GAL AT 
are’ but ill authenticated, , His dutiful sentiments to- 
wards his father, his devotedness to his native country, 
e interests of which “he often. cultivated to the ne- 
+». glect of his own fortunes at, Rome,) the grateful vene- 
te oe which he en ed for his teachers, the sedate- 
ness of his manners, the correctness of his conversation, 
which was Sanells TesnOhe from obscenity and ridicule, 
the mildness of his temper, his tle behaviour to- 
Wards his servants and all around him, and the cheer- 
ful animating tone of his discourse with the sick, are 
virtues which, though not uncommon, it is pleasant to 
find adorning the character of this great physician. 
_ In his reasonings he was reckoned solid and close, 
in every argument confounding his adversaries, and 
coming off triumphant..The most unbecoming qua- 
lity, betrayed in his writings, is a disposition to boast 
of 3 his own ability, and to treat other writers with con- 
tempt. | 
’ He wrote several treatises which have not reached 
our day, among which are his books on philosophy and 
grammar. Five hundred treatises on medicine are 
ascribed to him, and half that number on other subjects. 
Galen, thodgh, paseterd ed of a mind too independent 
to submit implicitly to ual of ‘his predecessors, uncon- 
sciously f chains which en the medical, 
opinions of many succeeding ages. The contending, 
errors of ancient systems, produced a, very powerful 
effect on his inquiring mind, He entertained the plau-. 
sible opinion, which was, so, universal among the an-| 
cients, that all particular truths in philosophy are to be 
deduced from general or first principles. ‘The speci-, 
mens of philosophical truth, however; which he found. 
thus substantiated in the various schools, were so unsa- 
tisfactory, and so often at variance with the phenome- 
na of nature, that at one time he was strongly, dispos 
to embrace that prioeephy, which declares the uniyer- 
sal uncertainty of human knowledge, a system which,, 
under the name of Pyrrhonism, was.at,that time very,, 
prevalent, From this he was PEIN te by contem- 
plating the satisfactory results which mathematical sci- 
ence afforded in the problems of geometry and _astrono-., 
my, and, in a particular manner, the calculation. of 
eclt ses, and the undoubted utility of dials, and other, 
oiathematical instruments. On comparing the: proofs 
of the certainty of science, with the numerous speci-, 
mens of its errors, he was not induced to abate-his: ex- 
clusive confidence in synthetic reasoning, but drew the 
inference, that the true data or first. principles, which 
were the foundations of natural science, had. not yet 
been discovered. He conceived that he himself was 
destined to lead the way in the investigation of medi- 
cal truth. To this object rege all his_ efforts 
were powerfully directed, If he had not laboured un- 
der the'error now mentioned, which was derived from 
Aristotle, an error common to him with other men of 
learning in that age, and which never indeed lost its 
dominion over science till the appearance of the No- 
rum Organon of Bacon, Galen would have produced a , 
work as conspicuous for solidity and minute informa- 
tion, as.for genius and comprelensiveness of thought. 
Future would then have approved while they won- 
dered. is system, though defective, and often ren- 
dered illusory by the intermixture of the subtile doc- 
trines of Aristotle, was ingenious and well connected. 
His talents enabled him to stop the spirit of improve- 
ment for fifteen centuries; but now, when emanci 
from his illegitimate dominion, we are enabled to pro- 
fit by his labours, and to contemplate in his writings a. 
mighty monument of genius and industry, fitted at 
WE d i 
GAL 
once to animate exertion, and to 
For araccount-of his:opinions, see 
gomy, and the History of Meniorne. 
Galen wrote with elegance in the ordinary dialect of 
the. Greek language, ‘inclining to'the Attic. 
The Greek editions of his works, are those of Aldus 
and, Aud. Asulanus; printed at Venice in 1525, in five 
folio volumes ; and shes of Hieron Gemuszus at Basle, 
in, 1538, in the same form. 
» The, editions of Latin translations: of. his works are 
more humerous, and, were published at Paris, Venice, 
and, Basle. René Chartrier published his..works in 
Greek and Latin, along with those of Hippocrates at 
Paris. . See Eloy’sDict. Hist ; Le Clere’s. Hist. de Me- 
dicine; and the prefatory dissertations to the different 
editions of Galen’s works, (p. .) x 
GALICIA, a province of Spain, situated in the north- 
presumption, 
e History of Ana- 
Galicia. 
westvangle of that. kingdom; is bounded on the south ‘goundaries, 
by Portugal, on the north and west by the Atlantic 
Ocean, and on the east by Asturias, and Leon. It lies 
between 41° 50’.and, 43° 46’ North Latitude, and be-~ 
tween 6° 10’ and. 9° 10’ West Longitude, forming a 
very irregular kind of square, extending about 40 
leagues from east to west, and 46 from north to south. 
It takes its name from its ancient inhabitants the Cal--istory. 
laici, or Galleci, and formerly comprehended a part of 
Old Castile. In its mountainous. districts, ias well as 
in those of Asturias and Biscay, the Cantabrians resist~ 
ed all the power of the Roman armies; and. in 714, 
presented the strongest barriers to the invasion-of' the 
Moors. . Galicia was constituted a kingdom in the year 
1060, by Ferdinand the Great, king of Leon and Cas- 
tile, and was assigned as a»province to his son Don 
Garcias ;-but) till the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, 
. in 1474, the inhabitants.:maintained, amidst their moun~ 
tains and rivers, much. of their original independence. 
The nobility, without paying great regard to the royal 
authority, acted as sovereigns in their respective terri- 
tories, and encouraged their vassals in their marauding 
practices, , But, by the exertions of Ferdinand and Isa- 
bella, these disorders. were repressed, the country civi- 
lized, and the inhabitants attached to the Castilian .mo- 
narchy; §5) 2 
. The country is in, general. covered with mountains, Aspect, 
most of which are well wooded, and very abundant in mountains, 
game. An extensive mountainous chain, which pro~ #n¢ rivers. 
ceeds from the Pyrenees near Roncevallos, traverses Ga- 
licia from Leon, till it terminates at Cape Finisterre, the 
most westerly point of land in the province. The most 
considerable part of this branch is occupied by the 
mountains of the Sierra de Mondonedo, which oceupy 
the whole of the north-eastern extremity, and extends 
northwards as far as Cape Ortegal. The principal ri- 
vers in the province-are, the Eo, Eu, or Rio de Miran- 
da, which runs from south to north along the common 
boundaries of Galicia and Asturias, and falls into the 
Northern Ocean above Ribadeo ; the Sil, which rises in 
the mountains to the west of Leon, and proceeding 
westwards in a very circuitous course of 33 leagues, 
joins the Mino a few leagues north of Orense ; the Mi- _ 
no or Minho, (in Latin Ménius, so named from the ver- 
milion which is found in abundance in its vicinity, ) 
which rises.in the east of the Sierra Mondonedo, and, 
after a course of 52 leagues in a south-west direction, 
falls into the Atlantic near the port of Guardia ; the 
Tambra or Tamaris, which gives the name of Tamari- 
cians to the people on.its banks, and runs for the space 
of 20 leagues from the north-east to the south-west ; the 
Ulla, which originates in the interior of the country, 
