Who was Galen?

   GALEN is the common name of Claudius Galenus, c. A.D. 131-c.200, a Greek physician who was the most skilled practitioner of the early Christian Era. He was born in Pergamum in Asia Minor and studied under Satyrus of Pergamum, under Pelops of Smyrna, and at the University of Alexandria. On his return to Per­gamum A.D. 157 he was appointed surgeon to the gladiators and developed a lucrative practice among the rich. Going to Rome A.D. 162, he gained renown for his methods of diagnosis and prognosis, and because most of his patients recovered. He also attended the emperors Marcus Aurelius and Verus and their successors, Pertinax, Didius Julianus, and Septimius Severus.
   In his practice Galen emphasized the fact that disease is abnormal and that health may be conserved only by upbuilding the body. His valuable contributions to medicine included a description of the symptoms of inflammation, a differentiation between pneumonia and pleurisy, and the first mention of aneurysm. He also described the different forms of tuberculosis, recognizing the infectious nature of the disease and prescribing a milk diet and rest in a dry, elevated climate. Because he understood so well the use of opium, hyoscyamus, colocynth, and other drugs, the term galenicals is still applied to vegetable preparations used as medicines.
For some 14 centuries Galen's 100 extant treatises were regarded as authoritative by the medical profession. They covered anatomy, physiology, pathology, therapy, and pharmacy and bore such titles as De anatomias administrationibus and De usu partium corporis humani. As an anatomist Galen's errors were many and great, because he based his conclusions on what he had observed in dissecting apes, swine, and other lower mammals. The progress of medicine was, moreover, impeded throughout the Middle Ages
and the early Renaissance period because of the importance which physicians attached to his erroneous
beliefs in vitalism and laudable pus.