ,
logical activities.
over
TOL
Galen's disputes with Asclepiades
over the
but another aspect of his quarrel with the Methodists regarding their pathological " units," whose primary characteristic is
(impassiveness to environwas just this same ment, " unimpr*issionability "). We have of course
INTRODUCTION our
Physiiitric
present day, to
latromechanical
or
whom
school
at
from the alimentary canal, the respiratory change of gases, and the action of the epithelium
are
the
sucli processes as absorption
susceptible
of
a
purely
inter-
renal
physical
explanation.^
the Anatomists, which was His quarrel the same as that with the Atomists, and which arose from his clear realisation that that primary and indispensable desideratum, a view of the whole, could never be obtained by a mere summation (6)
in essence
views hence, also, his sense of the dangers which would beset the medical art if it were allowed to fall into the hands of a mere crowd of competing specialists without any organising head to of partial
;
guide them. ^
xl
In terms of
filtration, diffusion,
and osmosis.
BIBLIOGRAPHY Codices niblioth6que Nationale. Paris. Library of St. Mark. Venice.
No. 2267. No. 275.
Translations Arabic translations by Honain in the Escurial Library, and Hebrew translation in the in tbe Library at Leyden. Latin translations in the Library of Library at Bonn. Caius College (MSS. ), No. 947 ; also by Gouville Paris, Linacie in editions published, London, 1523 1528 Leyden, 1540, 1548, and 1550 also byC. G. Kuhn, ;
;
;
Leipzig, 1821.
Commentaries and Appreciations Nic.
de Anglia in Bib. Nat. Paris (MSS.), No. 7015; J. Rochon, ibidem, No. 7025 ; J. Segarra, 1528 ; J. Sylvius, 1550, 1560 ; L. Joubert, 1599 ; M. Sebitz, 1644, 1•!45 B. Pacuvius, 1554; J. C G. Ackerinann, 1821, in Ixxx ; Ilberg the introduction to Kiihn's translation, articles on "Die Schriftstellerei des Klaudios in Galenos," in Bhein. Mus., Nos 44, 47, 51, and 52 (years 1889, 1892, 1896 and 1897) ; I. von Mueller in Quvestionts Criticae dt Galeni lihri.i, Erlangen, 1871 ; Steinschneider in Virchow's Archiv, No. cxxiv. for 1891 ; Wenrich in De auctwum graecorum versionibus et cornnieurariis ayriacis, arabicis, armiacis, persisque, Leipzig, 1842. ;
J.
Zli
SYNOPSIS OF CHAPTERS BOOK
I
CUAPTEB
I
Distinction between the effecta of {a) the organism's psyche or soul (6) its phy-fis or nature. The author proposes to confine himself to a consideration of the latter the vegetative aspect of life.
—
—
Chapter
II
Definition of terms. Different kinds of motion. Alteration or qualitative change. Refutation of the Sophists' objection that such change is only apparent, not real. The four fundamental qualities of Hippocrates (later Aristotle). Distinction between faculty, activity (function),
and
(work or product).
effect
Chapter It is
by virtue
of the /o?ir qualities that each part functions. Some authorities subordinate the dry and the mo ist principles to the hot and the cold. ^nsCOlle inconsistent ^ here. ^-..^
^^ Chapter IV
We must
suppose that there are faculties corresponding in to the visible effects (or products) with which we
number
are familiar.
Chapter
V
Genesis, growth, and nutrition. Genesis (embryogeny) subdivided into histogenesis and organogenesis. Growth is a tridimensional expansion of the solid parts formed during genesis. Nitritioo. xliii
SYNOPSIS OF CHAPTERS Chapter VI I'he
genesis (embryogeny) from inseininatiou of the simple, elementary, homogeneous is produced by a special blend of the four primary alterative faculties (such secondary alterative special faculties being o4opoietic, nenropoiehc. etc.). function and tise also corresponds to each of these special The bringing of these tissues together into tissues. organs and the disposal of these organs is performed by another faculty called diaplastic, moulding, or forma-
process of
onwards.
Each
parts (tissues)
A
tive.
Chapter VII
We now
Growth essentially a pass from genesis to growth. post-natal process ; it involves two factors, expansion analogy of a familiar child's explained by and nutrition, game.
Chapter VIII Nutrition.
Chapter IX These three primary faculties (genesis, growth, have various others subservient to them.
Chapter
nutrition)
X
(1) Need of subsidiary Nutrition not a simple process. organs for the various stages of alteration, e.g., of bread (2) Need also of into blood, of that into bone, etc. organs for excreting tiie nonutilizable portions of the food, e.g., much vegetable matter is superfluous. (3) Need of organs of a third kind, for distributing the pabulum through the body.
