Galen and the Neurosciences

What is it about?

Galen of Pergamon (129AD -200/216 AD) is one of the greatest authorities in Medicine. After the great contribution of Hippocrates in the foundation of the scientific medicine, in classic Greek Era , Galen contributed substantially in shaping the profile of modern medicine , in Hellenistic Era, six centuries later.He was more analytic than Hippocrates in his dissertations, concerning the description of the diseases and pathological conditions, attempting to associate the clinical medicine with the experimental investigation . Galen as an author was very productive. His extensive work covered almost every scientific and philosophical field. He composed more than five hundred dissertations on anatomy, medicine, philosophy, medical ethics, logic and grammar. In his numerous dissertations on Medicine, Galen tried to incorporate all the existed theories in Medicine and Philosophy, giving emphasis in his personal observations, theories, ideas, concepts and doctrines. He attempted to harmonize the Hippocratic medical pragmatism with the Platonism, Stoicism and Neo- Platonism, accepting at the same time the majority of the Aristotelian doctrines , given that he lived under the special philosophical and literary atmosphere of Hellenistic World .

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Why is it important?

In the field of Neuroanatomy, Galen described cranial nerves, the corpus callosum, the tectum, the formix, the epiphysis or pineal body, the sympathetic chain, the anterior and posterior roots of the spinal nerves. He described the great vein of the brain (Galen’s vein), the recurrent laryngeal nerve, characterizing it as vocal nerve or nerve of the speech . Galen described the ventricular system of the brain and considered it as the seat of the psychic spirit.In the field of neurophysiology Galen studied the function of the spinal cord and the structure of the spinal column . He made very important observations on the traumatic lesions of the spinal cord. He noticed that on transverse sectioning of the spinal cord total paralysis and anesthesia are induced below the level of the section. Experimentally, Galen proceeded to transverse sectioning of the spinal cord at various levels in pigs, apes and other animals and described the distribution of the motor and sensory loss in the body under the level of the lesion . Galen noticed that on transverse hemisection of the spinal cord the voluntary motion is abolished under the level of the section ipsilaterally and the perception of the pain and temperature is lost in the body and limps contralaterally. He noticed also that in cases of hemiplegia, associated with ipsilateral facial palsy the causative factor is located in the brain.

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