Superlative Achievement and Comparative Neglect: Alexandrian Medical Science and Modern Historical Research

(Fuller references are provided in the chronologically arranged bibliography).

See Fraser P. M. , Ptolemaic Alexandria, i (Oxford, 1972), 341.

As evidence of this neglect compare the works of an author writing as recently as 1973: “In preparing my lectures on medicine in Greco-Roman times, I found that comparatively little even of the principal authorities had been translated into English, and what was even worse, very little had been written about them in our native tongue, so that for the student of medical history there was an important gap which needed filling. It is, of course, true that a substantial amount of the Hippocratic Corpus does exist in readily available English versions …but a large number of important treatises are still untranslated. Of the medical writers between Hippocrates and Galen—a period of some six centuries—practically nothing exists in the English tongue except the remaining works of Aretaeus…” ( Harris C. R. S. , The heart and the vascular system in ancient Greek medicine (Oxford, 1973), vii).

As W. H. Stahl well remarks in his foreword to Dreyer J. L. E. , A history of astronomy (2nd ed., New York, 1953), v: “Historians of science commit a grievous error in following patterns of criticism laid down by literary and art historians”.

See Bibliography, sub finem.

This blinkered outlook which has been responsible for so many startling instances of neglect, still survives and may be illustrated by Giangrande's unbalanced review of Fraser's Ptolemaic Alexandria in Journal of Hellenic studies, xciv (1974), 233–5. In his review of the second part of this excellent work Giangrande confines his comments exclusively to literary criticism and completely ignores Fraser's chapters on Alexandrian science and philosophy.

A pleasing result of this change has been the appearance of Greek science in certain of the courses on Classical Culture increasingly being offered by Classics Departments in our universities. (It is, perhaps, worth noting that Hellenistic medicine has even secured a toe-hold in the curriculum of some of our secondary schools. See the Cambridge Latin Course Unit 2, Stage. 20, “Medicus” and Para-linguistic section).

Quoted by I. B. Cohen in his foreword to Sarton's A history of science. Hellenistic science and culture in the last three centuries B. C., ii (Cambridge, Mass., 1959), xxvi.

For Vesalius's high regard for Alexandrian anatomy and his regret for its loss see the dedication to his De humani corporis fabrica (Basel, 1543). The only surviving example of an Alexandrian medical work is a commentary upon the (Hippocratic) treatise Joints (Peri arthrōn) dating from the last generation of Ptolemaic Alexandria.

Op. cit. (ref. 1), 339.

See Daremberg C. and Ruelle E. , Oeuvres de Rufus d'Ephèse (Paris, 1879; repr. Amsterdam, 1963).

See Ilberg J. , Sorani Gynaeciorum libri iv. De signis fracturarum. De fasciis. Vita Hippocratis secundum Soranum…Corpus medicorum graecorum, iv (Leipzig and Berlin, 1927), and Temkin O. , Soranus, Gynecology. Translation with an introduction (Baltimore, 1956).

See Jones W. H. S. , The medical writings of the Anonymus Londinensis (Cambridge, 1947).

See Marx F. , Auli Cornelii Celsi quae supersunt. Corpus medicorum latinorum, i (Leipzig and Berlin, 1915), and Spencer W. G. , Celsus: De medicina (Loeb ed., 3 vols, London and Cambridge, 1935–38).

Cf. De medicina (ref. 13), iii, 4, 9: “Idque apud Erasistratum quoque invenio”.

For convenience references to Galen will be cited according to the comprehensive edition of Kühn C. G. , Claudii Galeni opera omnia (20 vols (in 22), Leipzig, 1821–33). This edition is gradually being superseded by the Corpus medicorum graecorum edition (various editors, Leipzig and Berlin, in progress since 1914).

For Oribasius see the edition and French translation by Daremberg C. and Bussemaker C. , Oeuvres (6 vols, Paris, 1851–76; repr. Amsterdam, 1962). or the edition of J. Raeder in Corpus medicorum graecorum: Oribasii collectionum medicarum reliquiae (C.M.G., vi, 1, 1–2, 2, Leipzig and Berlin, 1928–33; repr. Amsterdam, 1966).

Dobson J. F. , “Herophilus”, Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, xviii (1925), 19–32.

Fuchs R. , “De Erasistrato capita selecta”, Hermes, xxix (1894), 171–203.

Dobson J. F. , “Erasistratus”, Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, xx (1926–7), 825–32.

Greenhill W. A. , “Herophilus”, Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography (London, 1873), ii, 438–9, and “Erasistratus” (loc. cit.), 42–44.

Wellmann M. , “Erasistratos”, Pauly-Wissowa , Real-Encyclopädie der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft , vi. 1 (Stuttgart, 1907), 333–50; Gossen H. , “Herophilos”, op. cit. (ref. 21), viii. 1 (Stuttgart, 1912), 1104–10.

Longrigg J. , “Erasistratus”, Dictionary of scientific biography, iv (New York, 1971), 382–6, and “Herophilus”, op. cit., vi (New York, 1972), 316–19.

Phillips E. D. , Greek medicine (London, 1973), ch. vi, “The Alexandrian school of medicine”. This work is reviewed by the present author in Journal of Hellenic studies, xcvi (1976), 221–3.

Lloyd G. E. R. , Greek science after Aristotle (London, 1973), ch. vi, “Hellenistic biology and medicine”. This work is reviewed by the present author in Journal of Hellenic studies, xcv (1975), 234–6.

Potter P. , “Herophilus of Chalcedon: An assessment of his place in the history of anatomy”, Bulletin of the history of medicine, 1 (1976), 45–60.

