Alcmaeon of Croton

Alcmæon of Croton (mid-Fifth Century BCE) was an Ancient Greek philosopher and medical theorist.

Alcmæon was a pupil of Pythagoras. Although he wrote mostly on medical topics there is some suggestion that he was not a physician but a philosopher of science. He also indulged in astrology and meteorology.

He was an early pioneer of dissection and is said to be the first to identify Eustachian tubes. He also was the first to dwell on the internal causes of illnesses. It was he who first suggested that health was a state of equilibrium between opposing humors and that illnesses were because of problems in environment, nutrition and lifestyle.

Alcmæon wrote Concerning Nature which might be the earliest example of Greek medical literature. However, only few fragments survive. He contributed to the study of medicine by establishing the connection between the brain and the sense organs. He also outlined the paths of the optic nerves as well as stating that the brain is the organ of the mind. However, his theories were not without mistakes. He said that sleep occurs when blood vessels in the brain are filled and that waking is caused by the emptying of these vessels. He also stated that the eye contains both fire and water.^[1]

References

1. ^ Albert S. Lyons, M.D., F.A.C.S., R. Joseph Petrucelli,II, M.D., Medicine: An Illustrated History, pp. 187, 192

• "Alcmaeon: 'Physikos' or Physician?", J. Mansfeld in Kephalaion: Studies in Greek Philosophy and its Continuation Offered to Professor C. J. de Vogel, (Assen, 1975)
• A History of Greek Philosophy, Vol. I: The Earlier Presocratics and the Pythagoreans, W. K. C. Guthrie, (Cambridge, 1962)
• "The Origin of Experimental Medicine in the School of Alcmaeon from Kroton and the Diffusion of His Philosophy within the Mediterranean Area", A. Foca, Skepsis 13-14: 242-253 (2002).
• "Alcmeon's and Hippocrates's Concept of Aetia", D. Z. Andriopoulos in Greek Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science, Pantelis Nicolacopoulos (ed), (Kluwer : Dordrecht, 1990)
• Alcmaeon of Croton entry in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
• Alcmaeon of Croton by Giannis Stamatellos
• Eric W. Weisstein, Alcmaeon of Croton (ca. 535-unknown BC) at ScienceWorld.

Further Reading

• Kudlien, Fridolf (1970). "Alcmaeon of Crotona". Dictionary of Scientific Biography 1. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 103-104. ISBN 0684101149. 

pms:Alcmeon

Donate to Wikimedia