50 FATHERS OF BIOLOGY. 



his appointment, in his native city of Pergamus, to the 

 office of physician in charge of the athletes in the 

 gymnasia situated within the precincts of the temple of 

 ./Esculapius, For five or six years he lived in Pergamus, 

 and then a revolt compelled him to leave his native 

 town. The advantages offered by Rome led him to 

 remove thither and take up his residence in the capital 

 of the world. Here his skill, sagacity, and knowledge 

 soon brought him into notice, and excited the jealousy 

 of the Roman doctors, which was still further increased 

 by some wonderful cures the young Greek physician 

 succeeded in effecting. Possibly it was owing to the 

 ill feeling shown to Galen that, on the outbreak of 

 an epidemic a year afterwards, he left the imperial city 

 and proceeded to Brindisi, and embarked for Greece. 

 It was his intention to devote his time to the study 

 of natural history, and for this purpose he visited 

 Cyprus, Palestine, and Lemnos. While at the last-named 

 place, however, he was suddenly summoned to Aquileia 

 to meet the Emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius 

 Verus. He travelled through Thrace and Macedonia on 

 foot, met the imperial personages, and prepared for them 

 a medicine, for which he seems to have been famous, 

 and which is spoken of as the theriac. It was probably 

 some combination of opium with various aromatics and 

 stimulants, for antidotes of many different kinds were 

 habitually taken by the Romans to preserve them from 



