GREEK BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE 



hypotheses concerning man and his diseases. 

 It was not without its lasting influence; one 

 may perhaps regard Erasistratus as its final 

 great descendant. But, fortunately, the Hip- 

 pocratic principles triumphed at the time, and 

 appear to have remained dominant during 

 those earlier periods when occupation with 

 theory would have warped and checked the 

 progress of the healing art. 



Between the time of Hippocrates and the 

 year 130 a.d., when Galen saw the light, well- 

 nigh six centuries had passed. Long and well- 

 husbanded experience had improved medicine 

 and surgery. The knowledge of the human 

 body had been greatly added to, and the passing 

 theories as to the nature and causes of disease 

 had not seriously obstructed a continuous im- 

 provement in the treatment of disease and 

 bodily injuries. Rather, one may think that 

 the rivalry of the different schools, composed 

 of the nominal adherents of different theories, 

 had prevented dogmatism and narrowness in 

 practice. 



Galen flourished in the second half of the 

 second century a.d., dying in the year 201. 

 Greek or Greco-Roman faculties of observation 

 were becoming less vigorous and the atmos- 



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