“Alexandrian science”, ch. vii, Ptolemaic Alexandria (ref. 1), i, 348 ff.

Fraser P. M. , “The career of Erasistratus of Ceos”, Rendiconti del Istituto Lombardo, ciii (1969), 518–37. On p. 520, notes 4 and 5 of this article, Fraser cites F. Susemihl's Geschichte der griechischen Litteratur in der Alexandrinerzeit, i, 800 n. 129 and K. J. Beloch in the first and second editions of his Griechische geschichte, iii, 2 (1904), 473 ff. and ibid.², iv, 2 (1927), 564–5 as earlier proponents of this thesis.

Harris , The heart and vascular system in ancient Greek medicine (ref. 2), 177. This work is reviewed by the present author in Journal of Hellenic studies, xcvii (1977), 196–7.

Lloyd G. E. R. , “A note on Erasistratus of Ceos”, Journal of Hellenic studies, xcv (1975), 172–5.

“Nocentes homines a regibus ex carcere acceptos vivos inciderint….”.

Ptolemaic Alexandria (ref. 1), 349. See, too, “The career of Erasistratus of Ceos” (ref. 27), 531.

“A note on Erasistratus of Ceos” (ref. 29), 175.

Ptolemaic Alexandria, ii (ref. 1), 507, n. 76 (see, too, 505, n. 64). Fraser has mistakenly identified those “qui rationalem medicinam profitentur” (i.e., the Rationalist or Dogmatist sect) with the Methodists (see, too, “The career of Erasistratus of Ceos” (ref. 27), 531, n. 33).

“The career of Erasistratus of Ceos” (ref. 27), 531.

Lloyd With , “A note on Erasistratus of Ceos” (ref. 29), 174.

I take it that the words monois tois tēs technēs theōrēmasin here imply that Erasistratus, upon retirement from medical practice, at last had the leisure to concentrate upon anatomy divorced from the practical consideration of securing the health of the patient. Fraser, on the other hand, asserts “it is not clear that [this phrase] refers to practical dissection”, Ptolemaic Alexandria, ii (ref. 1), 507, n. 76, and “The career of Erasistratus of Ceos” (ref. 27), 529, n. 28.

Book 8, ch. xiii (III.673.K).

See Ptolemaic Alexandria (ref. 1), ii, 507, n. 76.

“The career of Erasistratus of Ceos” (ref. 27), 532, n. 37 (repeated Ptolemaic Alexandria (ref. 1), ii, 507, n. 76). The same misinterpretation of this passage had previously appeared in Dobson's “Herophilus” (ref. 17), 26 (see below, ref. 50) and it has recently been repeated with approval by Scarborough J. in “Celsus on human vivisection at Ptolemaic Alexandria”, Clio medica, xi (1976), 25–38, p. 31 (see below, ref. 46).

III.673.K.

Praeter haec, cum in interioribus partibus et dolores et morborum uaria genera nascantur, neminem putant his adhibere posse remedia, qui ipsas ignoret. Ergo necessarium esse incidere corpora mortuorum, eorumque uiscera atque intestina scrutari: Longeque optime fecisse Herophilum et Erasistratum, qui nocentes homines a regibus ex carcere acceptos uiuos inciderint, considerarintque etiamnum spiritu remanente ea, quae natura ante clausisset, eorumque positum, colorem, figuram, magnitudinem, ordinem, duritiem, mollitiem, leuorem, contactum, processus deinde singulorum et recessus, et siue quid inseritur alteri, siue quid partem alterius in se recipit.

Neque esse crudele, sicut plerique proponunt, hominum nocentium, et horum quoque paucorum, suppliciis, remedia populis innocentibus saeculorum omnium quaeri (Proem, ch. 26). Phillips (Greek medicine (ref. 23), 141) unfortunately garbles the evidence here and attributes to Celsus himself this Dogmatic defence of vivisection.

See De anima, 10: Herophilus ille medicus aut lanius, qui sexcentos exsecuit, ut naturam scrutaretur, qui hominem odiit, ut nosset, nescio an omnia interna eius liquido explorarit, ipsa morte mutante quae vixerant, et morte non simplici, sed ipsa inter artificia exsectionis errante. The translations of Edelstein (“The history of anatomy in Antiquity”, in Ancient medicine (Baltimore, 1967), 247–301, p. 250, n. 6 and p. 284, “who cut up six hundred corpses“; Lloyd (Greek science after Aristotle (ref. 24), 76), “who cut up innumerable corpses“, and even Phillips (Greek medicine (ref. 23), 141), “who cuts up [sic] six hundred bodies“could very well serve to mislead. Tertullian's account here seems to have influenced St. Augustine: See De civitate dei, 22, 24, and De anima et eius origine, 4, 2, 3.

In a later passage (25) Tertullian condemns the use of the “embryosphaktes” (vel sim.)—a bronze spike for killing the embryo within the womb—and tells us that among those doctors who used this device was Herophilus “the dissector of adults too”—et maiorum quoque prosector—which in its context seems also to suggest vivisection. Diels H. , it may be noted, actually proposes the emendation of vivorum (Doxographi graeci (Berlin, 1958), 206, n. 2).

See, for example, Allbutt C. , Greek medicine in Rome (London, 1921), 147, n. 3; Dobson J. F. , “Herophilus” (ref. 17), 25 ff. and Singer C. , The evolution of anatomy (London, 1925), 34ff. Greenhill W. A. , however, takes a sturdily independent line and remains an exception (see “Professor Marx's Herophilus”, British and foreign medical review, xv (1843), 106–14, p. 109).

