Galen and the ventricular system

Journal of the History of the Neurosciences
J Rocca

Abstract

This paper examines the anatomy and physiology, together with the pathophysiology, of the ventricular system of the brain, as it was understood by arguably its greatest exponent in Western Antiquity, Galen. According to him, the purpose of the ventricles was to elaborate, store and distribute psychic pneuma, the motive force of Galenic neurology, throughout the nervous system. However, impressive as the delineation of the ventricular system is, the details of this distribution are not forthcoming from Galen. Finally, I discuss the ventricles as the site of intellect, a notion only tentatively advanced by Galen, but cast into dogma by his successors. For all the mistakes Galen made in anatomy and physiology, the study of the ventricular system reveals a mind not dissimilar to our own.

References

Jan 1, 1993·Journal of the History of the Neurosciences·F C Rose
Apr 1, 1994·Journal of the History of the Neurosciences·A Karenberg
Oct 1, 1994·Journal of the History of the Neurosciences·F R Freemon
Dec 1, 1988·British Journal for the History of Science·J Longrigg

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Citations

Jan 21, 2009·Brain : a Journal of Neurology·Paulo Fontoura
Jan 9, 2007·Brain Research Bulletin·Enrico Crivellato, Domenico Ribatti
Apr 7, 2005·Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences·C F Goodey
Jan 8, 2014·Anatomy Research International·Leszek Herbowski
Feb 12, 2015·Neurological Sciences : Official Journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology·Sandro Zambito MarsalaMichele Pistacchi
May 15, 2018·Biology & Philosophy·David Parker
Nov 15, 2018·Dementia & Neuropsychologia·Eliasz Engelhardt
Feb 14, 2021·Neurosurgical Review·A I CucuM D Turliuc
Aug 5, 2021·Surgical Neurology International·Luiz Severo Bem JuniorHildo Rocha Cirne de Azevedo Filho
Aug 17, 2021·Cell Calcium·Leonard Khiroug, Alexei Verkhratsky

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