ALEXANDRIAN SCHOOL OF ANATOMY-332 B.C. TO A.D. 200 45 



rare opportunity were two men, Herophilus and Erasistratus, the 

 former antedating the other by a few years. 



Responsible for the magnificent development of Alexandria 

 as an educational and medical center, was the great conqueror 

 Alexander the Great, who founded it in 332-331 B.C. Europe 

 was then in a state of war. To this metropolis, he and his suc- 

 cessors were instrumental in bringing some of the intellectual 

 and materialistic riches of the universe which were placed at the 

 disposal of distinguished scholars who labored to benefit mankind. 

 Manuscripts were rare and costly, sometimes only one being avail- 

 able. They were preserved in families with religious care and a 

 single book was regarded as a precious heritage. As much as 

 1 15,000 was paid for an original volume written by Aeschylus, 

 Euripides or Sophacles. The establishment of the public library 

 and museum constituted an act of philanthropy and liberality 

 unparalleled in subsequent history (Fisher, 1881a; Weaver, '30). 



It was Eumenes of Cardia, who was the head of the secretarial 

 or historical department belonging to Alexander the Great. He 

 accompanied his king on all his expeditions to Asia, and through 

 his efforts, was able to collect about 700,000 volumes, which were 

 assigned to the Museum and Serapium at Alexandria: 400,000 to 

 the former and 300,000 to the latter. This collection had a marked 

 influence on the study of medicine and other fields and helped to 

 make the school the leading institution of its kind in the world, 

 completely eclipsing those at Cnidos, Cos and Pergamon. 



The first Ptolemy, who became governor of Egypt, was Soter, 

 brother of Alexander the Great. After the latter's early death, he 

 attempted, with some success, to neutralize the central Greek au- 

 thority and consolidate his own. Unlike some other leaders of his 

 period, who devoted all their attention to armies and invasions, 

 he interested himself in commerce and art. It was he who was 

 instrumental in attracting around him some of the ablest and 

 most erudite men of his day. He provided them with suitable 

 homes in the immediate vicinity of the libraries, fed and endowed 

 them with adequate salaries. Although he gave orders to classify 

 ind collate all of the assembled treatises in every branch of learn- 

 ^ing, as well as give instruction by means of lectures and discus- 

 sions, it was medicine which received the most encouragement. 



