What did galen dissect?

Answer 1

Galen's works covered a wide range of topics, from anatomy, physiology, and medicine to logic and philosophy, both summarising what was known and adding his own observations. His writings pay homage to, amongst others, Plato, Aristotle and the Stoics, but above all to Hippocrates, whom he refers to as "divine" (θειότατος Ίπποκράτης Nat Fac III: 13). Thus much of his explanation of pathology relies on Hippocrates' humoral theories.

He proceeded by observation, deductive reasoning, and experimentation, such as his demonstration of the effect of ligating the ureters (Nat Fac I: 13), and the functions of the spinal cord. His medical practice drew on the biological theory and anatomical observations from Aristotle to the Alexandrians in addition to his own research. His therapeutics led him to travel widely gathering elements and plants. However his reasoning led him astray as much as it did to truth, such as his rejection of the role of the stomach wall in digestion (Nat Fac III: 4) and his concepts of specific attraction.

Galen's approach to colleagues and the state of knowledge was very forthright. He despised what he referred to as partisanship (Nat Fac I: 13), and was impatient with those with whom he disagreed, such as the Erasistrateans and Asclepiadeans. (Nat Fac I: 17) Another target of his scorn were the Methodists, abhorring their consideration of pathology in a vacuum, treating the disease not the patient, whereas he taught that vital processes in an organism had to be interpreted in relation to its environment. Other disputes were with the Atomists , and the Anatomists, arguing that the whole is far greater than the sum of the parts. His own personal credo was based on three branches of philosophy; logic, physics and ethics. (Opt Med) He wrote in a highly polished precise Attic style, using many words (such as haematopoietic) that have passed down to us in modern medical terminology, albeit with altered meaning.

Galen developed an interest in anatomy from his studies of Herophilus and Erasistratus, who had dissected the human body and even living bodies (vivisection). Although Galen studied the human body, dissection of human corpses was against Roman law, so instead he performed vivisections on pigs, apes, and other animals (e.g. Nat Fac III: 8), to study the function of the kidneys and the spinal cord. In this study of comparative anatomy, he frequently dissected the Barbary Macaque and other primates, assuming their anatomy was basically the same as that of humans. The legal limitations forced on him led to quite a number of mistaken ideas about the body. For instance, he thought a group of blood vessels near the back of the brain, the rete mirabile, was common in humans, although it actually is absent in humans.

Galen performed many audacious operations --- including brain and eye surgeries --- that were not tried again for almost two millennia. To perform cataract surgery, he would insert a long needle-like instrument into the eye behind the lens, then pull the instrument back slightly to remove the cataract. The slightest slip could have caused permanent blindness.

Galen identified venous (dark red) and arterial (brighter and thinner) blood, each with distinct and separate functions. Venous blood was thought to originate in the liver and arterial blood in the heart; the blood flowed from those organs to all parts of the body where it was consumed.

Answer 2

he didn't dissect anything.