Source edition
Galen. Claudii Galeni Opera Omnia, Volume 2. Kühn, Karl Gottlob, editor. Leipzig: Knobloch, 1821.
Source data
A Digital Corpus for Graeco-Arabic Studies · CC BY-SA 4.0
Cloned and adapted by Humanitext, with ongoing edits.
Summary
This work is a systematic medical treatise by the ancient physician Galen, detailing the anatomical structure and function of the human nervous system. Operating on the premise that all motion and sensation depend on the nerves, the author describes the paths and distribution of both the cranial nerves originating in the brain and the spinal nerves. In the first half, Galen examines each pair of cranial nerves starting from the optic nerve, tracing their complex routes to the face, jaw, tongue, and larynx. He emphasizes the functional significance of the recurrent laryngeal nerve, which he discovered, and asserts the constant law of bilateral symmetry for all nerves. The second half of the work systematically traces the spinal nerves arising from the spinal cord down to the sacrum, outlining their pathways to the muscles and organs of the head, neck, limbs, trunk, and perineum. By correcting the errors of previous anatomists, this treatise offers a comprehensive overview of the organic connectivity of the entire nervous system.