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composition that allows for this motion? Pneuma must be a part of the
answer. In On the Doctrines of Hippocrates and Plato, Galen writes that
most heat in a body is to be found in blood and pneuma.
Yet this must
be only a partial answer. When, immediately following this passage, he
turns to discuss the illness of the innate heat, he gives the list of afflictions
caused by the predominance of the heat as follows: inflammations, erysip-
elas, herpes, carbuncles, burning fevers and all the feverish affections.
The list contains localised afflictions of various tissues (most unrelated to
respiration). Thus, the substance of the innate heat cannot be only
pneumatic in nature. All the tissues have to constitute the substance of
the innate heat for these diagnoses to be possible. Yet most tissues do not
have a circular motion described in the preceding passage. This potential
contradiction can be resolved with the help of another, not yet discussed,
division of the body into parts. It helps to explain that the innate heat,
although residing in all the tissues, does not manifest itself in the same way
in all of them.
.. Fevers and the Viscosity of Parts
The division of parts in question separates the body into solids, fluids and
pneumata.
It is not a common distinction, primarily only found in the
context of describing afflictions of the innate heat, especially fevers. At the
same time, the study of fevers is no niche subject; it forms an important
part of ancient medical lore. Unlike the contemporary understanding of a
fever, the ancient notion encompassed a variety of conditions that involved
elevated body heat. Galen defines it as an increase of heat that harms the
healthy activity or functioning and causes distress, noting that an increase
of heat in the body without these symptoms does not constitute a febrile
state.
Such a diagnosis was common and, in the world where means for
effective temperature regulation were not available, signified a potentially
life-threatening condition. He dedicates a significant part of his On the
PHP .. de Lacy (.K).
Trem. Palp. (.K): φλεγμοναὶ μὲνοὖνκαὶἐρυσιπέλατα καὶἕρπητες καὶἄνθρακες καὶ τὰ
καυσώδη καὶ φλογώδη καὶ πάντα τὰ πυρετώδη πάθη.
Although Galen consistently maintains that the division of the body into solids, fluids and
pneumata is Hippocratic (see note in the Introduction; see also Gundert (, : )),
the specific view that the pneuma is a substance affected first and thus it plays the key role in health
and illness is also the central doctrine of the Pneumatists; see Ps. Galen Int. . (, –
Petit¼.K).
MM . (.K).
Respiration and Transpiration
Therapeutic Method to distinguish and classify different types of fevers,
and his discussion makes it clear that the treatment of these illnesses can be
very difficult, owing to the fact that some of them profoundly affect the
constitution of the body.
Consequently, the treatment must take into
account multiple factors, making sure that it does not result in accidental
injury to another vital system.
One of the clearest discussions of the way
in which fever can injure vitality can be found in the small treatise On the
Differences of Fever.
At the beginning of this treatise, Galen divides fevers, which he defines
as heating against nature, in reference to their substance: () in accordance
to more or less; () the matter in which the heat against nature is located;
and () the direction of the movement of the heat.
Noting that the first
type is a very familiar way of identifying fevers (and other illnesses), he
focuses on explaining the difference between the last two. The second type
refers to the cases when the body of the heart itself is taken over by the heat
against nature or when humours are clinging to the ventricles of the
heart.
The third type refers to the cases when the pneumata in the
body are overheated, but the solids and fluids are not.
Thus, he implicitly differentiates between the fevers according to what
type of tissue they settle in. This reading can be corroborated with a claim
in On the Therapeutic Method where he states this explicitly, also adding an
important piece of information: it is possible for one type of fever to
change into another type.
The changes of heat in different tissues
explain not only how one type of fever changes into another but also
how all the different types originate, and both of these explanations refer to
the same division of bodily matter into solids, fluids and pneumata. Galen
introduces it as follows:
A useful summary and overview can be found in Brain (: –); as in most other areas,
Galen presents himself as a follower of Hippocratic fever lore. See Yeo () for a discussion of
how Galen reads and reinterprets Hippocratic Epidemics . A common (although not
uncontroversial) fever treatment in ancient medicine was bloodletting; Brain (: –)
also contains an illuminating discussion of the possible benefits of this treatment.
