Even though Cajal is considered the father of neuroscience, his contribution came centuries after the first insights into the nervous system. As I wrote in my earlier posts, ancient doctors pondered over the nervous system, trying to understand what controlled the mind and body. Of these doctors, one that stands out is Galen, whose contribution to the understanding of the nervous system was fundamental to neuroscience. Through anatomical experiments, Galen was the first to observe and teach the functioning of nerves in the body. For these experiments, which he wasn’t shy about demonstrating to the public, Galen is regarded as the founder of experimental physiology. Galen is considered one of the most prominent and influential doctors in history, second only to Hippocrates. Galen was a staunch follower of Hippocrates and helped spread his teachings from Greece to the vast Roman Empire.
Claudius Galenus, commonly know as Galen, was born in 129 AD in Pergamum in modern-day Turkey to a prosperous family. He first studied philosophy, but after his father had a dream in which Asclepius (Greek God of healing) instructed him to make his son study medicine, Galen obeyed his father, and enrolled in medical studies. His appetite for medical knowledge was so much that Galen travelled around eastern Mediterranean studying medicine in various cities in current day Turkey and Greece, completing his studies in the famous medical school of Alexandria, Egypt.
Upon returning to Pergamum, Galen was appointed physician to the school of gladiators, making him history’s first sports medicine specialist. He taught the gladiators about diet and hygiene, and in turn learnt a great deal about the human body from their wounds. He was able to reduce the death rate of gladiators significantly- in his five years at the school, he lost only 4 gladiators whereas 60 had died prior to his appointment. His fame reached Rome, and he was appointed as personal physician to Marcus Aurelius, and several other Roman emperors.
Galen was an avid reader as well as a curious experimentalist. Because dissection on cadavers was prohibited in his day, he experimented with animals and described what he observed. Through his anatomical experiments, he identified seven (of a total of 12) cranial nerves, and conducted experiments on the nervous system, such as severing a nerve and observing the effects. Besides the nervous system, his contribution extends to other areas of medicine- for instance, he discovered that arteries carried blood (it was thought to carry air earlier), identified the valves of the heart and demonstrated kidney and bladder function.
Galen was a prolific writer and wrote more than 300 works. He was very confident and a great publicist of his own work, which led him to become so famous that his teachings replaced all others in universities including Alexandria, the ancient world’s best medical institution where he had himself studied. His teachings spread throughout Europe and Asia after being translated by Arab scholars. Galen’s work was both a gift as well as curse- while it taught a lot about human anatomy, his teachings lasted 1400 years, and began to be replaced with more accurate anatomical theories only during the Renaissance in the 1500s. While the fame and reverence accorded to Galen was justified because of his extraordinary contribution to medicine, it also had a negative effect. His teachings were so blindly accepted that it took more than a millennium to correct some of his incorrect theories.
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Upon returning to Pergamum, Galen was appointed physician to the school of gladiators, making him history’s first sports medicine specialist. He taught the gladiators about diet and hygiene, and in turn learnt a great deal about the human body from their wounds. He was able to reduce the death rate of gladiators significantly- in his five years at the school, he lost only 4 gladiators whereas 60 had died prior to his appointment. His fame reached Rome, and he was appointed as personal physician to Marcus Aurelius, and several other Roman emperors.
Galen was an avid reader as well as a curious experimentalist. Because dissection on cadavers was prohibited in his day, he experimented with animals and described what he observed. Through his anatomical experiments, he identified seven (of a total of 12) cranial nerves, and conducted experiments on the nervous system, such as severing a nerve and observing the effects. Besides the nervous system, his contribution extends to other areas of medicine- for instance, he discovered that arteries carried blood (it was thought to carry air earlier), identified the valves of the heart and demonstrated kidney and bladder function.
Galen was a prolific writer and wrote more than 300 works. He was very confident and a great publicist of his own work, which led him to become so famous that his teachings replaced all others in universities including Alexandria, the ancient world’s best medical institution where he had himself studied. His teachings spread throughout Europe and Asia after being translated by Arab scholars. Galen’s work was both a gift as well as curse- while it taught a lot about human anatomy, his teachings lasted 1400 years, and began to be replaced with more accurate anatomical theories only during the Renaissance in the 1500s. While the fame and reverence accorded to Galen was justified because of his extraordinary contribution to medicine, it also had a negative effect. His teachings were so blindly accepted that it took more than a millennium to correct some of his incorrect theories.
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