Galen on the Brain: Anatomical Knowledge and Physiological Speculation in the Second Century Ad (Studies in Ancient Medicine) (Multilingual Edition)

this Book Is A Study Of The Ways In Which Galen Sought To Establish The Brain As The Regent Part (hegemonikon) Of The Body, Utilising A Rigorous Anatomical Epistemology And An Often Sophisticated (but Perforce Limited) Set Of Physiological Arguments Part One Surveys The Medical And Philosophical Past In Which The Study Of The Brain Occured, And Looks At The Materials And Methods Which Galen Employs To Legitimate His Hegemonic Argumentation. Part Two Examines Galen's Anatomical Understanding Of The Brain, Especially The Ventricles. Part Three Offers A Critical Evaluation Of Galen's Physiolgy Of The Brain. This Is The First Monograph To Offer A Detailed Account Of This Subject, Setting It Within The Cultural And Intellectual Contexts Of Its Era, And Will Be Of Interest To Those In Classics, Medical History, History Andphilosophy Of Science And The History Of Ideas. GALEN ON THE BRAIN: Anatomical Knowledge and Physiological Speculation in the Second Century AD CONTENTS Acknowledgments Abbreviations Illustrations Note to the Reader Preface General Introduction: Galen and his time PART ONE THE FRAMEWORK OF GALEN’S ANATOMICAL METHODOLOGY Chapter One: The development of the hegemonic concept: the medical and philosophical background 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Presocratic knowledge of the brain 1.2 Presocratic knowledge of the brain 1.4 Aristotle on the brain and the heart 1.5 Hellenistic medicine and the hegemonikon 1.6 The second century AD: a recovery of anatomical knowledge 1.7 Conclusion Chapter Two: Galen’s methods and materials for the investigation of the brain 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Galen’s claims for anatomical demonstration 2.3 Galen’s pneumatic physiology 2.4 Galen’s empirical substrate: animal material 2.5 Conclusion PART TWO THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE BRAIN Chapter Three: The exposure and dissection of the brain 3.1 Introduction 3.2 The parts of the brain: orientation and nomenclature 3.3 The cranial cavity and the anatomical exposure of the brain 3.4 The meninges (i): the dura mater and the dural foldings 3.5 The meninges (ii): the dural venous sinuses 3.6 The meninges (iii): the venous sinuses and the torcular Herophili 3.7 The meninges (iv): the pia mater 3.8 Ventricular protection and support: the brain’s deeper bodies 3.9 Conclusion Chapter Four: The anatomy of the ventricular system 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Ventricular symmetry: a constructed harmony 4.3 An overview of Galen’s ventricular system 4.4 The anterior ventricles 4.5 The middle ventricle 4.6 The “duct of Erasistratus” and the vermiform epiphysis 4.7 The “cavity of Herophilus”: the fourth ventricle 4.8 Conclusion PART THREE A PHYSIOLOGY OF THE BRAIN Chapter Five: A methodology of ventricular function 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Galen’s method of ventricular experimentation 5.3 The effects of pressure: chance and the youth from Smyrna 5.4 Pressure as an experimental technique 5.5 The effects of ventricular incision 5.6 The soul and the ventricles 5.7 Conclusion Chapter Six: The elaboration of psychic pneuma 6.1 Introduction 6.2 The anatomy of the retiform plexus 6.3 The physiology of the retiform plexus: Galen’s “paradigm” for pneumatic elaboration 6.4 The anatomy and physiology of the choroid plexus 6.5 The experiment of carotid ligation 6.6 The limits of Galenic pneumatic physiology 6.7 Conclusion Chapter Seven: Conclusion Appendix One The doctrine of ventricular localisation Appendix Two Galenism and the status of the retiform plexus Glossary of Anatomical Terms Bibliography Index of Sources and List of Editions General index STUDIES IN ANCIENT MEDICINE "This book is a study of the ways in which Galen sought to establish the brain as the regent part (hegemonikon) of the body, utilising a rigorous anatomical epistemology and an often sophisticated (but perforce limited) set of physiological arguments." "Part One surveys the medical and philosophical past in which the study of the brain occured, and looks at the materials and methods which Galen employs to legitimate his hegemonic argumentation. Part Two examines Galen's anatomical understanding of the brain, especially the ventricles. Part Three offers a critical evaluation of Galen's physiology of the brain. This is the first monograph to offer a detailed account of this subject, setting it within the cultural and intellectual contexts of its era, and will be of interest to those in classics, medical history, history and philosophy of science and the history of ideas."--BOOK JACKET. Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved Annotation Rocca (history of medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm) offers a comprehensive study of how Galen sought to establish the brain as the regent part, or , of the body, using a rigorous anatomical epistemology and a set of physiological arguments that were sophisticated but necessarily limited by the knowledge of his time. He includes a general introduction for non-specialists summarizing the circumstances that led to Galen's establishment in Rome, and explaining how Galen produced and disseminated his anatomical and physiological writings while some medical sects were denying the importance of anatomical science. Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)