Introduction, p. xxxiv.

[216] Observe that Erasistratus's "simple nerve" may be almost looked on as an anticipation of the _cell_. The question Galen now asks is whether this vessel is a "unit mass of living matter," or merely an agglomeration of _atoms_ subject to mechanical law. _cf._ Galen's "fibres," p. 329. [217] _cf._ Book I., chap. xii. [218] _i.e._ in biology we must begin with living substance--with something which is specifically alive--here with the "unit mass of living matter." _cf._ p. 73, note 3 (119). [219] "Ad elementa quae nec coalescere possunt nec in partes dividi" (Linacre). On the two contrasted schools _cf._ p. 45. [220] _cf._ _loc. cit._ [221] "_Auxetic._" _cf._ p. 26, note 1 (50). [222] "At corporum quae nec una committi nec dividi possunt nullum in se formatricem, auctricem, nutricem, aut in summa artificem facultatem habet; quippe quod impatibile esse immutibileque praesumitur" (Linacre). [223] Book I., chaps. v.-xi. [224] _cf._ p. 153. [225] On account of his idea of a simple tissue not susceptible of further analysis. [226] Or "cell"; _cf._ p. 153, note 2 (216). [227] The _horror vacui_. [228] _Prosthesis_ of nutriment; _cf._ p. 39, note 6 (67). [229] _Anadosis_, "absorption"; _cf._ p. 13, note 5 (26). [230] Lit. _diadosis_. [231] _i.e._ let him explain the _diadosis_. [232] "Spiritus animalis"; _cf._ p. 152, note 1 (215). The nutriment was for the _walls_ of the vessels, not for their cavities. _cf._ p. 319, note 3 (394). [233] Specific attraction; _cf._ Book I., chap. xiv. [234] _cf._ p. 100, note 2 (152). [235] In Book II., chap. i. [236] Prevention better than cure. [237] _e.g._ Anaxagoras; _cf._ p. 7, note 5 (14); p. 20, note 3 (38). [238] Lit. _haematosis_. [239] _cf._ p. 174, note 4 (250). [240] Erasistratus held the spleen to be useless, _cf._ p. 143. [241] Induration: Gk. _skirros_, Lat. _scirrhus_. The condition is now commonly known by Laënnec's term _cirrhosis_, from Gk. _kirros_, meaning yellow or tawny. Here again we have an example of Erasistratus's bias towards anatomical or structural rather than functional explanations of disease, _cf._ p. 124, note 1 (180). [242] On the risks which were supposed to attend the checking of habitual bleeding from piles _cf._ Celsus (_De Re Med._ VI. xviii. 9), "Atque in quibusdam parum tuto supprimitur, qui sanguinis profluvio imbecilliores non fiunt; habent enim purgationem hanc, non morbum." (_i.e._ the habit was to be looked on as a periodical cleansing, not as a disease.) [243] Lit. _catharsis_. [244] Apparently some form of anaemia. [245] Philistion of Locri, a contemporary of Plato, was one of the chief representatives of the Sicilian school of medicine. For Diocles and Praxagoras see p. 51, note 1 (83). [246] _cf._ Book I., chap. iii. [247] Gk. _pepsis_; otherwise rendered _coction_. [248] _cf._ p. 13, note 5 (26). [249] _e.g._ Asclepiades. [250] Lit. _chylosis_; _cf._ p. 238, note 2 (312). [251] That is to say, the haematopoietic function deserves consideration as much as the digestive processes which precede it. [252] _i.e._ Erasistratus could obviously say nothing about any of the humours or their origins, since he had not postulated the four qualities (particularly the Warm--that is, innate heat). [253] _i.e._ bile. [254] _i.e._ deprived of its bile. [255] Here it is rather the living organism we consider than the particular food that is put into it. [256] Supreme importance of the "soil." _cf._