A recent exception, however, is Scarborough in “Celsus on human vivisection at Ptolemaic Alexandria” (ref. 39), 25–38.

Crawfurd R. , “Forerunners of Harvey in Antiquity”, Harveian Oration, 1919, reprinted in the British medical journal, ii (1919). 551–6. p. 554. rt col.

Greek medicine in Rome (ref. 45), 147, n. 3.

Finlayson J. , “Herophilus and Erasistratus”. Glasgow medical journal, xxxix (1893). 321–52, p. 326.

“Herophilus” (ref. 17), 26.

See, for example, Dobson , op. cit. (ref. 17), and Singer , op. cit. (ref. 45), 34ff.

See Johannes Alexandrinus's (7th century A.D.) commentary on (Hippocrates) De natura pueri in Dietz F. R. , Scholia in Hippocratem et Galenum, ii (Könisberg, 1834), 216, cited by Greenhill in his review of Marx's Herophilus (ref. 45), 109.

For this argument see especially Singer, op. cit. (ref. 45) and more recently Scarborough, op. cit. (ref. 39), 26.

Incidere autem vivorum corpora et crudele et supervacuum est, mortuorum discentibus necessarium; nam positum et ordinem nosse debent, quae cadaver melius quam vivus et vulneratus homo repraesentat. Sed et cetera, quae modo in vivis cognosci possunt, in ipsis curationibus vulneratorum paulo tardius sed aliquanto mitius usus ipse monstrabit.

Cf. Singer , op. cit. (ref. 45), and Lloyd . Greek science after Aristotle (ref. 24). 76.

Soranus was opposed to anatomy and even regarded venesection as a iugulatio: See Aurelianus Caelius . De morbis acutis, 2, 219: Sed haec omnia gravia atque execrabilia et aegrotantibus perniciosa esse perspicimus, etenim phlebotomiam nihil iugulatione differre ratio testatur, quippe cum haec faciat quae ipsa nititur passio, mentem disicere et corpus in mortem per sudores solvere, ac ad sua primordia revocare defluxionem, atque casum virium augere.

See Waszink J. H. , Tertullian De anima. Edition with introduction and commentary (Amsterdam. 1947), 25ff., and Diels , Doxographi graeci (ref. 44). 207.

The (Hippocratic) treatise De corde, it should be noted, reveals a fairly intimate acquaintance with the heart which seems to have been based upon the human, not the animal, heart. See Wellmann M. , Fragmentsammlung der griechischen Ärtze, i: Die Fragmente der Sikelischen Ärzte (Berlin, 1901), 94: “er den Bau des Herzens nicht am tierischen Körper untersucht habe, sondern am Menschen”, and Bidez J. and Leboucq G. , “Une anatomie antique du coeur humain”, Revue des études grecques, lvii (1944), 7–40, p. 34: “il s'agit d'une dissection humaine.” Following Wellmann, Leboucq assigns this treatise to Philistion of Locri. Its anatomical sophistication, however, has induced some scholars to believe that it can hardly have been composed earlier than the lifetime of Erasistratus. See, for example, Abel K. , “Die Lehre vom Bluktreislauf im Corpus Hippocraticum”, Hermes, lxxxvi (1958), 192–219 (repr. in Antike Medizin (Darmstadt, 1971), 121–64, where see especially his “Retractatio”, 158ff.), and Harris C. R. S. , The heart and the vascular system (ref. 2), 95. I. Lonie in a recent article has adduced, to my mind, persuasive arguments for a slightly earlier date in the first half of the third century B.C. “shortly prior to the work of the great Alexandrians”: See “The paradoxical text ‘On the heart’”, Medical history, xvii (1973), pt i, 1–15, pt ii, 136–53, p. 152. F. Kudlien's tentative dating of this work to the Roman period on the basis of supposed parallels in Posidonius is not convincing: See “Poseidonios und die Arzteschule der Pneumatiker”, Hermes, xc (1962), 419–29.

“The history of anatomy in Antiquity” (ref. 43), 247–301, 275ff. Edelstein's thesis is accepted by Phillips, op. cit. (ref. 23), 140, and French R. K. , “The thorax in history”, Thorax, xxxiii (1978), 10–18, 153–66, 295–306, 555–603, p. 153.

Edelstein cites here (278) De partibus animalium, 640b36ff.

See “Antike Anatomie und menschlicher Leichnam”, Hermes, xcvii (1969), 78–94, and “Anatomie”, Pauly Wissowa, Real-Encyclopädie der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft, Supp, Bd xi (Stuttgart, 1968), 38–48, p. 42.

See “Herophilos und der Beginn der medizinischen Skepsis”, Gesnerus, xxi (1964), 1–13 (repr. in Antike Medizin (Darmstadt, 1971), 280–95).

von Staden With , “Experiment and experience in Hellenistic medicine”, Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, xxii (1975), 178–99, p. 197, n. 57.

See Galen V.685K. and Celsus , De medicina, Introd., ch. 15.

Galen XIV.683.K.

See, for example, Simon M. , Sieben Bücher Anatomie des Galen (2 vols, Leipzig, 1906), ii, xxxix ff.

See Smith G. Elliott , “Egyptian mummies”, Journal of Egyptian archaeology, i (1914), 189–96, p. 190.

The heart and the vascular system (ref. 2), 177.

