Page:Greek Biology and Medicine.djvu/125

 THE FINAL SYSTEM: GALEN ment of his redundant compositions; yet such was his skill and genius that the monstrous bulk of his writings was not for long to obscure the significance of their contents. After Aristotle, he was perhaps the greatest of the ancient systematizers of natural knowledge. His cen- tral endeavor was to make medicine into a systematic science; and, for good or ill, truth and error, he appears to have accom- plished it. Medical practice and physical theory must be made into a consistent unity. To this end Galen sought to base the healing art upon a knowledge of disease and its causes, and to set his pathology upon the anatomy and physi- ology of the human organism in health. This more fundamental knowledge came through observation under the guidance of philosophy, logic and mathematics. Himself a mathema- tician, he tried to apply the proofs of Euclid to the results of observation and experiment. He would have the a priori certitudes of the understanding as well as the assurance of ex- perience.^' But alas! the demands of his phi- losophy distorted the perceptions of his senses. Moreover, his logic was more untiring than his observation. Yet when he made experiments, [ 103 ]