There were at least seven physicians with the name of Hippocrates who taught in the early times. Hippocrates II (430 'Lc.), how ever, was the great Hippocrates, but the knowl edge of anatomy then possessed must be con sidered as the accumulation of the school rather than the work of any one man, for, as has al ready been pointed out, some of the Hippocratic nomenclature is Egyptian in origin (v. Oefele). Inasmuch as the Hippocratic writings are partly preserved, a better idea of the anatomical knowledge of the times may be gathered from them than from the mythical, traditional, and fragmentary remnants left by other peoples. The school of Cos had a fairly accurate and ex tensive knowledge of the human skeleton, and they knew the general shapes and varieties of most of the internal organs. Their physiological hypotheses, however, were crude but suggestive.
From the time of the great Hippocrates the school of Cos seemed to deteriorate, although Polybus, the son-in-law of Hippocrates II, Syennesis, Diogenes and Praxagoras, the last named being noted for his anatomical knowl edge, kept alive many of the traditions of the school. With Aristotle (384-323 we.) there came a period of more exact science and the dissection of the lower animals was practised, hence Aristotle may be termed the father of Comparative Anatomy. His researches in anatomy were wide and deep and his work on animals contain§ much that is still taught.
The Alexandrian period, 300 a.c., during which the culture of Rome and of Greece was encouraged in Egypt under the Ptolemies, shows as a bright spot in the history of anatom ical science. With the foundation of the Alex andrian Museum, the analogue of a modern university, the practice of human dissection became authorized. This period was a brilliant one in the history of medicine. Herophilus and Erasistratus were among the early leaders, the former making some noteworthy contributions to the knowledge of the anatomy of the brain. He maintained that it was the organ of thought and the origin of motion. He also described the lacteals and the lymphatics, and was an indefatigable searcher for the seat of the soul, which he placed in the floor of the fourth ven tricle of the brain, the place now known to be the site of the cranial nerves, that are indispen sable for the function of breathing. Heroph ilus also is credited with the destruction of the old doctrine that the arteries held air, hitherto the veins only having been thought to contain blood.
Erasistratus first described the valves in the veins, made the general subdivision of sensory and motor nerves, and drew the generalization of the relation of the complexity of the brain convolutions and mental development. He also first suggested the thought of anastomoses be tween the arteries and veins. Many others
followed, but the rise of the Empirical school (q.v.) was the forerunner of the gradual de cay of the Alexandrian school. It was to the newly arisen empire of Rome that the stream had turned, and until the time of Cato Greek physicians flourished in Rome. Asclepiades (126-56 a.c.) was one of the founders of the Atomic school at Rome, and Rufus (97 ac.) of Ephesus, with A. Cornelius Celsus (25 a.c.-40 A.D.) were among those who have left definite anatomical landmarks. Celsus is known as a brilliant man, a compiler of the work of his predecessors. His anatomical work was insig nificant, but he contributed largely to thera peutics. The last dying ember of this Alexan drian transplanted school showed in Claudius Galen, a Greek from Pergamos, a town already noted for its 2Esculapian temple. Galen was a man of great brilliancy, an independent thinker, and it was to his literary efforts that much of the history and treatment of the Hip pocratic school has been preserved to us. His works on anatomy alone were at least 15 in number, nine of which are preserved. Galen systematized much of the anatomical knowledge of the time, and although much of his data was drawn from the study of apes it was to pass muster in the service of human anatomy. He was perhaps the first to make any experi mental physiological studies. His descriptions of the relations of the brain to the spinal cord and his knowledge of the cranial nerves were in advance of his predecessors. Galen's work stands out as the last systematic work of the Greek period, and following his death began the dark era of the barbaric inroads of the northern races and the dispersal of the culture of the East.
For a period of many centuries history is comparatively silent on the suliject of medicine No great schools arose, yet the doctrines of the ancient Greeks were kept alive in many places by obscure scholars and by many peoples, al though it is known that the Saracens were largely instrumental in keeping intact that which Galen had handed down, without adding much, however, to his teachings. A flourishing intellectual development took place in the Byzantine countries, and many universities were founded by the Arabs, where the Roman Hellenic culture was mingled with the Chris tian-Oriental ideas to found a new culture. Among the most famous of the Oriental phy sicians was Sergios von Resaina (536). He translated both Galen and Hippocrates into Syrian. Oreibasios was also a commentator of the Greeks ,• Avicenna (980-1036) was the Galen of the Orientals. This period of melt cal history has been called the Arabic period. and not until the influence of the crusades commenced to make itself felt did the period of the Renaissance begin.