UNIVERSIDAD CATLICA DE SANTIAGO DE GUAYAQUIL

20-11-2017

ENGLISH V

CLAUDIO GALENO DE PRGAMO

STUDENT: MADELAINE LASCANO TORRES

TEACHER: IVN SELLAN

NOVEMBER 11TH 2017

SEMESTRE B 2017
CLAUDIO GALENO DE PRGAMO
 CLAUDIO GALENO DE PRGAMO

Why you selected this person?

I selected the Greek doctor Claudio Galeno de Prgamo, because he was a

Pioneer in the history of science that introduced the scientific foundations of

medicine. In addition, due to its influence and contribution, it has been

established as one of the decisive events in the structure of Western medicine

that, to a large extent, it has established the objective foundations of medical

knowledge. Among his works stand out, the medical system created by Galeno

de Pergamo, that has influenced more than any other in the history of medicine.

Life

Galeno was born in Pergamum, in the year 129 AD. Galeno, from a very young

age, became interested in a great variety of subjects, until the moment he

focused on medicine. At twenty years old, Galeno became a disciple or partner of

the god Asclepius in the Asclepeion of Pergamo for four years, where he would

begin his medical studies.

Galeno completed his studies in Alexandria, Egypt. In this place, he learned the

importance of anatomical and physiological studies for medicine, dissected

corpses and came into contact with the work of important anatomists such as

Herfilo and Erasstrato. He returned to Pergamo in 157. There he worked as a

doctor in the gladiatorial school for three or four years. From 162 he lived in
Rome, where he wrote numerous works, publicly demonstrating his knowledge

of anatomy.

Galeno spent the rest of his life in the imperial court, writing and conducting

experiments. He made vivisections of many animals in order to study the function

of the kidneys and the spinal cord. According to his own testimonies, he used

twenty scribes to write down his words. The date of his death has been estimated

around the year 201.

Achievements, inventions or discoveries

Galeno managed to introduce the

knowledge of anatomy as the objective

foundation of medicine, through dissection

and vivisection.

This researcher initiated the ordered

and almost complete knowledge of

comparative and topographical anatomy,

based on systematic observation and experimentation.

He wrote important works that formed an essential part of university

knowledge in the late medieval period

Its, different doctrines were used to explain and solve the health-disease

process.
 This Greek doctor managed to direct and correct all the intrinsic and

extrinsic factors of the disease.

The doctrinal legacy of Galeno was accepted as a true science.

Established the principle where philosophy and logic, which are necessary

disciplines in the formation of the good doctor

Due to its methodological system it allowed the doctor to accumulate a

sufficiently broad experience based on the theory of the doctrinal corpus

and the praxis of the physical examination.

He discovered a series of associations of ideas to explain the function of

anatomical structures.

He designed the bases of the anatomical and functional model to explain

the health-disease process.

Galeno built his biological doctrinal foundations on Aristotelian vitalism

based on the works Natural History of Animals.

He distinguished three causes of illness. In addition, He classified diseases

into four types Galeno designed his medical doctrinal corpus based on the

classical Greek theory of the four elements and their respective humors.

Galeno designed his theory of urine examination including the

semiological value of sediment, cloud, suspension, among some other

things.
Bibliography

Galen. Encyclopdia Britannica IV. Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc. 1984.

pp. p. 385.

Castiglioni A, Historia de la medicina. Barcelona; Salvat Editores, 1941:

185-230.