MM . (.K). Fevers can also be very light and in San. Tu. ..– Koch (.–K), he
employs this example for criticising doctors for the claim that seeds of diseases (τὰ σπέρματα τῶν
νόσων) are present in people. Using the case of the light fever, Galen argues that health and disease
have to be defined in reference to pain and harm to the vital functioning (κατὰ τὸν βίον
ἐνεργείαις).
MM . (.–K). This passage makes some important claims regarding the unity of central
physiological systems, for which see Section ...
Diff. Feb. (.K).
In Cur. Rat. Ven. Sect. (.–K), this condition is identified as fever arising from the
putrefaction of humours.
MM . (.K).
. The Vital Pneuma and the Purpose of Breathing
ῥᾴστη μὲνοὖν ἡἐκτῶν ὑγρῶνεἰςτὸ πνεῦμα μετάληψις τῆς θερμότητος,
ἧττον δ’ ἑτοίμως τῷ πνεύματι συνεκπυροῦται τὰὑγρά. καὶ μέν γε καὶ τὸ
στερεὸνσῶμα τοῖς ὑγροῖςτεκαὶἀερώδεσιν ἑτοιμότερον μεταδίδωσι τῆς
θερμασίας ἢ αὐτὸ παρ’ ἐκείνων λαμβάνει· πᾶσα μὲνγὰρ ἡ λεπτομερὴς
οὐσία ῥᾷον ἀλλοιοῦται τῆς παχυμεροῦς· ἔστι δὲ λεπτομερεστάτη μὲν ἡ τοῦ
ἀέρος, παχυμερεστάτη δὲἡτῶν στερεῶν σωμάτων, ἐντῷ μεταξὺ δὲ
ἀμφοῖν ἡ τῶν ὑγρῶν.
And while the change of heat from fluids into pneuma is most easy, the
fluids heat up less readily than the pneumata. And indeed, the solid body
gives a share of heat to the fluids and airy [substances] more readily than it
takes from the others; for all the fine substance undergoes qualitative change
more easily than the thick; and the finest substance is that of air, while the
thickest is that of the solid bodies, and in between these two is the substance
of the fluids.
The passage describes the speed with which differently textured tissues
undergo thermal change: pneuma changes quickly, solid parts slowly, and
fluids somewhere in between. The behaviour of tissues is determined by
their textural properties. The finer the tissues are, the more readily they
undergo changes. As a result, they transmit heat to each other asymmetric-
ally, namely a solid part can heat up pneuma easily but not the other way
around. The alterations in pneuma cause the bipartite motions of the
innate heat. In healthy states, the solid parts undergo the heating and
cooling cycle, with the very minute motion, if any. The liquid parts are
presumably more prone to motion, but not significantly so. When pneu-
mata comes into contact with the solid and the liquid parts in which the
heat is, let us say, kindled, it is heated too. However, owing to the very fine
texture, pneuma is also more volatile, and this heat also results in more
motion, prompting it to move outwards, which ultimately manifests itself
as an exhalation. Pneuma, thus, enables the bipartite ‘motion’ of the innate
heat in the parts that do not move themselves, by moving kinetically on
behalf of them, prompted by the qualitative alteration in these parts. The
interactions between tissues generate a single phenomenon: the tempera-
ture of the body or the innate heat. It is the combined warmth of all the
body parts that is manifest to tactile sensation.
The bipartite motions of
the pneuma correspond with qualitative changes in solid and liquid parts,
producing a single unified thermal state in the body.
Diff. Feb. (.–K), tr. mine. See also CC .– Lyons and Us. Puls. .– (– Furley and
Wilkie¼.K).
