Anatomy practically dates
from these Alexandrines, who described the valves of the heart, the
duodenum, and many of the important parts of the brain; they recognized
the true significance of the nerves (which before their day had been
confounded with the tendons), distinguished between motor and sensory
nerves, and regarded the brain as the seat of the perceptive faculties
and voluntary action. Herophilus counted the pulse, using the
water-clock for the purpose, and made many subtle analyses of its rate
and rhythm; and, influenced by the musical theories of the period,
he built up a rhythmical pulse lore which continued in medicine until
recent times. He was a skilful practitioner and to him is ascribed the
statement that drugs are the hands of the gods. There is a very modern
flavor to his oft-quoted expression that the best physician was the man
who was able to distinguish between the possible and the impossible.
Erasistratus elaborated the view of the pneuma, one form of which he
believed came from the inspired air, and passed to the left side of
the heart and to the arteries of the body. It was the cause of the
heart-beat and the source of the innate heat of the body, and it
maintained the processes of digestion and nutrition.
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