Introductory lecture to the course on anatomy and physiology, in the Vermont Academy of Medicine : delivered April 7, 1841 / by James M'Clintock.

  • McClintock, James, 1809-1881
Date:
1841
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Introductory lecture to the course on anatomy and physiology, in the Vermont Academy of Medicine : delivered April 7, 1841 / by James M'Clintock. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    Ihese imperfections, however, are to be imputed rather to the unavoidable disadvantages of the times, than to his own deficien- cy either of industry or talent; for when he had opportunities of displaying these qualities he far surpassed all his contemporaries. About a century after Hippocrates, Ptolemy, king- 0f Esrypt,iii opposition to the prejudice of his subjects, permitted the dissec- tion of human bodies. The facilities thus afforded were improved by Herophilus, who is considered the founder of the Medical School at Alexandria, and the first Anatomist who taught osteology from the human skeleton. He examined, particularly, the brain and its coverings: and a part of one of the sinuses of the dura mater is still called alter him—the toreularHerophilii. At the same period lived Erasistratus, a Syrian, who had the privilege of dissecting criminals that had 'been executed ; his works are now lost, but from the quotations of later authors, he appears to have greatly advanced the knowledge of the human body; more especially by pointing out the particulars in which it differs from that of animals, whose anatomy had been prcviouslv studied as approaching nearest to th< ation of man. From the period just stated there appears to have been no an- lst deserving particular notice, until the time of Galen, one of the most celebrated Physicians of Greece. He was born a- bout the 130th year of the christian era. No expense was spared in his education, after the completion of which, he visited all the most celebrated schools of philosophy which then existed, and afterwards resided chiefly at Rome in the service of the Empe- rors of that time. Anatomy was his favorite pursuit, but,being debarred the ad- vantage cfjxamin ng human bodies.—the dissection ofwhichhad then been prohibited, even at Alexandria,—he had recourse to such animals as were supposed to have the greatest resemblance, in then-structure to man. He has writtcn'very fully on every part of anatomy; and, indeed, his works mav be considered a synopsis of all that was known On the subject in his time- The great reputation which. Galen had acquired, instead ol promoting, tended rather to impede the advancement of anatom- ical knowledge during several centuries, as no hope was entertained of emulating the fame of one who was reg'a as an oracle, all incentivi as destroyed. But other causes, of a political nature, a] ributed to the decline of anatomy, as well as of other branches of learning, from the time of Galen to the downfall of the Roman Empire, and during the ages of intellectual darkness which followed. 'Learning, how- ever, was still cultivated at Alexandria, until that city was taken by the Saracens, in the year G40, at which time the celebrated li- brary was burnt, with the exception of some medical .works,