Temp. . (, – Helmreich¼.–K).
Respiration and Transpiration
It is importa nt that it is pneuma that moves and not any of the other
parts. The excessive heat and ‘motion’ resulting from it is pathological,
especially in solid parts. A passage from Advice for an Epileptic Boy
illustrates this point clearly. In this passa ge, Galen prescribes an exercise
regime to an epileptic boy, noting that the master ought to keep it
moderate or, to be more precise, prescribe it proportionately
(συμμέτρως). This term cle arly refers not only to numerically expressible
proportion but also functi onality . The exercise has to be moderated with
two purposes in mind: warmin g up the body and not overheating it. The
former is necessary to r id the body of superfluity (τὸ περιττόν), that is,
the by-products of nutrition. This process is carried out by the capacities
in the tissues of numerous internal organs.
Galen’s advice indicates the
body needs to be warmed up so that this process, primarily dependent on
the alterative capa city, can take place. The other pathological extreme is
overheating. Once a body is exe rcised to this state, the solid parts of the
body are affected, and their shapes melt together (τῶνστερεῶν σωμάτων
καὶ συντήκει τὴν ἕξιν), with the molten humoral matter (τὰ
συντήγματα) gathering in joints and muscles and causing pain as well
as fatigue.
The solid parts require some innate heat in order to carry out qualitative
alteration, but they also undergo change and even, in some sense, motion
under the circumstances of excessive heat. Owing to the thickness of these
parts, their ‘motion’ is fairly minute, primarily consisting in the dislocation
of ‘melting’ tissues and the deformation of the functional shapes of organs,
but it has a dangerous effect. This particular pathology is caused by
motion, but excessive heat in the body can be brought about by numerous
external and internal circumstances, including emotions.
Presumably,
the reason why the division of parts in accordance to viscosity primarily
appears in discussions of fevers is as follows: they are the illnesses of heat
regulation and the stakes of healthy heat regulation are most clear in
pathological cases.
The flow of pneuma into and out of the body is, th erefor e, crucial for
its healthy functioning, and some portion of pneuma must reach every
part of the body very regularly. While some of thi s flux takes place by
means of respiration, pneuma also enters the body by means of involun-
tary motion of the arteries. The following section explores further the
Nat. Fac. .– (– Helmreich¼.–K).
Puer. Epil. (.–K).
For example, grief and sleeplessness in MM . (.K).
. The Vital Pneuma and the Purpose of Breathing
differences between transpiration and respiration as well as summarises
the significance o f the vital pneuma that is active in both processes.
.. The Innate Heat in Transpiration
As noted earlier in this chapter, pneuma is supplied via two ways: by means
of respiration and transpiration. In his expositions of transpiration, Galen
makes it clear that it serves the same purpose, that is, heat regulation. Unlike
respiration, which is primarily focused on the heart, transpiration supplies
the entire body. Galen’s primary point of contention is the mechanistic
accounts of this type of breathing, and he especially criticises Plato for
offering such an account in the Timaeus already mentioned earlier in this
chapter. According to Galen, transpiration is enabled by the innate capacities
of the tissues, not horror vacui. In the process of the same critique, he
describes the circular pattern of motion that transpiration consists of:
τὴντοῦ τροχοῦ περιαγωγὴνοὐχ ἁπλῆνδεῖ νοεῖν, ἀλλ’ ἐξ ἐναντίων
κινήσεων συγκειμένην, ὅταν μὲν ἐπὶ τὸ δέρμα τὸἔμφυτον ὁρμήσῃ
θερμόν, ὠθουμένου τε καὶ περιελαυνομένου τοῦἐκτὸς ἀέρος εἰςτὸ σῶμα
διὰ τοῦ στόματος, ὅταν δ’ αὖ πάλιν ὁρμήσῃ διὰ τοῦ στόματος ἔξω
φέρεσθαι, περιωθουμένου τοῦ περιέχοντος ἡμᾶς ἀέρος εἰςτὸ σῶμα διὰ
τοῦ δέρματος, ὡς ἐνέργειαν μὲνεἶναι [διὰ] τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶντὴν ἐκπνοὴν
καὶ διαπνοήν, πάθος δὲ τὴνεἰσπνοήν, οὐ μόνον τὴνδιὰ τοῦ στόματος,
ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴνδιὰ τοῦ δέρματος.
