There are very few modern text books in which the author treats the subject in as exhaustive a manner as Galen has done in these seventeen books. As may readily be imagined from the great number and length of his writings, he often wanders off into side issues and thus lays himself open to the charge of being a diffuse writer. At the same time he cannot be accused of dullness, for in reading Daremberg's version one is seldom tempted to omit any of the text, and his style is interesting. The following brief extracts, to which should be added that given on a previous page, may be taken as fair samples of his manner of treating questions in the department of physiology:—
Reasons why the Alae Nasi are Cartilaginous and why they may
be Moved by Voluntary Muscular Action.—We have already
explained in some measure the reasons why the alae nasi should
be composed of cartilage and why it should be possible for the
animal to move them at will.[1] It is an established fact that the
movements of these parts are competent to aid in no small degree
the somewhat forcible inspirations and expirations. This is the
reason why the alae are constructed in such a manner as to be
easily movable. They are made of cartilage because this substance
is hard to fracture or to tear apart. The placing of these alar
movements under the control of the will, and not under that of
some other bodily force (like the arterial impulse, for example),
is certainly an excellent arrangement; and, if one does not appreciate
this without any further explanation, it must be because my
previous reasonings about such matters have fallen upon inattentive
ears.
(Translated from Book XI., Chapter XVII., of Daremberg's French version of Galen's works.)
Another brief extract may be given here. It forms a
part of the chapter relating to the action of the sigmoid
valves of the pulmonary artery, etc., and merits special
attention because it furnishes additional evidence of the
- ↑ In his Commentaries on the works of Hippocrates (Epidemic Diseases, III., t. XVII. B. § 4) Galen states that he has often observed this to-and-fro movement of the alae nasi in certain cases of illness and that he has interpreted it as indicating the existence of some serious disorder of the respiratory tract. (Daremberg.)
