12 History of Pathology. 



adherence to authority, together with constant seeking after the 

 keenest dialectic in argument, gave to one school of physicians 

 of the day the character of "dogmatists ;" while others discarded 

 entirely speculative reasoning and called themselves "empiricists," 

 boasting that their methods of practice were based entirely on 

 experience. They rejected the study of anatomy as superfluous ; 

 in which, however, the dogmatists, although essentially bookmen 

 and theorists, made some progress. 



In the middle of the second century Claudius Galenus (born in 

 Pergamon, Asia Minor, A. D. 131 ; educated in Smyrna, Corinth 

 and Alexandria, and afterwards practicing his profession in Rome ; 

 died A. D. 206), noted both for his discoveries and as a prac- 

 titioner, revolutionized medical science by his efforts to harmonize 

 the prevailing theories with practical experience and thus give 

 them a real value, and by his work in the establishment of ra- 

 tional scientific methods through comparative anatomy and ex- 

 periments upon living animals. Throughout the middle ages, even 

 into the fifteenth century, the theories of Galen, whose discoveries 

 were numerous and whose extensive writings contain much that 

 is of descriptive value, were held in esteem and respect, par- 

 ticularly his opinions upon anatomy and physiology. 



Through studies of this character at the hands of physicians 

 a close relationship developed between veterinary medicine and 

 human medicine ; but there were other influences which aided in 

 the development of comparative pathology. Agriculturists, like 

 Xenophon, Cato, Columella, and Virgil, and veterinary specialists 

 who in Rdman times attained an independent standing, and 

 among whom should be mentioned Apsyrtos (circa 290-350, 

 A. D.) and Publius Vegetius Renatus (circa 540, A. D.) as es- 

 pecially distinguished, there were collected and recorded in litera- 

 ture their experiences with various diseases, especially epidemic 

 affections among animals. Although there is much useless em- 

 piricism included in the dissertations of these writers, there are 

 also no little excellence of observation and soundness of thought ; 

 and the works of the last-named author, like those of Galen, 

 served for centuries as valuable spurces of information. 



The general collapse of the sciences after the fall of the 

 Roman Empire, during the time of migration of the European 

 peoples and the period of the Middle Ages, resulted in a long 

 stagnation in medicine. Practically all that is worth considering 

 was the preservation of the writings of the ancients, for which we 