The turning of the wheel must not be thought of as simple but as a
combination of opposite motions: when the innate heat initiates a motion
toward the skin, the outside air is ‘pushed’ and ‘moves in a circle’ into the
body through the mouth; but when the innate heat initiates a contrary
motion of air outward through the mouth, the air enveloping us is ‘pushed
around’ into the body through the skin. As a result, exhaling and transpir-
ing are activities of our nature, whereas inhaling, not only through the
mouth but also through the skin, is an affection.
Reading this passage alone makes it hard to appreciate Galen’s contrast
between the Timaen circular and his own dual motion, owing to the fact
that this description is so terse. The excerpts from other aforementioned
treatises help to fill in crucial details here. The emerging picture is
remarkably similar to the account of respiration discussed earlier, which
is not unexpected, given that both transpiration and respiration follow a
very similar pattern. The passage describes how two types of breathing take
PHP ..– de Lacy (.–K), tr. de Lacy (–: ).
Respiration and Transpiration
place in a body at the same time, in accordance with the cycle of the
innate heat.
First, the heart, being the source of the heat,
sends it out through the
arteries, and it radiates towards the skin. At this point, the body is heated
and requires cooling. The thorax moves, pulling air into the lungs through
the mouth. The intake of cold air cools the body. The action of the thorax
is enabled by muscles and nerves, so it is voluntary, governed by the
nervous system. Having cooled down, the body starts the second part of
the cycle, which is kindling. First, the air is breathed out from the lungs.
At the same time, the capacity to attract what is beneficial is activated in
the heart. The heart makes the arteries expand, pulling the air in. There is
no mention of the contraction of the arteries in this passage, but it must
occur after this expansion, expelling the by-products of ‘burning’.
In the last sentence, Galen employs the distinction between activity and
affection. The activity is a motion originating from the object itself,
whereas affection is a motion originating elsewhere.
Inhaling through
the mouth is said to be affection, because the expansion of the lungs, the
organ of the cardiac system, is controlled by the organ of the nervous
system, viz. the thorax. Exhaling is natural because it allows the lungs to
come back to their default position and shape. Transpiration, or breathing
through the skin, works similarly. The main difference is that it is the
heart, the direct governor of the cardiac system, that makes the arteries
expand,
and in contracting they return to their original state, as do the
lungs.
However, just as the injury to the parts moving the thorax results
in suffocation, so the stoppage of pores results in a fever.
Ut. Resp. . ( Furley and Wilkie¼.K).
This definition can also be found in PHP .. de Lacy (.–K); Loc. Aff. .. Gärtner
(.K).
The arterial tissue is capable of some pulsation too. Art. Sang. .–. (– Furley and
Wilkie¼.–K); Us. Puls. . ( Furley and Wilkie¼.–K); Cur. Rat. Ven. Sect.
(.K) for the heart and pulsation, see also AA . ( Garofalo¼.K).
See the argument in Us. Puls. .– ( Furley and Wilkie¼.K) that an expansion is the
activity; it is also worth noting, however, that the contraction of arteries can be forced and
unforced, just like breathing out via the lungs; Us. Puls. . ( Furley and Wilkie¼.K).
