Galen on the hand / [Translated by T. Bellott and J. Jordan].

  • Galen.
Date:
[1840]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Galen on the hand / [Translated by T. Bellott and J. Jordan]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    and the hare, (for they are both timid,) swiftness is given; their bodies being defenceless and un- armed. For I think, swiftness was the best for the timid, and arms for the bold. Therefore, nature has neither given arms to the timid, nor has she left the bold unarmed. But to man, be- cause he is a wise animal, and the only one divine on earth, for all defensive weapons, she has given the hand, an organ suited for all arts, no less for peace than for war. He is not born armed with horns, since, when he wishes, he can grasp better instruments ; for swords and darts are better weapons, than horns and hoofs. Nor has she, indeed, left him without hoofs ; for stone and wood inflict more dangerous injuries than hoofs. Neither horns nor hoofs can act, unless at close quarters ; but the weapons of man take effect, no less at a distance, than hand to hand. Darts and arrows are superior to horns ; and wood and stone are superior to hoofs. But the lion is swifter than man— what then ? Man rules the horse, an animal much swifter than the lion, with his wisdom and his hands ; mounted on the horse, he evades and pur- sues the lion ; sitting on high, he strikes it beneath his feet. He is, therefore, neither defenceless nor unarmed ; nor is he easily wounded ; nor are even his feet unprotected : when necessary, he puts on a breastplate of iron, more impenetrable than any hide. Not the breastplate only, but houses, and