Galen : two bibliographical demonstrations in the library of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, 9th December, 1891 and 30th March, 1893 / by James Finlayson.
- Date:
- 1895
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Galen : two bibliographical demonstrations in the library of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, 9th December, 1891 and 30th March, 1893 / by James Finlayson. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.
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![philosophy, geometry, and physios: but they met with vehement opposition from the bishop and the majority of the community, and were finally excommunicated. There is still in existence the remains of a very coarse and spiteful piece of controversial writing against it, dating from the beginning of the 3rd century (Eusebius, lib. v, cap. 28). It runs thus :—They give themselves up to the study of geometry like people who are of the earth and ivho talk of the earth . . . Euclid, ivith his geometry is by some of them highly esteemed; Aristotle and Theophrastus are held in admiration; Galen, by some among them, may even be worshipped. The hateful exaggeration of the old Roman inquisitor, who wrote this accusation, is quite evident. What here interests us is the fact that Galen, about the year 200, found eager readers and admirers among the Christians of Rome also: one of these admirers was named Asklepiodotus.” Galen as a Teleologist—Galen’s Hymn. Probably one important reason why Galen was looked upon with so much favour by Christian writers, was the strong position he took up regarding the evidence of design in the animal creation, and the proofs which he adduced, again and again, of the Creator’s purpose in forming different classes of animals exactly as they are found, and in framing the different organs in man himself for the special uses which they severally subserve. So important, indeed, are Galen’s contributions to this subject, that they occupy a considerable portion of the early part of l)r. Kidd’s Bridgewater Treatise (1833), and some of his translations are utilised in the following extracts. The reverence shown in a celebrated passage, here also quoted, where he speaks of composing his argument “as a sincere hymn to the praise and honour of the Creator,” emanating as it does from a pagan writer, has often been admired by Christian authors. [Relationship of various parts of the body to the sentient principle. TJie Hand.]—“ But all these parts of the body were made for the use of the soul, that sentient and intelligent principle which](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21902823_0012.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
