Document Detail


The fatal embrace: Galen and the history of ancient medicine.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  16075496     Owner:  HMD     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
The influence of Galen on the subsequent interpretation of the history of ancient medicine has been substantial. This paper explores the consequences of adopting a non-Galenic perspective in two different areas of research. It argues that Galen's own career, and his own views of the ideal physician, cannot be taken as typical of most ancient medical practitioners; and that the theory of the four humors, blood, bile, black bile, and phlegm, did not become a universal standard until after Galen. That theory was merely one of several variations on the theme of body fluids, and entered Greek medicine relatively late. Hippocratic contemporaries of Galen accepted it alongside other theories from the Corpus, e.g. Diseases I, that modern scholars have viewed as incompatible.
Authors:
Vivian Nutton
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Biography; Historical Article; Journal Article    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Science in context     Volume:  18     ISSN:  0269-8897     ISO Abbreviation:  Sci Context     Publication Date:  2005 Mar 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2005-08-02     Completed Date:  2005-08-26     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  8904113     Medline TA:  Sci Context     Country:  England    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  111-21     Citation Subset:  Q    
Affiliation:
The Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, University College, London.
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
History of Medicine
History, Ancient*
Humoralism*
Personal Name Subject
Personal Name Subject:
Galen

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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