Chapter XI Nutrition analysed into the stages of application {prostheais), The stages adhesion {proxphysis), and assimilation. Different illustrated by certain pathological conditions. shades of meaning of the term nutriment.
— SYNOPSIS OF CHAPTERS Chaptkr XII
—
The two chief medico-philosophical schools Atomist and Vitalist. Hippocrates an adherent of the latter school his doctrine of an original principle or "nature" in every living thing (doctrine of the unity of the organism).
Chapter XIII Failure of Asclepiades to understand the functions of kidneys and ureters. His hypothesis of vaporization of imbibed demonstration of urinary secrefluids is here refuted. tion in the living animal ; the forethought and artistic Refutation also of Ascleskill of Nature vindicated. piades's disbelief in the special selective action of purgative drugs.
A
Chapter XIV toto the obvious fact of specific attraction, Epicurus grants the fact, although his attempt to explain it by the atomic hypothesis breaks down. Refutation of the Epicurean theory of magnetic Instances of specific attraction of thorns attraction. and animal poisons by medicaments, of moisture by
While Asclepiades denies in
com,
etc.
Chapter It
•,
1
XV
that the urine is secreted by the kidneys, the rationale of this secretion is enquired into. The kidneys are not mechanical filters, but are by virtue of their nature possessed of a specific faculty of attrac-
now being gianted
tion.
Chapter XVI Erasistratus, again,
by
could never explain
his favourite principle of horror vaciu tlie secretion of urine by the kidneys.
While, however, he acknowledged that the kidneys do secrete urine, he makes no attempt to explain this ; he ignores, but does not attempt to refute, the Hippocratic " Servile " position taken doctrine of specific attraction. up by Asclepiades and Erasistratus in regard to this function of urinary secretion.
xlv
SYNOPSIS OF CHAPTERS Chapter XVII attempts (b3' adlierents of the Erai»istratean school and by Lycus of Macedonia) to explain how the kidne^^s come to separate out urine from the blood. All these ignore the obvious principle of attraction.
Three I I
otlier
BOOK Chapter
II I
order to explain dispersal of food from alimentary canal via the veins {aiiadoKis) there is no need to invoice with Erasislratus, the horror vacui, since here again the prinmoreover, blood ciple of specific attraction is operative is also driven forward by the compressing action of the the veins. Possibility, 1 stomach and the contractions of 'however, of Erasistratus's factor playing a certain minor ;
1
role.
Chatter
II
bile becomes separated out from the blood in the liver because, being the tli inner fluid, it alone can enter the narrow stomata of the bile-ducts, while the thicker blood can only enter the wider mouths of the hepatic venules.
The Erasistratean idea that f|
U ij
;
f
Chapter
III
The morphological factors suggested by Erasistratus are quite inadequate to explain biological happenings. Erasistratus inconsistent with his own statements. The immanence of the physin or nature her shaping is not merely external like that of a statuary, but involves the In genesis (embryogeny) the semen is entire substance. the active, and the menstrual blood the passive, princiAttractive, alterative, and formative faculties of ple. Embryogeny is naturally followed by the semen. growth ; these two functions distinguished. i
'
;
xlvi
SYNOPSIS OF CHAPTERS Chapter FV Unjustified claim by Erasistrateans that their founder had associations with the Peripatetic (Aristotelian) school. The characteristic physiological teiiets of that school (which weie all anticipated by Hippocrates) in no way agree with those of Erasistratus, save that both recognize the purposefulness of Nature ; in practice, however, Erasistratus assumed numerous exceptions to this prinDifficulty of understanding why he rejected the ciple. biological principle of attraction in favour of anatomical factors.
Chaptkr
A
V
further difficulty raised by Erasistratus's regarding secretion of bile in the liver.
