Page:Greek Biology and Medicine.djvu/130

 GREEK BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE the body (a Hippocratic conception), was of itself able to cure the part and restore its func- tion. He acts only when nature has proved inadequate. He should consider the inception of the disease, decide upon its causes, and endeavor to remove them or prevent their action. He should resort to further counter- acting measures as the pronounced symptoms of the disease declare themselves. Galen conceived the physis as the sum of the powers which impel the body's parts to perform their functions. In the sick body one or the other of these powers exceeds or is deficient in its action. The physician's care must first of all concern itself with the expelling power, which produces the excretions and evacuations of the healthy body, and in sickness expels the matter of the disease. The attracting, re- straining and alterative powers are then to be investigated; and the skillful physician will perceive which is defective or too violent, and treat the patient accordingly. The working principles of Galen are mainly those of Hippocrates. It is in the endeavor to establish them in science and philosophy that Galen goes far beyond the man he called his master. In this endeavor he combined the [io8]