See Allbutt C. , Greek medicine in Rome (ref. 45), 133; cf., too, Daremberg C. , Histoire des sciences medicales (2 vols, Paris, 1870), 150: “Tout est grec dans la médecine à Alexandrie: Elle ne doit rien, absolument rien, à la sagesse égyptienne…”.

Ptolemaic Alexandria (ref. 1), 351.

For an account of the Museum and the activities of the Ptolemies as patrons of the arts and sciences see Rostovtzeff M. , The social and economic history of the Hellenistic world (Oxford, 1941), ii, 1084–6; iii, 1598 and 1600. R. K. French well points out (op. cit., ref. 59) that the existence of the medical school would itself have provided “mutual support within a group to preserve an unpleasant practice”.

Kudlien also points to the absence of these “traditionelle Hemmungen” (“Antike Anatomie” (ref. 61), 87). He should, however, have stressed not only the absence of these inhibitions at Alexandria, but also the actual treatment of the corpse.

See Herodotus's account of the Egyptian art of embalming at Histories, II, 86 ff.

Galen III.21K. and XIV.683K.

Galen II.895K.

III.665K. It should be noted, however, that Herophilus was not, apparently, the first to draw this distinction between cerebrum and cerebellum since both terms are employed by Aristotle at Historia animalium, 495a 10 ff. For Aristotle's view of the brain see Clarke Edwin , “Aristotelian concepts of the brain”, Bulletin of the history of medicine, xxxvii (1963), 1–14, and Clarke E. and Stannard J. , “Aristotle on the anatomy of the brain”, Journal of the history of medicine, xviii (1963), 130–48.

Ps. Rufus, De corp. part. anat. 74 (185 Daremberg and Ruelle); Aëtius, 4.5.4; Galen , De usu partium viii 11 (III.667K.). For reactions to this “epochmaking discovery” within the Lyceum and the Stoa, where the seat of the hegemonikon was held to be located in the heart, see Solmsen , “Greek philosophy and the discovery of the nerves”, Museum helveticum, xviii (1961), fasc. 4, 169–97, pp. 194–5. Solmsen points out that even after this demonstration by dissection, the brain must be the seat of the hegemonikon, Chrysippus sought doggedly to defend the school dogma by an appeal to Praxagoras, a scientific authority of about half a century earlier.

Galen , II.731K.

Galen , II.719K.

Galen , III.708K. and II.712K.

For a discussion of the Torcular Herophili, see Finlayson , “Herophilus and Erasistratus” (ref. 49), 336.

Galen , V.155K. Dobson is mistaken in his reference here: “Herophilus” (ref. 17), 26, n. 8.

Op. cit. (ref. 66), ii, p. xxxvi.

“Herophilus” (ref. 17), 20.

Museum helveticum, xviii (1961), fasc. 4, 169–97.

Loc. cit., 186.

De corp. part. anat., 71–74 (184, 13 Daremberg and Ruelle).

Galen , III.813K.

Galen , ibid, and VII.89K.

See Chalcidius (in Timaeum, 246, p. 279 Wrobel D.-K.24A10): Multa et praeclara in lucem [protulit].

“Herophilos bei Kallimachos”, Hermes, lx (1925), 14–32.

Aëtius (vii.48 (C.M.G. viii, 2, 302–3)) quotes Herophilus's remedy for day blindness: “Herophilus says the opposite in his book on the eyes. ‘For those who do not see in the day time grind down gum, dung of the land-crocodile, copperore, bile of the hyena into a smooth paste with honey and smear under the eyes twice a day. Give the patient goat's liver to eat on an empty stomach.’ “The remedy itself suggests Egyptian pharmacological influences.”

Greek medicine (ref. 23), 218, n. 377.

Chalcidius in the above passage, after citing Herophilus along with Alcmaeon of Croton and Callisthenes, Aristotle's pupil, adds (p. 280 Wrobel): Oculi porro ipsius continentiam in quattuor membranis seu tunicis notaverunt disparili soliditate. Since in the Hippocratic Corpus only two (see Galen Ps , Introductio, XIV.712K.) or three coats are recognized (see De locis in homine, II.104 Kühlewein = vi.280L.) and Aristotle's own account of the eye at Historia animalium, 491b18 ff. is sketchy and patently not based upon any detailed anatomical investigation, it is not unreasonable to conclude with Oppermann, op. cit. (ref. 91), that it was Herophilus who first distinguished four tunics of the eye.

Pseudo-Rufus , De corporis humani partium, 13 (Rufus, p. 171 Daremberg).

Rufus , De corporis humani partium appellationibus, 153 (154.9 Daremberg).

De corp. hum. part. ap., 153 (p.154, 1 Daremberg).

Anonymus Pseudo-Rufus, De anat. hom. part., 9.

In the present Section.

Callimachus in Hymn III.53 likens the eye of the Cyclops to a “shield of four bullhides” (sakos tetraboeion) instead of using the traditional Homeric simile “shield of seven bull-hides” (sakos heptaboeion). Oppermann, loc. cit. (ref.91), has persuasively argued that the modification introduced here by Callimachus stems from his interest in Herophilus's contemporary work on ophthalmology.

Such apparently is the view of Magnus H. , Die Augenheilkunde der Alten (Breslau, 1901), 211.

Op. cit. (ref. 17), 21.

Greek science after Aristotle (ref. 24), 78–79.

Op. cit. (ref. 23), 144.

Op. cit. (ref. 25), 47.

Ptolemaic Alexandria (ref. 1), 351. See, too, the brief account in Mani. Die historischen Grundlagen der Leberforschung (2 vols, Basel-Stuttgart, 1959–61), i, 45ff.