This ties in with the previous point about Galenic polemics in On the Natural Capacities. The
contraction of arteries moves pneuma in a mechanical motion, and Galen criticises Erasistratus for
using it in physiological explanations while himself adopting it in certain cases. Yet here the key
difference emerges. The mechanistic motion of the arteries is only a secondary effect of the
expansion originating from the innate capacities of the tissues of the arteries/heart. This motion
is owed to the natural capacities arising from the mixture of that particular tissue (for the mixture
of the heart and its pathologies, see Ars Med. – (, –, Boudon¼.–K)). The
natural capacities are, then, at the very core of animal physiology and therefore they must take the
most prominent role in any explanation of it.
MM . (.K) and MM . (.K) that specifically mentions transpiration.
. The Vital Pneuma and the Purpose of Breathing
Ultimately, transpiration and respiration are similar in their fundamen-
tals, despite being carried out by different organs, and they both serve the
same purpose: the maintenance of the innate heat. The two types of breath,
as noted, are necessary for ensuring that the thermal conditions are kept at
optimal levels, since any deviation can quickly result in illness and death.
These points explain why breathing is the hallmark of animal vitality.
Despite his hesitations earlier in On the Usefulness of Respiration, Galen
ultimately states that this conclusion – that the use of breath is the
preservation of the innate heat – is not only plausible but the truth
itself.
The innate heat, as well as the pneumatic system that regulates
it, ensures the conditions in which not only the nervous system but also
the nutritive system can function. The regulation of the innate heat is,
ultimately, the regulation of the elemental alteration that constitutes
animal vitality. The process of breathing distinguishes the latter from the
vegetative vitality. At the same time, there is much in common between
the two domains: the language describing the respiratory anatomy maps
onto the nutritive anatomy, while the innate capacities govern both invol-
untary breathing and nutrition.
Yet animal bodies are capable of
motion, not only in terms of kinetic movement but also internal changes,
all of which are enabled by a larger degree of heat and the internal bodily
structure that enables the optimal distribution of that heat.
Vitality can be understood either as a certain kind of motion or, more
fundamentally, as a certain series of qualitative changes or alterations. The
predominance of any of the elemental qualities would bring about change,
but the change into coldness, wetness and dryness leads to stagnation.
Only heat is the ever-propelling property, ever ‘rekindling’ and restarting
the change.
Yet even heat needs to be moderated by the other properties
in order not to disperse itself in its activity. Breathing and the quick
elemental alteration that comes with it, introduces the kind of speed of
motion in animal bodies that are not possible in plants. While employing
the Platonic pattern of tripartition, Galen distinguishes the spirited and the
vegetative souls not just by their desires, but by the ways in which their
Ut. Resp. . (– Furley and Wilkie¼.K).
In the very last sentence of On the Natural Capacities, the treatise that discusses nutrition most
extensively, he specifically refers to transpiration (not respiration), that is, the diastole of the arteries
as absorbing pneuma and fine blood (but not liquids in the stomach and intestines). Natural
capacities explain both the absorption of nutriment and the absorption of pneuma for heat
regulation. Nat. Fac. . ( Helmreich¼.K).
The connection between heat and motion is well embedded in ancient Greek philosophical and
scientific thought; see Betegh () for a more detailed discussion.
Respiration and Transpiration
domains move. Borrowing the general scheme from the Platonists, Galen
gives an exceptionally detailed account of the functioning of the soul
domains. His association with the medical tradition undoubtedly helps
to accomplish this task, but it is also worth noting that Galen uses the
medical inheritance philosophically.
Crucial to the differentiation between animal and plant motion is what
he calls the Hippocratic division of the parts into solids, fluids and
pneumata. While it is true that the division is mentioned in the
Hippocratic sources, Galen turns it into his own conceptual tool that
helps to model the speeds of the qualitative changes in the body with
reference to the viscosity of the affected tissues. These models have a
practical purpose: they are crucial for his differentiation and treatment of
fevers, but they also undoubtedly show that Galen thought of the body,
especially the animal body, in terms of the movements of the tissues and
the ways in which alterations were enabled by these motions. The speed of
vital pneuma enables qualitative maintenance of heat at a suitable pace, but
there is an even more subtle type of pneuma, the psychic pneuma, whose
even more complex motions enable the psychic capacities.
