CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY, MIDDLE AGES 6l 



universality of knowledge, and in one of his writings which has been pre- 

 served to us he exhorts his professional brethren to devote themselves to the 

 study of philosophy as an essential foundation for acquiring a proper con- 

 ception of man's nature in sickness and in health. For this purpose he refers 

 above all to Hippocrates, whom he extols with extravagant words in all his 

 works, declaring that his dicta should be interpreted as if they were the 

 utterances of a god. But both Plato and Aristotle also represent sources 

 whence he gained a true idea of nature and life, and on their ideal conception 

 of existence he has based his theory of biological phenomena. He has adopted 

 their fundamental principle of a divine intelligence as the origin and ruler 

 of all things, whose existence is proved by the finality of nature, and also 

 the theory of the soul as a purpose justifying the existence of the body. But 

 while Aristotle showed the finality of nature by comparing different forms 

 of life and pointing out the consistency displayed in their existence and 

 evolution, Galen deals only with the organs of the human body and seeks to 

 prove how in the smallest details they are constructed and applied exactly as 

 they should be. And in this perfect organization in the human body he sees 

 proofs of the power and wisdom of the Creator, whom he never wearies of 

 praising in words testifying to a deep personal sense of religion, and in a 

 tone which differs widely from the temperate scientific feeling with which 

 Aristotle shows the necessity for a supreme intelligence in existence. And 

 alternating with these pious expressions there are in his writings uncontrol- 

 lably violent outbursts against the representatives of the theory of the domi- 

 nance of necessity in nature and of the atoms as the primary components of 

 matter, particularly against Epicurus and his disciple the physician Ascle- 

 piades.^ In one other respect also Galen proves himself to belong to a new 

 era; not only are the old Greek philosophers quoted by him, but he also re- 

 fers to the Mosaic story of creation, with which, it is true, he is at variance — 

 in fact, he believes matter to be eternal and denies the possibility of creation 

 out of nothing — but which nevertheless certainly influenced his conception 

 of nature. That, indeed, constitutes, one might say, one single hymn of 

 praise to the wisdom of the Creator. In every detail of the human system 

 does the divine Providence show its foresight; in the hand not only the num- 

 ber and length of the fingers, but even every tendon and muscle is a proof 

 thereof; likewise with the minutest details of the rest of the body. He scorn- 

 fully rejects the assertion of the Epicureans that the organs develop with use 

 and weaken with disuse, saying that in that case energetic people would in 

 time acquire four legs and four arms, and the lazy only one of each. Again, if 

 rightly viewed, even organs which might appear to be useless are suited to 



2 Asclepiades was a famous Greek physician who lived in Rome during the first century 

 before the Christian era. His writings, now lost, were highly esteemed in antiquity, but they do 

 not seem to have included any biological investigations. 



