Galen. 
—— 
ce PAD 
various systems of the day, he 80 far made up his mind, 
as to write dissertations on their’ merits. In these“he 
gave a share of praise to each, with the exception of the 
Epicurean, which he rejected and opposed.’ “His early 
studies were not undertaken with any view’ of rising 
in the world, but purely as conducive'to the improve- 
ment of his own mind, andthe rational ‘enjoyment of 
life. But a resolution to cultivate a philosophy which 
excludes all exterior glory, very often proves unsteady, 
especially where prospects of utility to mankind ‘seem 
to exact from an accomplished mind a devotedness to a 
public life. |The destinies of Galen were widely dif- 
ferent from these original views. In his seventeenth 
year, he was determined, by a superstitious regard to a 
dream-of his father’s, to apply to the study of medi- 
cine. ‘His previous liberal education had so far enlar- 
ged his mind, as to impress him with the propriety of 
combining with his new pursuits the prosecution of his 
philosophical studies. Natural philosophy, in a parti- 
cular manner, appeared. necessary, for the purpose of 
cultivating a thorough knowledge of the physical qua- 
lities of those objects which medicine comprehends, 
He carefully weighed the’ merits of the various medi- 
cal as well as philosophical systems, and made himself 
a complete master in the art of reasoning, as practised 
by the ancients. Possessed of Se ees to guide in 
some measure his own studies, he changed his teachers 
whenever he perceived that no improvement ‘was to be 
derived from them. Hence it was an honour to have 
him for a pupil, and to the sophists of the day he was 
not a little formidable. Some of his studies were pro- 
secuted at Corinth, others at Smyrna. Afterwards he 
went to Rome, where he embraced an opportunity of 
studying with the teachers belonging to the three me- 
dical sects, the Rational or Dogmatic, the Methodic, 
and the Empiric.. He maintained a uniform respect 
and. attachment to all his teachers, but in none did he 
ever repose blind admiration or implicit confidence. 
Determined to take nothing on mere report, which it 
— for him to examine with his own eyes, he 
travelled for the express purpose of seeing the different 
articles of the materia medica’ in their native'country. 
He went to Palestine to see the opobalsamum and bi- 
tumen, -and to Lemnos to see the celebrated Lemnian 
earth. He reviewed the metallic productions of Cy- 
prus, and brought home, for the use of his country- 
men, quantities of the mineral substances which: went 
under the names of Cadmia, Pompholyx,' Diphryges, 
and Chalcanthus. He also examined the articles of 
diet used in different countries, and pointed out those 
which he considered as most proper for the sick. 
After along residence in ‘Alexandria, and a course 
of travels which he had performed «in Egypt, he re- 
turned at the age of 28 to practise medicine at Perga- 
mos.' He communicated to the medical men‘of that 
ity the’ information which he had collected, and di- 
rected them in a variety of experiments: on the virtues 
of medicinal plants. He was honoured with the medi. 
cal charge of the gladiators, and gained: no smallcre- 
’ dit by the success with which he treated their wounds, 
A sedition arising in) Pergamos, he repaired to Rome, 
where he soon acquired very high celebrity by his pro- 
fessional success inthe diseases of some conspicuous 
individuals. . He cured Eudemus the philosopher of an 
intermittent fever, which had been previously misma- 
naged. He gave remarkably accurate predictions of 
the future course of various. cases of disease, “and dis- 
played great address in tracing some instances of. in 
5 
GALEN. do Aw. 
disposition to maladies of the mind.’ When called'to — 
ed her illness. to have ori- = 
affection, and discovered the in- 
‘ nis rhea 
the wife of Justus, he 
sinated in an amorous 
ividual' who was the object of her lish 
ment. co rine pane gor seers Re servant to whom 
he was called, proceeded from the essing influence 
of fear; and it appeared, onenguiry that this paren 
was unable to give a proper account of mnget! ya 
which had been committed-to-hischarge.. In short, 
Galen seems to have’ shione as an accurate student of 
the phenomena of’ disease, and-to have applied to:pro- 
fessional uses a-general and ready opuledge of ‘the 
human heart, SR Bech herd Cabell ha stent! sf 
At Rome he was intimate with the first characters 
in the literary world, such as Eudemus and Alexander 
Damascenus, two celebrated Peripatetic teachers, and 
Sergius Paulus the prietor, a man of consular dignity, 
the most eminent man in Rome for intellectual accom- 
plishments, and for ability in the management of state 
affairs. The en success of Galen, his growing cha-« 
racter, and the high remunerations which he some- 
times received,. excited the hostility of his competitors, 
most particularly among the sect of the Methodies 
whom he oppesed, and who at that time'were in high 
credit. They represented his success in’ practice, and 
the accuracy of his predictions in disease, as entitely 
the effect of accident. The latter was sometimes ascri- 
bed by them to the art of magic. The annoyance 
which he stistained from this ition, and the break= 
ing out of a plague in the city of Rome, determined 
him, in the 37th year of his age, to leave that city, and 
return to his native country. ‘But he had not remain 
ed long there, when he was invited to attend the Em- 
peror M. Aurelius in Aquileia, and in the train of this 
emperor he returned to Rome. Aurelius gave him the 
charge of his two sons, Commodus and Sextus, during 
his absence in the German war, Galen ingratiated 
himself at court, by performing some successful cures 
on Commodus, and by showing the ‘accuracy of his 
judgment in the prognosis which he pronounced of'an 
acute disorder with which Sextus’ was affected. When 
‘tthe emperor himself was afterwards ‘seized with sick: 
ness, Galen told him that it was entirely the effect of 
an overloaded stomach, and gave him relief by a suits 
able prescription. » This’ benignant emperor was no less 
pleased with the philosophic-spirit and the virtuous 
habits of Galen; than with his professional ability. “On 
the death of Demetrius, Galen was a 
ceed him asthe sole compounder ‘of the famous pre- 
paration called theriaca, a distinction which served) ts 
mark him asthe first physician of his day. It does 
not appear that Galen continued’ stationary in Roi 
till his death. Several years of his: life, though= we 
know not how'many, seem to have’ been in’ spent 
in his nativercity. ‘Galen died at the age of 70. The 
place of his:death is unknown. Some say that he lived 
to the age of 87,/and a fabulous: story was at one time 
circulated that he lived 140 years. v3 
The ‘biographers of this celebrated: man_have de 
lighted to recount the virtues for which he was eminent, 
such as fortitude, inflexible justice, and piety. He-ap- 
pears to have held the creed of the unity of the Deity: 
A zealous writer has laboured to show that. he died on 
his way to Judea; ‘on a journey which he*was.led to 
undertake by the claims: of the Christian’ miracles. 
From this a hope is suggested that he had submitted 
to the rite of Christian baptism, and died within the 
bosom of the Catholic church. These facts, however, 
gant 
inted to sucs . 
SS = 
