PROGRESS IN ANATOMY 



tween the brain and spinal cord and the nerves 

 which proceeded from these centres; also the 

 connection of the digestive system with the 

 lacteals; and by the aid of the clepsydra he 

 made a study of pulse variations as a gauge of 

 the patient's condition. Realizing the dangers 

 of medical theory, he fell back upon the sound 

 clinical methods of Hippocrates; and like the 

 master, avoided the finely drawn distinctions 

 of unproved diagnoses. His own further ex- 

 perience and his greater knowledge of anatomy 

 were brought to bear upon his treatment of 

 diseases, while he also made improvements in 

 surgery and obstetrics. A great and admi- 

 rable figure this Herophilus. 



Less conservative and Hippocratic was \j 

 Erasistratus (also a great practitioner), who 

 would have nothing to do with the four humors 

 or four anything. Believing that a general 

 knowledge of the human body and its function- 

 ing in health was not necessarily of practical 

 use to the physician, he tended to specialize in 

 his own anatomical researches, which were, 

 however, brilliant in result. He gave a better 

 description of the liver and its gall ducts, and 

 for the first time gave a correct description of 

 the heart. He advanced the knowledge of the 



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