THE FINAL SYSTEM: GALEN 



the heart and arteries; the physical pneuma 

 (natural spirits) dwelling in the liver, and 

 through the veins making blood and nourishing 

 the body and its growth. The liver draws its 

 supplies from the stomach and intestines. 



The life of the body fulfills itself in these 

 three functions of the pneuma. The various 

 parts — organs and tissues, solids and fluids 

 — are thereby made into a whole, and united 

 in their ultimate function of promoting the in- 

 dividual's life. Health consists in their 

 cooperation in proper proportions according to 

 the age, sex and mode of life of the individual. 

 Sickness is a disturbance of these proportions 

 and of this harmonious working. Between 

 sickness and health lies a condition of predis- 

 position to one or another form of disease, due 

 to the individual's constitution or tempera- 

 ment. 



Inception, increase, summit, and recession 

 make the four stages of acute disease. In 

 addition to this rather Hippocratic view, the 

 Galenic treatment proceeded from the principle 

 that every disturbance of function necessarily 

 implied a pathological affection of the parts 

 in question. The physician first decides 

 whether the power of the physis, or nature of 

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