Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 36

GALENUS (ca. 130-ca. 200) De ossibus. Apud Guliel. Rouillium 1549 64 pp. 11.9 cm.

Next to Hippocrates (see No. 1 ff.), Galen was the most noted physician of antiquity. Born in Pergamon, he received his formal medical education in Smyrna, after which he traveled widely in Asia Minor and to Alexandria to extend his medical knowledge. He settled in Rome where he carried on a large practice, attracting patients from all over the empire. His influence was enormous, and for centuries his writings were accepted as authoritative by Greek, Roman, and Arabic physicians, reaching a zenith in the Middle Ages. The present work is another edition of Galen's De ossibus ad tyrones ("On bones for beginners") (see No. 37) first prepared by Ferdinando Balami (fl. 1514-ca. 1552) in 1535. Balami made his Latin translation from a Greek transcription done by the eminent Greek scholar Janus Lascaris (1448?-1535) sometime before 1535. Lascaris had had access to a ninth century Galenic manuscript at the Laurentian Library in Florence which, although possibly corrupt, was a bonafide work of Galen written about 180. It was Lascaris' Greek text that Balami withheld from Vesalius (see No. 280 ff.) when Vesalius wished to use it while working on the Giunta edition of Galen (see No. 42).

See Related Record(s): 1 37 280 42

Cited references: Cushing G43 (1535 ed.); Durling 1912; Osler 382 (1535 ed.)

Gift of John Martin, M.D.