There is also a slightly variant text in Oribasius, III.xxiv (p. 36 Raeder).

Reading here with Singer, Galen on anatomical procedures (Oxford, 1956), 163, anarthros.

Ptolemaic Alexandria (ref. 1), 510, n. 92.

Loc. cit.

Sieben Bücher Anatomie des Galen (ref. 66), xxxvii–viii.

“Erasistratus, the Erasistrateans and Aristotle”, Bulletin of the history of medicine, xxxviii (1964), 426–43, p. 440, n. 45.

In physica , 371.33 (D.-K. 31B61). See my article “A seminal debate in the fifth century B.C.?”, forthcoming in Apeiron.

See Allbutt C. , Greek medicine in Rome (ref. 45), 313–14.

V.543K.

II.780K. He gave it this name we learn elsewhere from Galen (VIII.396K.) because of its length.

III.335K.

III.445K.

VIII.747K.

Cf. Rufus , De nom. part., 162 (Daremberg and Ruelle).

The heart and the vascular system (ref. 2), 180.

“Herophilos” (ref. 21), 1106.

“Herophilus” (ref. 17), 21.

Greek medicine (ref. 23), 143.

Ptolemaic Alexandria (ref. 1), 352.

“Erasistratus, Galen and the pneuma”. Bulletin of the history of medicine, xxxiii (1959), 293–314, p. 296, n. 18.

“Celsus on human vivisection at Ptolemaic Alexandria” (ref. 39), 31.

IV.731K.

For Praxagoras's views on this matter see the explicit statement of Galen VII.573K. (= Steckerl F. , The fragments of Praxagoras of Cos and his school (Leiden, 1958) frag. 85).

Ptolemaic Alexandria (ret. 1), 515, n. 103.

See Galen , VIII.702K.

I have benefited from discussion of this topic with Dr G. E. R. Lloyd.

The heart and the vascular system (ref. 2), 180, n. 1.

Unfortunately the account of Herophilus's doctrine of the pulse which Galen promises at De praesagitione ex pulsibus II.3 (IX.279K.) was either not written or has failed to survive. But other Galenic treatises have survived which provide useful information for doctrines of pulsation in general and those of Herophilus in particular. For a full listing of these treatises see Fraser below.

See his Oeuvres de Rufus d'Ephèse (Paris, 1879), 616: “La suite de mes études me conduira, du reste, à publier un jour l'histoire de la sphygmique”.

Pigeaud J. M. , “Du rhythme dans le corps. Quelques notes sur l'interpretation du pouls par le médecin Hérophile”, Bulletin de l'Association Guillaume Budé, iii (1978), 258–67.

De pulsibus, XI.

Simon M. , Sieben Bücher Anatomie des Galen (ref. 66), xxxvi–vii.

Pinoff J. , “Herophilus: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Geburtshilfe”, Janus, ii (1847), 739–43; Michler M. , Die alexandrinischen Chirurgen: Die hellenistische Chirurgie, i (Wiesbaden, 1968), 32–33, and 90.

Galen , IV.596K. See IV.582K. for the description of the male vessels as varicose.

Galen , II.890K.

Op. cit. (ref. 138), xxxvi.

Ptolemaic Alexandria (ref. 1), 511, n. 94.

This mistake is to be explained, presumably, on the assumption that Herophilus has chanced to dissect elderly women in whom these vessels are not easily identified.

On this matter see my article, “The great plague of Athens”, History of science, xviii (1980), 209–25, p. 211.

Erasistratus wrote a large number of works notably on anatomy, pathology, hemoptysis, fevers, gout, dropsy and hygiene. On his works generally see Fuchs R. , Erasistratea (Diss. Leiden, 1892), 14–17.

Cf. Index vol. XX. 228K.: Eius librorum nullus iam supererat Galeni tempore.

Greek medicine in Rome (ref. 45), 156.

“Erasistratus” (ref. 19), 21.

Ch. vi 6 (XI.221K).

Book i, ch. xvii (II.71K).

Cf. Laërtius Diogenes , 5.57 and Galen, IV.729K.

Cf. Galen , II.88K.

See Fraser's useful analysis of the evidence for the various Chrysippi in “The career of Erasistratus of Ceos” (ref. 27), 521–6.

“Erasistratos” (ref. 21), 334.

See A short history of medicine , 2nd ed. (London, 1962), 49 and Greek medicine (ref. 23), 146.

“Ueber das physikalische System des Straton”, Sitzungsberichte der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, i (1893), 101–27.

Hero I, p. 24, 20 Schmidt = Simplicius In physica 693.10 ff. = Strato Frg. 65 Wehrli (see ref. 159).

For Strato's corpuscular theory see Wehrli F. , Die Schule des Aristoteles , Hft v (Basel, 1950), 53–55; Diels H. , op. cit. (ref. 44), and Gottschalk H. B. , “Strato of Lampsacus, some texts”, Proceedings of the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society, xi (1965), 95–182, p. 146.

See Wehrli , op. cit. (ref. 159), commentary on frg. 108, p. 71, and Solmsen F. , “Greek philosophy and the discovery of the nerves” (ref. 77), 183.

“Zur Geschichte der Medizin im Alterthum”, Hermes, xxxv (1900), 349–84, p. 377, n. 1. For Wellmann's tendency to change his views considerably at times without reference to his earlier ones see Fraser , “The career of Erasistratus of Ceos” (ref. 27), 520.

With Gottschalk (ref. 159), 132.

On this experiment see now von Staden H. , “Experiment and experience in Hellenistic medicine”, Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, xxii (1975), 178–99, p. 179 ff.