. The Psychic Pneuma and Its Purpose before Galen
Galen divides pneuma into three types: vital, psychic and natural. The
pneuma discussed so far is of the first type. It is present in the arteries and
it plays an instrumental role in heat regulation and, thus, in animal vitality.
The psychic pneuma is also present in arteries but it has a distinct activity
and a set of properties enabling that activity.
When theorising the psychic pneuma, Galen is engaging in a long-
standing tradition that makes a connection between breathing and intelli-
gence, starting with the Hippocratic works.
In On Sacred Disease, the
brain is described as having the greatest power in humans. In a healthy
state, it is the interpreter of things caused by air, since air supplies it with
intelligence.
The air, according to this passage, is necessary for the
See the discussion in Lloyd (: –), which covers not only Hippocratic texts and some
Presocratics, but also shows the provenance of the terminology and the theories concerning air,
winds and pneuma in the Archaic poetry. See also von Staden ().
Morb. Sacr. (.– Grensemann¼Littré .), tr. von Staden (: ): ‘I think the brain
has the greatest power in humans, for when it is healthy it is our interpreter of things caused by air
(air, you see, provides intelligence)’. Κατὰ ταῦτα νομίζω τὸν ἐγκέφαλον δύναμιν ἔχειν πλείστην ἐν
τῷἀνθρώπῳ· οὗτος γὰρ ἡμῖν ἐστι τῶν ἀπὸ τοῦἠέρος γινομένων ἑρμηνεύς, ἢν ὑγιαίνων τυγχάνῃ
τὴνδὲ φρόνησιν ὁἀὴρ παρέχεται.
. The Psychic Pneuma and Its Purpose before Galen
functioning of the brain. This claim, however, can be read in two ways:
either there is something special inherent in the air that enables the brain
to act or the air simply acts as a channel, and the brain stops functioning
when deprived of air because it is cut off from the supply of the necessary
material. In other words, the air could be an agent of cognition or it could
be an instrument. Given the way in which air is described as a vehicle/
supplier for all sense perceptions, the second option seems to be a more apt
interpretation. As will be argued later, Galen’s views are developed along
these lines too, but this understanding of the connection between the air
and intelligence is by no means uncontested.
Earlier in this chapter, Galen’s report of Asclepiades’ identification of
pneuma with the soul in On the Usefulness of Breathing was mentioned.
The Asclepiadean view, at least the way in which Galen describes it,
appears to explain the soul and intelligence in terms of pneumatic activ-
ities.
Galen often identifies Asclepiades with the Epicureans and
atomists, so this claim was motivated by a mechanistic understanding of
human physiology. At the same time, the view identifying intelligence and
pneumatic activities can be found in the texts and theories to which Galen
is much more sympathetic. A fragment of Aristotle’s early work Peri
Philosophias, states that the nous is ethereal.
Arguably, this Aristotelian
description can be associated with the Greek tradition traceable back to
such figures as Diogenes of Apollonia who posited the existence of the
intelligent, designing air.
By the time Galen was active, the association
of pneuma and intelligence was ubiquitous, but there was a fairly wide
range of options for interpreting this association, each of which brought
distinct philosophical consequences and commitments. The following
section contains an argument that Galen’s view ends up being in line with
the claims made in the Hippocratic passage, but the way in which he
arrives at such a conclusion is distinctly Galenic.
.. The Generation and Nourishment of the Psychic Pneuma
The origin of the psychic pneuma as well as its distinctive characteristics
are covered in both On the Doctrines of Hippocrates and Plato and On the
This appears to be a Stoic-influenced position (Hankinson a: –, for example), but
Asclepiades is typically described by Galen as an Epicurean, an interpretation supported by
scholarship; see Leith ().
Fr. Ross. See also Clark (: ).
See Tarrant (: ).
