158 Br Craigie's Observations mi the 



tomy particularly at Alexandria, under Heraclianus, till his 

 S8th year, he appears to have regarded himself as possessed of 

 all the knowledge then attainable through the medium of teach- 

 ers. A seditious tumult at Pergamus where he had settled, 

 made him form the resolution of quitting that place and proceed- 

 ing to Rome, where he remained five years, and after visiting his 

 native place, and travelling some time, he finally fixed his resi- 

 dence in the imperial city, as physician to the Emperor Com- 

 modus. 



The anatomical writings ascribed to Galen, which are nume- 

 rous, are to be viewed, not merely as the result of personal re- 

 search and information, but as the common depository of the 

 anatomical knowledge of the day, and as combining all that he 

 had learnt from the several teachers under whom he successively 

 studied, with whatever personal study had enabled him to ac- 

 quire. It is on this account not always easy to distinguish 

 what Galen had himself ascertained by personal research, from 

 that which was known by other anatomists. This, however, 

 though of moment to the history of Galen as an anatomist, is 

 of little consequence to the science itself; and, from the anato- 

 mical remains of this author, a pretty just idea may be formed, 

 both of the progress and of the actual state of the science at 

 that time. 



Though various anatomical writings are ascribed to Galen, those 

 entided Anatomical Administrations, in nine books, must be re- 

 garded as the best. His treatise on the Uses of the Parts, though 

 much more frequently mentioned, and apparently better known, 

 is more physiological ; and the anatomical descriptions are much 

 corrupted by speculations on final causes, and ultimate purposes. 

 -Though his osteology is derived from the human skeletons, 

 which he informs us were preserved at Alexandria, it is evident 

 that in general his descriptions of the soft parts were derived 

 from the bodies of the lower animals ; and of their structure 

 his knowledge was extensive and accurate. 



The osteology of Galen is the most perfect of the depart- 

 ments of the anatomy of the ancients. He names and distin- 

 guishes the bones and sutures of the cranium nearly in the same 

 manner as at present. Thus he notices the quadrilateral shape 

 of the parietal bones : he distinguishes the squamous, the sty- 



