Galen
was born at Pergamun. He was carefully educated by his
father who as the result of a dream chose him to enter
the medical profession in which he became very
celebrated. He studied at Pergamun, Smyrna, Corinth
and Alexandria. He practiced in his native city and
finally in Rome he became physician to the Emperor
Marcus Aurelius.
He wrote a large number of works on medical and
philosophical subjects. Eighty-three treatises
attributed to him are still extant.
His anatomical investigations were unrivalled in
antiguity for their fullness and accuracy. He was an
indefatigable dissector and also may be regarded as
the founder of experimental physiology. After
Hippocrates he was the most distinguished physician of
antiquity. He acknowledged his obligations to
Hippocrates and Alexandrian anatomists. His
physiological investigations were revolutionary. One
of his greatest contributions was that arteries
contain blood not air. He described valves of the
heart, and probably knew about anastomosis of vessels.
He partially grasped the principle of lesser
circulation. Galen's best work is in connection with
the brain, nerves and spinal cord. He understood the
need of nerves in causing muscles to move.
Galen's work marked the close of the ancient period
and no botanical investigator of note is known until
Albertus Magnus.