Respiration and Transpiration
Usefulness of Parts. In Book of the latter, Galen adds that he was right to
point out that the vital pneuma in the arteries is used for the generation of
the psychic pneuma in the brain,
after noting that the retiform plexus is
more elaborate than the varicose plexus because of the necessity of greater
elaboration of the psychic pneuma in the brain than in the reproductive
organs.
A more elaborate description of how the vital type of pneuma
turns into the psychic type can be found in Book of On the Doctrines of
Hippocrates and Plato, where he states:
ὥσπερ γὰραὐτὸ τὸ σῶμα τῆς καρδίας ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ διαστελλόμενόν τε καὶ
συστελλόμενον ἐν μέρει τὰς ὕλας τε ἕλκει καὶ αὖθις ἐκπέμπει, κατὰ τὸν
αὐτὸν τρόπον ὁἐγκέφαλος ἐπειδὰν προέληται τοῦ περιεχομένου κατὰ τὰς
ἑαυτοῦ κοιλίας πνεύματος, ὃ δὴ καὶ ψυχικὸν ὀνομάζομεν, ἐπιπέμψαι τινὶ
μορίῳ, τὴνεἰςτοῦτ’ ἐπιτήδειον κίνησιν κινηθεὶςοὕτως ἐπιπέμπει. γένεσις
δὲ τῷ πνεύματι τῷδε τῷ κατὰ τὰς κοιλίας αὐτοῦ τάχα μέν τις ὀλίγη καὶἐκ
τῶνεἰςαὐτὰς περαιουμένων γίγνεται φλεβῶν, τὴν πλείστην δὲ καὶ
κυριωτάτην αἱ κατὰ τὸ δικτυοειδὲς πλέγμα τὸ κατὰ τὴντοῦἐγκεφάλου
βάσιν ἀρτηρίαι χορηγοῦσιν, αἵτινες ἀπὸ τῆς καρδίας ἀναφέρονται. ὥστ’ εἴ
τις βούλοιτο τοῖς ἀληθέσι συνάπτειν τὸνμῦθον, ἐντοῖς κάτω μέρεσι
κυηθεῖσαν τὴν φρόνησιν, τουτέστι τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ψυχικόν, ἐντῇ κεφαλῇ
φήσει τελειοῦσθαι καὶ μάλιστά γε κατὰ τὴν κορυφήν, ὅτι κατὰ ταύτην
ἐστὶν ἡ μέση καὶ κυριωτάτη τῶν ἐγκεφάλου κοιλιῶν.
Just as the body of the heart, as it alternatively dilates and contracts of itself,
draws matter in and sends it out again, in the same way the brain, when it
chooses to send to some member a portion of the pneuma contained in its
own ventricles, which we call psychic (pneuma), executes the motion
suitable to this end and this sends pneuma. Perhaps in some small part
this pneuma in its ventricles is generated from the veins that end in the
ventricles; but the major and principal production (of pneuma) is supplied
by the arteries in the rete mirabile at the base of the brain, and these
(arteries) come up from the heart. Therefore, if a person wishes to fit the
myth to the facts, he will say that wisdom, that is, psychic pneuma, after
being conceived in the lower parts, reaches full development in the head,
especially the top of the head, because that is the location of the brain’s
middle and most important ventricle.
UP . (., –, Helmreich¼.K).
Rete mirabile, the retiform plexus is a dense structure of blood vessels below the brain (AA .
(Duckworth : –), but it is not actually found in humans. The existence of such a
structure in humans is conjectured on the basis of the observations of bovine anatomy (see Rocca
: –) and predates Galen, possibly originating with Herophilus’ followers; see Rocca
(: –). On animal dissection for the study of human anatomy, see Rocca (: –);
Salas (: –). The varicose plexus consists of the testicular blood vessels.
PHP ..– de Lacy (.–), tr. de Lacy (–: ).
. The Psychic Pneuma and Its Purpose before Galen