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
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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![tive, this part, although important, was trivial as compared with the acuteness of observation which utilised every accidental indication which could possibly be laid hold of. The following is rendered from Daremberg's French transla- tion (tome ii, p. 657) :— [Galen's Wonderful Diagnosis of the Case of a Sicilian Physician.] — When I came to Rome for the first time I was greatly admired by the philosopher Glaucon on account of a similar diagnosis. Finding me on the road, he said to me that I had arrived opportunely ; then taking my hand, he said: ' We are quite near an invalid whom I have seen just now, and I wish you would come to visit him with me. He is a Sicilian physician whom you have seen a few days ago walking with me.' 'What is the cause of his illness?' I said. Placing himself at my side, he said very frankly and plainly—for he was not one to cheat or play tricks—' Gorgias and Apelas informed me yesterday that you have made diagnoses and prognoses which approach to divination rather than to the art of medicine. I desire, then, to have a proof, not of your knowledge, but of the power of the art of medicine, and to ascertain if it can furnish such an astonishing diagnosis and prognosis.' During this conversation we had arrived at the door of the patient, so that I had not been able to reply to his request, nor to tell him, what you know I often repeat, that sometimes there are, fortunately for us, indubitable signs, but that sometimes everything is doubtful, and that consequently we have to await the results of a second or a third examination. At the outer gate we met a domestic who was carrying from the sick room to the dunghill a vessel containing excrements resembling the washings of flesh—that is to say, thin and bloody fluid, a constant sign of an aff'ection of the liver. Without appearing to have noticed anything, I went with Glaucon to the physician, and I was putting my hand to his arm, wishing to know if there was inflammation of the organ or simply atony. The patient, who was himself a physician, as I have mentioned, said that he had just returned to bed after having been at stool. ' Consider, there- fore,' he added, ' that the frequency of the pulse is increased by the effort I have made in rising.' Thus he spoke, and as for me, I ascertained in the pulse the sign of inflammation. Then, seeing placed at the window a pot containing hyssop prepared with honey-](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22362575_0041.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
