Galen : a bibliographical demonstration in the library of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, December 9th, 1891 / by James Finlayson.

  • James Finlayson
Date:
1892
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Galen : a bibliographical demonstration in the library of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, December 9th, 1891 / by James Finlayson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    Lucius.Tn this way Galen succeeded, wltliin a short time, in obtaining a profitable medical practice. (History ojMedical Education, London, isaf p. 95.) In the quotations already given about tying the aorta, we have a glimpse of his influence on liis pupils in their ardour in trying to convict of incompetence a rival teacher who had different views from their master. We likewise get an indica- tion of his clinical teaching in connection with the case of Amantis Dignotio, for he there makes use as a messenger of one of his pupils, apparently—ex iis qui sequebantur me—showing that they visited patients with him at their own homes, and received in this way their clinical instruction. Of the state of the profession in Rome Galen draws a dreadful picture ; but as he himself poses as the victim of the envy and persecution of the physicians there, it is perhaps fair to dis- count somewhat his retaliation on them in this abusive description. One can easily gather, even from the quotations I have given, that Galen had, as a French biographer phrases it, un amour-propre excessif; and his acrid disputes, with syllogisms embellished by such phrases as tu stupidus es, might naturally set the profession there against him ; indeed, his position in Rome was probably only rendered safe by the influence of Marcus Aurelius and other potentates. Galen says of physicians in Rome : [Medical Profession in Kome.]—They will say or do anything to curry favour with the multitude; they will also flatter and favour ; in the towns they will daily salute wealthy and influential persons, walk alongside of them, take them to their houses, give banquets, and behave themselves like buffoons. Others, not only in this manner, but also by the gaudi- ness of their clothing and their rings, by the splendour of their silver vases and by the troops of followers accompanying them, endeavour to dazzle fools and show that they are persons of tremendous importance and men to be imitated. (Kiihn, vol. xiv, p. 600.) In another passage he draws a comparison between the members of the medical profession and robbers, the sole dif- ference being, he says, that the former perpetrate their crimes in the towns and the latter in the mountains. Notwithstanding the hard lines which had, according to himself, fallen to his lot through the hatred and envy of the profession in Rome, Galen seems to have had at least one good fee, received from the Consul BoSthus for attendance on his wife ; he sent him 400 aurei, equivalent, we may say, to 400 English guineas. Indeed, so far as the value of that coin can be estimated, the balance of exchange seems to have been in favour of Galen, for it is quoted in the Dictionary as £1 Is. IM.; but these aurei evidently acquired a very special additional value in Galen's eyes, as the rumour of them increased the envy of his fellow-practitioners and added to his praise ! 1* Some of these are figured and named, as viewing Galen's dissection of an animal, on the title page of the Latin edition, Basle, 1563. I' Clinical instruction seems also to have been given in Tahernw Mediae or latreia, the construction of which was aiTanged to secure good light and ventilation. (See Puschmann : History of Medical Education, London, ]89l, p. Ill ; also Galen : Ktihn, vol. xviii b, p.'678, 671, etc.) 16 Sola hac re a latronibus difVerunt, quod in urbe, non in montibus faeinora sua perpctrent. (Kiihn, vol. xiv, p. 622.) [Boiithi uxorem uteri profluvio laborantem praoter spom aliorura sanat] quadrigentos aureos ad ino misit, auxitque peiierosorum horum medicorum invidiam, iude quod me laudibus cxtolleret. (Kiihn, vol. xiv, p. 647.)
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