Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/224

Rh 210 GALENUS. corum dissertissimus atque doctissimus,'"(S. Hieron. Comment, in Aoms^ c. 5. vol. vi. p. 283), and even &6«{TaTos. (Alex. Trail. De Med. v. 4. p. 77. ed. Lutet. Par.) II. General History of Galen's Writings, Commentators, Bibliography, &c; The works that are still extant under the name of Galen, as enumerated by Choulant, in the second edition of his Handbuch der B'ucherkimde fur die Aeltere Medicin, consist of eighty- three treatises ac- knowledged to be genuine ; nineteen whose genu- ineness has, with more or less reason, been doubted; forty-five undoubtedly spurious ; nineteen frag- ments; and fifteen commentaries on different works of Hippocrates : and more than fifty short pieces and fragments (many or most of which are pro- bably spurious) are enumerated as still lying un- published in difi'erent European libraries. (Acker- mann, Histor. Liter, pp. clxxxvi. &c.) Almost all these treat of some branch of medical science, and many of them were composed at the request of his friends, and without any view to publication. Be- sides these, however, Galen wrote a great number of works, of which nothing but the titles have been preserved ; so that altogether the number of his distinct treatises cannot have been less than five hundred. Some of these are very short, and he frequently repeats whole passages, with hardly any variation, in different works ; but still, when the number of his writings is considered, their in- trinsic excellence, and the variety of the subjects of which he treated (extending not only to every branch of medical science, but also to ethics, logic, grammar, and other departments of philosophy), he haa-«always been justly ranked among the greatest authors that have ever lived. (See Cardan, De Subtil, lib. xvi. p. 597, ed. 1554. His style is elegant, but diffuse and prolix, and he abounds in allusions and quotations from the ancient Greek poets, philosophers, and historians. At the time when Galen began to devote himself to the study of medicine, the profession was divided into several sects, which were con- stantly disputing with each other. The Dogmatici and Empirici had for several centuries been op- posed to each other ; in the first century b. c. had arisen the sect of the Methodici ; and shortly before Galen's own time had been founded those of the Eclectici, Pneumatici, and Episynthetici. Ga- len himself, " nulHus addictus jurare in verba ma- gistri," attached himself exclusively to none of these sects, but chose from the tenets of each what he believed to be good and true, and called those persons slaves who designated themselves as fol- lowers of Hippocrates, Praxagoras, or any other man. (De Libr. Propr. c. 1. vol. xiv. p. 13.) How- ever, " in his general principles," says Dr. Bostock, matic sect, for his method was to reduce all his knowledge, as acquired by the observation of facts, to general theoretical principles. These principles he indeed professed to deduce from experience and observation, and we have abundant proofs of his diligence in collecting experience, and his accuracy in making observations ; but still, in a certjiin sense at least, he regards individual facts and the detail of experience as of little value, unconnected with the principles which he laid down as the GALENUS. basis of all medical reasoning. In this fundamental point, therefore, the method pursued by Galen ap- pears to have been directly the reverse of that which we now consider as the correct method of scientific investigation ; and yet, such is the force of natural genius, that in most instances he at- tained the ultimate object in view, although by aa indirect path. He was an admirer of Hippocrates, and always speaks of him with the most profound respect, professing to act upon his principles, and to do little more than to expound his doctrines, and support them by new facts and observations. Yet, in reality, we have few writers whose works, both as to substance and manner, are more different from each other than those of Hippocrates and Galen, the simplicity of the former being strongly con- trasted with the abstruseness and refinement of the latter." {Hist, of Med.) After Galen's time we hear but little of the old medical sects, which in fact seem to have been all merged in his followers and imitators. To the compilers among the Greeks and Romans of large medical works, like Aetius and Oribasius, his writings formed the basis of their labours ; while, as soon as they had been translated into Arabic, in the ninth century after Chiist, chiefly by Ho- nain Ben Ishak, they were at once adopted through- out the East as the standard of medical perfection. It was probably in a great measure from the influ- ence exercised even in Europe by the Arabic me- dical writers during the middle ages that Galen's popularity was derived ; for, though his opinions were universally adopted, yet his writings appear to have been but little read, when compared with those of Avicenna and Mesue. Of the value of what was done by the Arabic writers towards the explanation and illustration of Galen's works, it is impossible to judge ; as, though numerous trans- lations, commentaries, and abridgements are still extant in different European libraries, none of them have ever been published. If, however, a new and critical edition of Galen's works should ever be undertaken, these ought certainly to be examined, and would probably be found to be of much value ; especially as some of his writings (as is specified below), of which the Greek text is lost, are still extant in an Arabic translation. Of the immense number of European writers who have employed themselves in editing, translating, or il- lustrating Galen's works, a complete list, up to about the middle of the sixteenth century, was made by Conrad Gesner, and prefixed to the edition of Basil. 1561, fol.: of those enumerated by him, and of those who have lived since, perhaps the following may be most deserving of mention : — Jo. Bapt. Opizo, Andr. Lacuna, Ant. Musa Brassavolus, Aug. Gadaldinus, Conr. Gesner, Hier. Gemusaeus, Jac. Sylvius, Janus Comarius,Nic. Rhe- ginus, Jo. Bapt. Montanus, John Caius, Jo. Guin- terius(Andernacus), Thomas Linacre,Theod. Goul- ston, Casp. Hofmann, Ren. Chartier, Alb. Haller, and C. G. Kuhn. Galen's works were first published in a Latin translation, Venet. 1490, fol. 2 vols. ap. Philipp. Pintium de Caneto; it is printed in black letter, and is said to be scarce. The next Latin edition that deserves to be noticed is that pub- lished by the Juntas, Venet. 1541, fol, which was reprinted, with additions and improvements, eight (or nine) times within one hundred years. Of these editions, the most valuable are said to be those of the years 1586 (or 1597), 1600, 160.9,
 * ' Ph7/s. Auscultriv. 3. p.l67. ed. Aid.), "Medi-
 * he may be considered as belonging to the Dog-