SCIENCE OF THE ROMAN PERIOD 



placed under suitable teachers for instruction in the 

 philosophical systems in vogue at that period. Shortly 

 after this, however, the superstitious Nicon, following 

 the interpretations of a dream, decided that his son 

 should take up the study of medicine, and placed him 

 under the instruction of several learned physicians. 



Galen was a tireless worker, making long tours into 

 Asia Minor and Palestine to improve himself in phar- 

 macology, and studying anatomy for some time at 

 Alexandria. He appears to have been full of the super- 

 stitions of the age, however, and early in his career 

 made an extended tour into western Asia in search of 

 the chimerical " jet-stone" a stone possessing the 

 peculiar qualities of ''burning with a bituminous odor 

 and supposed to possess great potency in curing such 

 diseases as epilepsy, hysteria, and gout." 



By the time he had reached his twenty-eighth year 

 he had perfected his education in medicine and re- 

 turned to his home in Pergamus. Even at that time 

 he had acquired considerable fame as a surgeon, and 

 his fellow-citizens showed their confidence in his ability 

 by choosing him as surgeon to the wounded gladiators 

 shortly after his return to his native city. In these 

 duties his knowledge of anatomy aided him greatly, 

 and he is said to have healed certain kinds of wounds 

 that had previously baffled the surgeons. 



In the time of Galen dissections of the human body 

 were forbidden by law, and he was obliged to confine 

 himself to dissections of the lower animals. He had 

 the advantage, however, of the anatomical works of 

 Herophilus and Erasistratus, and he must have de- 

 pended upon them in perfecting his comparison between 



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