statement
Jhapteb VI nutrition. Even if we grant that veins obtain their nutrient blood by virtue of the horror vacui (chap, i ), how could this explain the nutrition of nerves? Erasistratus's hypothesis of minute elementary nerves and vessels within the ordinary visible nerves And is simply throws the difficulty further back Erasistratus's minute "simple" nerve susceptible of If so, further analysis, as tlie Atonysts would assume ? this is opposed to the conception of a constructive and shares with Krasistratus himself artistic Nature which Hippoctates and the writer. And if his minute nerve is really elementary and not further divisible, then it cannot, according to his own showing, contain a cavity And therefore the horror vacui does not apply to it. how could this principle apply to the restoration to its original bulk of a part which had become thhi through
The same holds with
may
;
where more matter must become attaclied than runs awa\' ? A quotation from Erasistratus shows that he did actcuowledge an "attraction," although not exactly in the Hippocratic sense. disease,
xlvii
SYNOPSIS OF CHAPTERS Chapteu VII ultimate living elements (Erasistratus's aimjile vessels) must draw in their food by virtue of an inherent attrai:tive faculty like that which the lodestone exerts on iron. Thus the process of anadosis, from beginning to end, can be explained without assuming a horror vacui
In the last resort,
tlie
Chapter VIII In respect• to disregard for the humours. excessive formation of bile, however, prevention is better than cure ; accordingly wo must consider its pathology. Does blood pre exist in the food, or does it come into existence in the body ? Erasistratus's purely anatomical He entirely avoids the question explanation of dropsy. of the four qualities (e.g. the iinportance of innate heat) Yet the problem in the generation of the humours, etc. of blood-production is no less important than that of gastric digestion. Proof that bile does not pre-exist in the food. The four fundamental qualities of Hippocrates and How the humours are formed from food taken Aristotle. into the veins : when heat is in proportionate amount,
lirasistratus's
blood
results
:
when
in
excess,
bile
;
when
deficient,
phlegm. Various conditions determining cold or warm temperaments. The four primary diseases result each from excess of one of the four qualities. Erasistratus unwillingly acknowledges this when he ascribes the indigestion occurring in fever to impaired function of the For what causes this fanctio laesa ? Proof stomach. the fever (excess of innate heat). then, heat plays so important a part in abnormal functioning, so must it also in normal (i.e. causes of eucrasia involved in those of dyscrasia, of physiology in like argument explains the those of pathology). Addition of warnith to things (jenesix of the hnmoura.
that
it is
If,
A
already
warm makes them
bitter
;
thus honey turns to
bile in peojjle who are already warm ; where warmth deficient, as in old people, it turns to useful blood._ Tliis is a proof that bile does not preexist, as such, in the
food. xlviii
— SYNOPSIS OF CHAPTERS Chapter IX The Junctions of organs also depend on the way m which the four qualities are mixed e.g. the contracting function of the stomach. Treatment onl}• possiole when we know the caiisen of errors of function. The Erasistrateana
On an appreciapractically' Empiricists in this respect. tion of the meaning of a dyacrasia follows naturally the Hippocratic principle of treating opposites l-y opposites cooling the overheated stomach, warming it wlien Useless in treatment to know merely the chilled, etc.). we must know the bodily function of each organ condition which iipsets this function. Blood is warm and moist. Yellow bile is warm and (virtually, though not apparently) dry. Phlegm is cold and moist. The fourth possible combination ^cold and dry) is represented by hlack bile. For the clearing out of this humour from the blood. Nature has provided the spleen an organ which, Proof of accoiding to Erasistratus, ful61s no purpose. the importance of the spleen is the jaundice, toxaemia, etc., occurring when it is diseased Erasistratuss failure to mention the views of leading authorities on tiiis organ shows the hopelessness of his position. The Hippocratic view has now been demonstrated deductively and inductively. The classical view as to the generation Normal and pathological forms of of the humours. yellow and black bile. Part played by the innate Other kinds of bile are heat in their production. merely transition-stages between these extreme types. Abnormal forms removed by liver and spleen rePhlegm, however, does not need a special spectively. excretory organ, as it can undergo entire metabolism in the body. Need for studying the works of the Ancients carefully, iu order to reach a proper understanding of this
{e.g.
;
—
subject.
xlix
SYNOPSIS OF CHAPTERS
BOOK
III
Cmaptkk
A
I
recapitulation of certain points previously demonstrated. Kvery part of tlie animal has an attractive and an alterative (assimilative) faculty ; it attracts the nutrient Assimilation is preceded juice which is proper to it. by adhesion (prosphj/sts) and that again, by application Application the goal of attraction. (prosthesis). It would not, however, be followed by adhesion and assimilation if each part did not also possess a faculty for retaining in position the nutriment which has been applied. priori necessity for this retentive, faculty.
A
Chapter The same faculty to be proved a
II
Its corresponding function [i.e. ihe activation of this faculty or potentiality) well seen in the large hollow organs, notably the uterus and stomach. posteriori.
Chapter
III
Exercise of the retentive faculty particularly well seen in tlie uterus. Its object is to allow the embryo to attain full development this being completed, a new faculty the expulsive hitherto quiescent, comes into play. CharTight grip acteristic signs and symptoms of pregnancy. of uterus on growing embryo, and accurate closure of os retentive faculty. during operation of the uteri Dilatation of os and expulsive activities of uterus at full term, or when foetus dies. Prolapse from undue exercise of the midwife. Accessory muscles of this faculty,
—
—
;
in parturition.
Chapter TV Same two
faculties seen in stomach. this organ is weak
show that
contents tightly enough. 1
Gnrrjltngs or horhorygmi
and
is
not gripping
Undue delay of food
in
its
a weak
:
SYNOPSIS OF CHAPTERS Btomach proved not to l>e due to narrowness of pylorus length of stay depends on whether di