Classical Studies 2900 Final: Passages for Final Exam.doc
1 Jun 2012
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Greek and Roman Medicine: Passages
Passage # 182, Page 89
Written by: Celsus, (1st c. A.D.)
Summary:
Significance:
Empiricists believed that practices such as dissections were superfluous because they taught you about the in-
side of the body, which empiricists believe you did not need to know. They also thought dissection wasn’t necessary be-
cause once the inside of the body is exposed to air, all of the components will change. Not only did they believe it
wasn’t necessary, they thought vivisection was cruel and believed that medicine should be used to help and not harm.
Empirical direction in medicine accepted only “evident causes” (external circumstances) as valid and rejected hypotheti-
cal theories about “hidden causes”. They think that it isn’t possible to understand what is going on inside the body and
that one can only become a skilled physician by observation and experience. They believed that all that counted were
the results of your experiments.
They based their treatment off of the empirical tripod that summarized these views:
1. Personal observation of cases: (autopsia or seeing for yourself)
•The physician’s expertise (experience - empeiria) is based on trial and error experiments (peira) and subsequent
repetition of successful treatments.
•For example if someone has a cold, they observe the symptoms and then try out certain medications to see if
something works. If something does work, then they use the same medication or treatment again. If it repeatedly
works, then what is just trial and error is now an experience.
•Empiricists were especially interested in Hippocratic writings that had to do with observations. Epidemics was of
particular interest in which physicians wrote down day by day developments of disease. They were also interested
in Hippocratic writings that were based on surgery because they were not based on theory- were based on dislo-
cations and bone fractions and not on theory.
2. Recorded observation/experience of others (historia)
•Collective memory of what had worked in the past as data bank for future use.
3. Inference from what has worked in similar cases
•Transference of treatment of one type of disease to another, of what has worked on one part of the body to a simi-
lar part of the body, or the use of a similar remedy for the same ailment.
•For example if you know how to teach a growth on an arm and then the person is suffering from a similar growth
on the leg, you would apply the same medication for both.
Observation becomes especially pertinent in this passage upon observing the wounded and learning this from experi-
ence.
1. Passage #184, Page 90
Galen: Heraclidus (129- ca. 210 A.D.)
Summary:
This passage is a commentary on Hippocrates book “On Joints”. This passage explains that the femur is con-
nected from the top to the pelvis by a ligament. Herophilus and Erisistratus claim that either this ligament at the head of
the femur is intact (not a dislocation) or else it is torn and the hip bone slips out. They say that once this happens, you
cannot reduce the femur. This passage then states that this wrong and that the femur has been replaced in two children
in this case. They also say that Hippocrates also succeeded in replacing the femur. They stated that one should not
Greek and Roman Medicine: Passages
base this on theory, but recognize that sometimes there might not be a complete tearing of the cord, but a relaxation
caused the femur to slip out.
Significance:
This passage shows empirical directed medicine. The empiricists did not believe that knowledge about the in-
side of the body is necessary, but believed that treatment should be based on observation and experience. They also
believe in the empirical tripod which stated that:
1. Personal observation of cases: (autopsia or seeing for yourself): can see this when they state that they’ve done it
•The physician’s expertise (experience - empeiria) is based on trial and error experiments (peira) and subsequent
repetition of successful treatments.
•For example if someone has a cold, they observe the symptoms and then try out certain medications to see if
something works. If something does work, then they use the same medication or treatment again. If it repeatedly
works, then what is just trial and error is now an experience.
•Empiricists were especially interested in Hippocratic writings that had to do with observations. Epidemics was of
particular interest in which physicians wrote down day by day developments of disease. They were also interested
in Hippocratic writings that were based on surgery because they were not based on theory- were based on dislo-
cations and bone fractions and not on theory.
2. Recorded observation/experience of others (historia): can see this from the text on Hippocrates
•Collective memory of what had worked in the past as data bank for future use.
3. Inference from what has worked in similar cases
•Transference of treatment of one type of disease to another, of what has worked on one part of the body to a simi-
lar part of the body, or the use of a similar remedy for the same ailment.
•For example if you know how to teach a growth on an arm and then the person is suffering from a similar growth
on the leg, you would apply the same medication for both.