Galen , XV.247K.

ibid., XIX.372K. and II. 119–120K.

V.550K.

V.553K.

III.304K.

Even Galen remarks that Erasistratus's accurate account of the valves of the heart made it superfluous for him to describe them himself (V.166K. and V.206K).

With Lonie , “The paradoxical text ‘On the heart’”, Medical history, xvii (1973), pt i, 1–15 and pt ii, 136–53, p. 152. See too Lonie's discussion of the question whether the author of De corde had previously recognized the Ventricular valves as such (op. cit., pt i, 11–14).

V. 548–50K.

“Erasistratus, Galen and the Pneuma” (ref. 126), 297.

V.548K. See Lonie , op. cit. (ref. 170), 139, n. 43.

Op. cit. (ref. 170), 138.

By Majno Guido , The healing hand (Cambridge, Mass., 1975), 332.

Op. cit. (ref. 170), 139, n. 42.

Pneumatica I.28. The pump is also described by Philo of Byzantium, Appendix 1, 2 (Carra de Vaux), and by Vitruvius X, 7. See the convenient translation with illustrations printed in Cohen M. R. and Drabkin I. E. , A source book in Greek science (Cambridge, Mass., 1958), 329–31.

Op. cit. (ref. 175), 322.

V.550K. This analogy is a fairly common one and is used by Aristotle (De resp. 480a20), the author of De corde (ch. 8) and several times by Galen (III.483K. and VIII.703K).

V.562K.

“Erasistratos” (ref. 21), 340.

Greek medicine in Rome (ref. 45), 305–6.

The evolution of anatomy (ref. 45), 33.

For this analogy, see Plato , Timaeus , 77c; Aristotle , De partibus animalium , 668a13 ff.; Historia animalium , 515a21 ff., and Galen , De naturalibus facultatibus, iii.254, 1 ff. (Helmreich) = II.210K. and, generally, Lonie I. M. , “Erasistratus, the Erasistrateans, and Aristotle” (ref. 112), 426, n. 2.

“Erasistratus” (ref. 19), 25.

See Galen , III.666K.

Galen , V.602.K.

P. 159.

See Galen , V.646K. and V.602K.

See Galen , V.125K., and Fuchs R. , “Anecdota medica graeca”, Rheinisches Museum, xlix (1894), 532–58, frg. 20, p. 550.

Vii, 3 (V.602-4K. = 598–600 Müller).

For the use of this word see especially Theophrastus, Historia plantarum, 3.17.5; 1.2.6.

See, too. Neuburger Max , Die Geschichte der Medizin (Stuttgart, 1906), 267. Eng. trans, by Playfair E. , i (London, 1909), 181.

“Erasistratos” (ref. 21), 343–4. See, too, Singer , The evolution of anatomy (ref. 45), 32.

L 'Evolution de la doctrine du pneuma (Paris/Louvain, 1945), 184.

Greek medicine (ref. 23), 148.

Op. cit. (ref. 77), 188.

With Harris , The heart and the vascular system (ref. 2), 232.

It is a pleasant duty to record that H. von Staden has now collected and translated the fragments of Herophilus in his forthcoming book. The art of medicine in Ptolemaic Alexandria: Herophilus and his school.

1792 Sprengel K. , Versuch einer pragmatischen Geschichte der Arzneikunde, 1st ed. (Halle, 1792 onwards).

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1907 Schöne H. , “Markellinos' Pulslehre. Ein griechisches Anekdoton”, Festschrift zur 49 Versammlung deutscher Philologen und Schulmänner in Basel (Basel 1907), 448–72.

1907 Wellmann M. , “Eudemos”, 17, Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyclopädie der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft, vi, 1 (Stuttgart, 1907), 904.

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1912 Gossen H. , “Herophilos”, Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyclopädie der klassischen Altertumswissenshaft, viii, 1 (Stuttgart, 1912), 1104–10.

1913 Jaeger W. W. , “Das Pneuma im Lykeion”, Hermes, xlviii (1913), 29–72; repr. in Scripta minora (Rome, 1960), 57–102.

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1920 Diels H. , Antike Technik, 2nd ed. (Leipzig, 1920).

1921 Allbutt C. , Greek medicine in Rome (London, 1921; repr. New York, 1970).

1922 Wellmann M. , “Der Verfasser des Anonymus Londinensis”, Hermes, lvii (1922), 396–430.

1923 Unger F. C. , Liber Hippocraticus de corde editus cum prolegomenis et commentario (Diss., Utrecht, 1923).

1923 Unger F. C. , “Liber Hippocraticus PERI KARDIES”, Mnemosyne, li (1923), 1–101.

1925 Dobson J. F. , “Herophilus”, Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, xviii, pts 1 & 2 (1925), 19–32.

1925 Oppermann H. , “Herophilos bei Kallimachos”, Hermes, lx (1925), 14–32.

1925 Singer C. , The evolution of anatomy (London, 1925). Second edition under the title A short history of anatomy and physiology from the Greeks to Harvey (New York, 1957).

1926 Dobson J. F. , “Erasistratus”, Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, xx (1926–7), 825–32.

1927 Ilberg J. , Sorani Gynaeciorum Libri IV, Corpus medicorum graecorum, iv (Leipzig & Berlin, 1927).

1927 Singer C. , “The herbal in Antiquity”, Journal of Hellenic studies, xlvii (1927), 1–52.

1929 Brock A. J. , Greek medicine (London, Toronto & New York, 1929).

1930 Wellmann M. , “Beiträge zur Geschichte der Medizin im Altertum”, Hermes, lxv (1930), 322–31.

1931 Capelle W. , “Straton von Lampsakos”, 13, Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyclopädie der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft, iv, 1 (Stuttgart 1931), 278–315.

