228 THE HISTORY OF VETERINARY MEDICINE. 



habituated to it ; as persons that are sound in their limbs, to those 

 who are lame.' " 



Among later Greek writers upon the domestic animals, we find 

 the name of Absyrtus, and a veterinary, Hippocrates, who lived 

 about the fourth century. The former, born at Brusa, in Bitbynia, 

 is by far the most important writer of all the Greeks upon the dis- 

 eases of domestic animals. It appears that he belonged to a family 

 that was celebrated for its veterinarians ; at least, his grandfather, 

 Demitrns, also followed the calling. He was a good observer of the 

 outward phenomena of disease, although not a scientific student of 

 nature ; he does not seem to have associated much with the medi- 

 cal men of his time, and thus may have served to give the profession 

 a certain degree of individuality which it had not previously pos- 

 sessed. He especially mentions that the gall-bladder is not present 

 in the horse. 



Hippocrates's writings were of but little importance, but were 

 more or less perfectly collected in the Constantinian " Hippiatrica," 

 which we shall find occasion to consider later on. He belonged to 

 that great class of veterinarians who willingly acknowledged the 

 superiority of Absyrtus, and learned from him. Heusinger ex- 

 presses astonishment that, although Hippocrates lived at the time 

 of Absyrtus, none of the subsequent Greek and Roman veterinarians 

 seem to make any mention of him. 



About this time also flourished the noted medical authors Cel- 

 sus and Galen. Celsus wrote an encyclopaedia containing works 

 upon medicine, agriculture, and veterinary medicine ; the part treat- 

 ing upon the last two subjects has been, unfortunately, lost to pos- 

 terity. Of all Roman doctors, however, none has acquired the 

 world-wide celebrity and authority which have been given to Clau- 

 dius Galenus, 131-200 a. d.* He received a most careful educa- 

 tion, studying philosophy and medicine at Pergamos, his native 

 city, also at Smyrna, Corinth, and Alexandria; he was especially 

 diligent in the study of anatomy. At twenty-eight years of age he 

 was appointed medical attendant to the gladiators at Pergamos, and 

 remained there until 164 a. d. He then removed to Rome ; but 

 practice seems to have been a secondary consideration with him, 

 and he appears to have been but poorly appreciated by his Roman 

 colleagues. We find him, however, to have been on terms of inti- 

 macy with the philosophers, and prominent members of the aris- 

 tocracy ; he held public lectures upon physiology, which for a time 

 enjoyed great popularity, but were subsequently given up on account 

 * Wunderlich, " Geschichte d. Medicin," p. 33. 



