12 HISTORY Oi' BOTANY. 



family. Of the remainder of his life, which lasted thirty or 

 forty years longer, little is known, nor can it be stated with 

 certainty when or where he died. " His personal character 

 may be gathered from his works ; and notwithstanding his 

 excessive laudation of himself, and his controversial bitter- 

 ness, there appears to have been much in him that was truly 

 admirable. The extent and variety of his intellectual 

 acquirements were very great ; and he was not only beyond 

 all comparison the most eminent physician of his age, but 

 also a learned and accomplished man, well acquainted with 

 various branches of philosophy."* 



Galen's writings were very numerous, it is said 500 or 

 more, including short treatises. Many of them are lost, 

 being burnt in the Temple of Peace at Kome, where they 

 had been deposited, and it is supposed that several are now 

 lying unknown or unnoticed in different European libraries. 

 About 150 are known to be extant. 



Galen had a great admiration for Hippocrates, and 

 acknowledges that he was greatly indebted to his writings 

 for his knowledge of medicine. It is chiefly in his works on 

 anatomy, physiology, dietetics, and hygiene, and the 

 physicians' art generally, that Galen excels. His great 

 work on plants is considered the least important, con- 

 taining but little original matter, and being in some respects 

 inferior to the work of Dioscorides. 



§ 3. From the Second to the Eighth Centuey. — Paulus. 



The great renown of Galen and his numerous writings 

 bore absolute sway for many centuries ; indeed it is not too 

 much to say that his teachings ruled supreme for 1000 years, 

 and that some of what was erroneous or useless in his system 

 was not superseded before the eighteenth century. I there- 



-•- Dr. W. A. Greenliill. 