Can also see that Hippocrates at this time was very respected and considered the lover of truth.
Empiricists focused on:
Symptamatology
Pharmacology
Surgery
Hippocratic surgeries.
Passage # 187
This is by Celsus, our Roman medical historian from the 1st c. B.C. He is talking about contemporary medicine that is
adapted to Roman lifestyle and ideas.
Summary:
Themison and other Methodists thought that cause of a disease has nothing to do with treatment and that it is
sufficient to observe commonalities amongst different diseases and treat based on these commonalities. These charac-
teristics can be constriction, flux or a mixture of the two. These diseases can further be classified into acute and chronic
with three different phases: an increase, a constant plateau and a diminishing phase. Once a physician recognizes the
symptoms of the disease, the body must be treated with a medication which will have the opposite effect on the body
that the disease does. For example, a disease characterized by constriction must be treated with a relaxing treatment.
There must also be treatments tailored to acute and chronic diseases and treatments for the different phases of a dis-
Greek and Roman Medicine: Passages
ease. These types of observations characterize Methodists and they are distinct from Dogmatists and Empiricists. They
disagree with Dogmatists because Dogmatists believe that in order to treat a patient you need to know the cause of the
disease; Methodists deny cause and do not believe that medicine should be based on hidden things. They do not agree
with Empiricists which hold that medicine should be based on observation, and that experience is based on repeated
observation.
Significance:
This passage explains Methodists and compares their ideas to Dogmatists and Empiricists. Methodists are dif-
ferent from other “medicinal” arts such as the Dogmatists and Empiricists. They disagree with Dogmatists because
Dogmatists believe that in order to treat a patient you need to know the cause of the disease; Methodists deny cause
and do not believe that medicine should be based on hidden things. They do not agree with Empiricists which hold that
medicine should be based on observation, and that experience is based on repeated observation. The Methodists in-
stead hold that medicine should examine common characteristics among diseases and believe that it is sufficient to ob-
serve general conditions of each disease in order to treat the disease.
In order to study the Methodist development, Pre-Socratics must quickly be considered. A Pre-Socratic named Dem-
ocritus developed a system in which the world consists of a combination of atoms which come together to make up the
parts that we can see. Epicurus and also believe in this atomic system.
In the last 2nd c. B.C. and early 1st c. B.C., Asclepiades established a similar system as the atoms for the body,
saying that the body consists of “little bodies” (corpuscles) which by their contribution form passages. These passages
are wider or narrower depending the size, form, position and arrangement of the corpuscles. Through these passages,
other corpuscles pass in the form of bodily fluids (blood or pneuma). Health consists of a proper relationship between
passages and fluids and disease consists of a disturbance of this relationship. Treatment should consist of a removal of
this disturbance and should be safe, fast and pleasant (tuto, celeriter and iucunde).
It is upon these ideas of the inner body that another Methodists (Themison, 1st c. B.C. and 1st c. A.D.) based his three
“commonalities” or classes of disease. They are:
•Status strictus (stricture)
•Status laxus (solution)
•Status mixtus (combination of both)
Methodists would determine which condition the disease is characterized by and treat to oppose the condition
with an opposite effect. If the disease is characterized by status strictus, one would treat with a relaxing agent. If the
disease is characterized by status laxus, one would treat with a constricting agent.
Methodists divided diseases into two forms: acute and chronic diseases. Acute diseases were “swift”diseases
and chronic disease were “slow” diseases. Thesallus specifically defined chronic diseases as characterized by attacks
and then longer remissions. Acute diseases can often be cured spontaneously after the corpuscles which have been
displaced from their normal arrangements temporarily replace themselves. However, chronic diseases cannot be rear-
ranged naturally. The physician treating the patient with a chronic disease must use treatment that rearranges the cor-
puscles into the natural state again. The chronic disease is treated with two different treatments:
•Restorative treatment: This entails restoring the person to his or her natural habits gradually. For example, if someone
normally eats one full loaf of bread, a physician would feed the person smaller portions of bread over couple of days
building up to a full loaf of bread. The physician would also adjust exercise to build the person’s strength.
•Metasyncritical treatment: This the type of treatment in which a physician can show his strengths. This treatment often
consists of drastic measures. For example, using cupping with a lot of heat or medications that induce vomiting.
