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.

  • James Finlayson
Date:
1895
Catalogue details

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 Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    When, in addition to these twenty-seven varieties, we have variations according to time— Celer, Moderatus, Tardus and, again, all sorts of varying forms of irregu- larity, it is evident that refinements in nomenclature were pushed to an almost incredible extent! The following amusing illustration of Galen's diagnostic skill in pulses shows his acuteness in other things as well as sphygmology ! [Diagnosis of Love hy the Pulse\—Some medical sophists, ignorant of the way in which Erasistratus discovered the love of a young man for his father's maid, in asserting that he had discovered it from feeling love pulses in the young man, allege, indeed, nothing more than anyone might say, namely, that it was found out from the pulse. I am certainly not able to say in what way Erasistratus may have made the discovery, but I will disclose in what way 1 did so. I was called to visit a woman [the wife of Justus] who was troubled with insomnia, and was tossing about from one position to another on a couch. On ascertaining that she was free from fever, I made some inquiries in regard to the particulars of the onset of the condition, from which I might form a notion of how the insomnia was caused. But the woman herself, if she made any response at all, made it to little purpose, showing that it was vain to question her further; at last, with averted looks, she covered herself up entirely with the bedclothes, and lay with her head turned away on a small pillow, after the manner of a person in need of sleep. Therefore I left, and from these things concluded that she was suffering from one of two things—either that she was the victim of melancholia, or that she was affected by some grief which she was unwilling to avow. Therefore I delayed till next day to examine her with greater care; and on my arrival, the first thing I heard, from a maid standing by, was that I could not see her. On my next visit I was told the same thing. I returned a third time, and the servant told me, in order that I might go away, that the woman did not wish to be disturbed. When I ascertained that on my departure she had made her toilet and resumed her accustomed 2 Indeed, he makes out twenty-seven varieties according to this also (Kiihn, torn, viii, p. 533).