1932 Edelstein L. , “Die Geschichte der Sektion in der Antike”, Quellen und Studien zur Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften und der Medizin, Bnd 3, Hft 2 (Berlin, 1932), 50–106; repr. in Ancient medicine (Baltimore, 1967), 247–301, as “The history of anatomy in Antiquity” (trans. Temkin Lilian ).

1932 Sudhoff K. , “Zur operativen Ileusbehandlung des Praxagoras”, Quellen und Studien zur Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften und der Medizin, Bnd 3, Hft 4 (1932/3), 151–4.

1934 Souques A. , “Que doivent à Hérophile et à Erasistrate l'anatomie et la physiologie du système nerveux?”, Bull. Soc. d'Hist. Médecine, xxviii (1934), 357–65.

1935 Souques A. , “Connaissances neurologiques d'Hérophile et d'Erasistrate”, Revue neurologique, lxiii (1935), 145–76.

1936 Souques A. , Etapes de la neurologie dans l'antiquité grecque (Paris, 1936).

1936 Souques A. , “Connaissances neurologiques d'Hérophile à Galien”, Revue neurologique, lxv (1936), 489–525.

1937 Baumann E. D. “Praxagoras of Kos”, Janus, xli (1937), 167–85.

1938 Jaeger W. W. , Diokles von Karystos, die griechische Medizin und die Schule des Aristoteles (Berlin, 1938).

1938 Jaeger W. W. , “Vergessene Fragmente des Peripatetikers Diokles von Karystos nebst zwei Anhaengen zur Chronologie der dogmatischen Aerzteschule”, Abhandlungen der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Phil-hist. Klasse (1938), no. 3, 1–46; repr. in Scripta minora, ii (Rome, 1960), 185–241.

1939 Hurlbutt F. R. , “Peri kardies: A treatise on the heart from the Hippocratic Corpus. Introduction and translation” Bulletin of the history of medicine, vii (1939), 1104–13.

1940 Gask G. E. , “Early medical schools, III. The school of Alexandria”, Annals of medical history, ii (1940), 383–92.

1940 Jaeger W. W. , “Diocles of Carystus: A new pupil of Aristotle”, Philosophical review, xlix (1940), 393–414: Repr. in Scripta minora, ii (Rome, 1960), 243–65; reviewed by Edelstein L. in American journal of philology, lxi (1940), 483–9.

1941 Horine E. F. , “An epitome of ancient pulse lore”, Bulletin of the history of medicine, x (1941), 209–49.

1942 Drabkin M. , “A select bibliography of Greek and Roman medicine”, Bulletin of the history of medicine, xi (1942), 399–408.

1943 Kalbfleisch K. , “Die verkannten Venenklappen”, Rheinisches Museum, xcii (1943/4), 383–4.

1944 Bidez J. & Leboucq G. , “Une anatomie antique du coeur humain”, Revue des études grecques, lvii (1944), 7–40.

1945 Verbeke G. , L'Évolution de la doctrine du pneuma (Paris-Louvain, 1945).

1947 Jones W. H. S. , The medical writings of Anonymus Londinensis (Cambridge, 1947).

1947 Waszink J. H. , Tertullian De anima, edition with introduction and commentary (Amsterdam, 1947).

1950 Wehrli F. , Straton von Lampsakos, die Schule des Aristoteles, v (Basel, 1950).

1950 Drabkin I. E. , Caelius Aurelianus: On acute and chronic diseases, ed. and translated (Chicago, 1950).

1951 Lesky E. , Die Zeugungs- und Vererbungslehren der Antike und ihr Nachwirken (Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur. Abhandlungen der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftlichen Klasse 1950, Wiesbaden, 1951).

1951 Sigerist H. E. , History of medicine (2 vols, New York, 1951–61).

1952 Jaeger W. , “Diokles von Karystos und Aristoxenus von Tarent über die Prinzipien”, Festschrift O. Regenbogen (Heidelberg, 1952), 94–103.

1954 Bardong K. , “Praxagoras”, Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyclopädie der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft, xxii, 2 (Stuttgart, 1954), 1735–43.

1955 Heinimann F. , “Diokles von Karystos und der prophylaktische Brief an König Antigonus”, Museum Helveticum, xii (1955), 158–72.

1956 Lefebvre G. , Essai sur la médecine Egyptienne de l'époque Pharaonique (Paris, 1956).

1956 Singer C. , Galen on anatomical procedures (Oxford, 1956).

1956 Temkin O. , Soranus' gynecology. Translation with an introduction. With assistance of Eastman N. G. Edelstein L. & Guttmacher A. F. (Baltimore, 1956).

1957 Schrijvers P. H. , “La classification des rêves selon Hérophile”, Mnemosyne, xxx (1957), 13–27.

1958 Abel K. , “Die Lehre vom Blutkreislauf im Corpus Hippocraticum”, Hermes, lxxxvi (1958). 192–219; repr. with a “Retractio” in Antike Medizin, ed. Flashar H. (Darmstadt, 1971), 121–64.

1958 Cohen M. R. & Drabkin I. E. , A source book in Greek science (Cambridge, Mass., 1958).

1958 Steckerl F. , The fragments of Praxagoras of Cos and his school (Leiden, 1958).

1959 Mani N. , Die historischen Grundlagen der Leberforschung (2 vols, Basel, 1959–67).

1959 Sarton G. , A history of science, ii, Hellenistic science and culture in the last three centuries B. C. (Cambridge, Mass., 1959).

