Galen on anatomical procedures : de Anatomicis administrationibus / translation of the surviving books with introduction and notes by Charles Singer.

  • Galen
Date:
1956
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Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: Galen on anatomical procedures : de Anatomicis administrationibus / translation of the surviving books with introduction and notes by Charles Singer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    tendon running down to the end of their internode [fexores di^u tOYum suhlimis et profundus]. I also thought the tendons which move each finger sideways [interossei] to be analogous to those which extend and flex them, in that they are attached only to the parts of the bones at the joints. Yet that was not the case, for they [i.e. the tendons of the flexores digitorum profundi] each extend to the tip of each finger, attaching their own tiny fila^ ments [uincula longa] like a cobweb to the bones beyond the joints. These discoveries I made in the hand and foot, but throughout the rest of this treatise there are many comparable points, of which I shall duly speak. Chapter 4 [Certain of Galen's Differences from his Predecessors] Since it will be thought that on many points I am contradict/ 255 ing eminent anatomists, I think it wiser to say in advance a little on this. Controversy between physicians did not start 2^6 with me but has long existed among them. For this there are two reasons—first, because some of them had made erroneous statements, but second, merely because they used different ways of expression. Thus some, who agreed in recognition of observed facts, gave an illusory impression of disagreement to readers who themselves have never dissected. I have discussed such matters more extensively in my earlier work De dissentione anatomica.^^ Now I shall state briefly only what bears on the present theme. Some anatomists consider that there are as many muscles as there are muscle/origins. Others neglect the origins but consider the insertions (teleutai), emphasizing the body of the muscles. For them many short heads, coalescing and producing a uniform outline, are not necessarily many muscles. [Even] if the insertions be multiple and have a uniform motion, they say 257 that it is better to treat them as one muscle, and the more if it be impossible to divide them in a linear fashion into several parts. This is illustrated with the muscle in the middle of the lower