Page:Greek Biology and Medicine.djvu/132

 GREEK BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE of the trouble, and proceeds on the principle that there can be no disturbance in the function without an affection of the part. After some chapters of general consideration, the means of making the proper local diagnosis through- out all the parts of the body are considered successively and in detail. Equally valuable are his treatises on Thera- peutics and Hygiene; and large and important compositions are devoted to the methods of the various medical sects, — Galen was a tremen- dous medical polemicist. A famous treatise is that of the Use or Utility, to wit, the function and purpose, oj the Parts. Through its long course, with great detail, it seeks to exemplify and prove the Aristotelian principle that Nature makes nothing in vain. It demon- strates that the parts and organs of the body could not be better disposed, and that they are perfectly adapted to the fulfillment of their functions. It discerns and would prove the perfect harmony among the different parts. There are in it constant disquisitions upon final causes, references to God and Nature, and corresponding diatribes against those who accept the action of chance and the theory of the atoms. [no]