1959 Wilson L. G. , “Erasistratus, Galen and the pneuma”, Bulletin of the history of medicine, xxxiii (1959), 293–314.

1961 Solmsen F. , “Greek philosophy and the discovery of the nerves”, Museum Helveticum, xviii (1961), 150–97; reprinted in Kleine Schriften (Hildesheim, 1968), 536–82 and in Antike Medizin, ed. by Flashar H. (Darmstadt, 1971), 202–79.

1962 Kudlien F. , “Poseidonios und die Ärzteschule der Pneumatiker”, Hermes, xc (1962), 419–29.

1962 Singer C. & Underwood E. A. , A short history of medicine, 2nd edn (London, 1962).

1963 Clarke E. , “Aristotelian concepts of the form and function of the brain”, Bulletin of the history of medicine, xxxvii (1963), 1–14.

1963 Clarke E. & Stannard J. , “Aristotle on the anatomy of the brain”, Journal of the history of medicine, xviii (1963), 130–48.

1963 Kudlien F. , “Probleme um Diokles von Karystos”, Sudhoffs Archiv für Geschichte der Medizin und Naturwissenschaften, xlvii (1963), 456–64.

1964 Kudlien F. , “Herophilos und der Beginn der medizinischen Skepsis”, Gesnerus, xxi (1964), 1–13 and Antike Medizin, ed. Flashar H. (Darmstadt, 1971), 280–95.

1964 Lonie I. M. , “Erasistratus, the Erasistrateans and Aristotle”, Bulletin of the history of medicine, xxxviii (1964), 426–43.

1965 Benveniste E. , “Termes gréco-latins d'anatomie”, Revue de philologie, xxxix (1965), 7–13.

1965 Gottschalk H. B. , “Strato of Lampsacus: Some texts”, Proceedings of the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society, xi, pt vi (1965), 95–182.

1965 Torraca L. , “Diocle di Carysto, il Corpus Hippocraticum ed Aristotele”, Sophia, xxxiii (1965), 105–15.

1968 Kudlien F. , “Anatomie”, Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyclopädie der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft, Supp, Bd xi (Stuttgart, 1968), 38–48.

1968 Michler M. , Die hellenistische Chirurgie, i: Die alexandrinischen Chirurgen (Wiesbaden, 1968).

1969 Fraser P. M. , “The career of Erasistratus of Ceos”, Rendiconti del Istituto Lombardo, ciii (1969), 518–37.

1969 Kudlien F. , “Antike Anatomie und menschlicher Leichnam”, Hermes, xcvii (1969), 78–94.

1970 Scarborough J. , “Diphilus of Siphnos and Hellenistic medical dietetics”, Journal of the history of medicine and allied sciences, xxv (1970), 194–201.

1971 Longrigg J. , “Erasistratus”, Dictionary of scientific biography, iv (New York, 1971), 382–6.

1972 Fraser P. M. , Ptolemaic Alexandria (3 vols, Oxford, 1972), i, ch. 7, i, 336–76; ii, 495–551.

1972 Longrigg J. , “Herophilus”, Dictionary of scientific biography, vi (New York, 1972), 316–19.

1972 Harris C. R. S. , The heart and the vascular system in ancient Greek medicine (Oxford, 1973), ch. 4.

1973 Leitner H. , Bibliography to the ancient medical authors (Historical Medical Institute of the University of Vienna, Bern, Stuttgart & Vienna, 1973).

1973 Lloyd G. E. R. , Greek science after Aristotle (London, 1973), ch. 6, “Hellenistic biology and medicine”.

1973 Lonie I. M. , “The paradoxical text ‘On the heart’”, Medical history, xvii (1973), pt i, 1–15 & pt ii. 136–53.

1973 Phillips E. D. , Greek medicine (London, 1973), ch. 6; U.S. edition, Aspects of Greek medicine (New York, 1973).

1975 Lloyd G. E. R. , “A note on Erasistratus of Ceos”, Journal of Hellenic studies, xcv (1975), 172–5.

1975 Longrigg J. , “Praxagoras”, Dictionary of scientific biography, xi (New York, 1975), 127–8.

1975 Majno G. , The healing hand (Cambridge, Mass., 1975).

1975 Von Staden H. , “Experiment and experience in Hellenistic medicine”, Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, xxii (1975), 178–99.

1976 Potter P. , “Herophilus of Chalcedon: An assessment of his place in the history of anatomy”, Bulletin of the history of medicine, 1 (1976), 45–60.

1976 Scarborough J. , “Celsus on human vivisection at Ptolemaic Alexandria”, Clio medica, xi (1976), 25–38.

1976 Von Staden H. , “Die Hippokrateskommentare im Codex Ambrosianus Graecus 473 und Herophilus”, Philologus, cxx (1976), 132–6.

1977 Kotrc R. F. , “A new fragment of Erasistratus' HE TON HYGIEINON PRAGMATEIA”, Rheinisches Museum für Philologie, cxx (1977), 159–161.

1978 Pigeaud J. M. , “Du rhythme dans le corps. Quelques notes sur l'interprétation du pouls par la médecin Hérophile”, Bulletin de l'Association Guillaume Budé, iii (1978), 258–67.

1978 French R. K. , “The thorax in history”, Thorax, xxxiii (1978), 10–18, 153–66, 295–306, 555–64.

1979 Smith W. D. , The Hippocratic tradition (Ithaca & London, 1979).