Greek Medicine 119 



the hip bone . . . and if this ligament is once ruptured the 

 thigh bone cannot be retained in place \ l This passage con- 

 tains the first description of the structure known to modern 

 anatomists as the ligamentum teres, a strong fibrous band 

 which unites the head of the femur with the socket into which 

 it fits in the hip bone, like the string that binds the cup and 

 ball of a child's toy. This ligament is ruptured in certain 

 severe cases of dislocation of the hip. 



After the establishment of the school at Alexandria, medical 

 teaching rapidly became organized, but throughout the whole 

 course of antiquity it suffered from the absence of anything 

 in the nature of a state diploma. Any one could practise, 

 with the result that many quacks, cranks, and fanatics were to 

 be found among the ranks of the practitioners who often were 

 or had been slaves. The great Alexandrian school, however, 

 did much to preserve some sort of professional standard, and 

 above all its anatomical discipline helped to this end. 



Between the founding of the Alexandrian school and Galen 

 we are not rich in medical writings. Apart from fragments 

 and minor productions, the works of only five authors have 

 survived from this period of over four hundred years, namely, 

 Celsus, Dioscorides, Aretaeus of Cappadocia, and two Ephesian 

 authors bearing the names of Rufus and Soranus. 



The work of Celsus of the end of the first century B. c. is 







a Latin treatise, probably translated from Greek, and is the 

 surviving medical volume of a complete cyclopaedia of know- 

 ledge. In spite of its unpromising origin it is an excellent 

 compendium of its subject and shows a good deal of advance 

 in many respects beyond the Hippocratic position. The moral 

 tone too is very high, though without the lofty and detached 

 beauty of Hippocrates. Anatomy has greatly improved, and with 

 it surgical procedure, and the work is probably representative 



1 This is the only passage of Hegetor's writing that has survived. It has 

 been preserved in the work of Apollonius of Citium. 



