GREEK BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE 



power of coordinating disparate elements into 

 a system. 



Galen represents the closing development 

 of Greek biology and medicine. The Galenic 

 system was a preservative amalgamation of 

 Aristotle and the Hippocratic tradition with 

 whatever was added by Galen himself. No 

 need to enlarge or change it, since the in- 

 capacity of the following time for scientific 

 investigation and even for fruitful clinical ob- 

 servation prevented the further growth of 

 biological or medical knowledge. Dissection 

 and vivisection halted; clinical observation be- 

 came dulled. Galen marks the end of progress 

 in biology and medicine as his contemporary, 

 Ptolemy, marks the end of progress in as- 

 tronomy. 



Galen's immense influence did not commence 

 in his lifetime, nor arise at once upon his 

 death. Time had to elapse before the sterile 

 centuries felt the need of some unquestionable 

 and encyclopaedic authority on which to base 

 their medicine. As for biology as an investi- 

 gating science, that had ceased to exist. 

 Among the ancient luminaries in medicine, 

 Galen was nearest to the coming Byzantine and 

 Medieval period not merely in time but in 



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