Page 106 - My FlipBook
P. 106
^
108 FIRST PERIOD—ANTIQUITY
such cases. When a tooth appeared discolored, without being affected
by caries, and was the seat of violent pains, against which every remedy
had proved of no avail, Archigenes perforated it with a small trephine,
invented bv himself for the purpose. He applied the instrument to that
part of the crown which was most discolored and drilled right down
to the centre of the tooth.
Without doubt this talented surgeon was induced to adopt this method
of cure by the idea of the existence of morbid substances in the interior
of the tooth and by the consequent indication of giving them a free exit.
The operation devised by Archigenes proves, among other things, two
important facts : first, that the anatomical constitution of the teeth had
already been explored, seeing that Archigenes did not ignore the existence
of the pulp cavity; and secondly, that Archigenes was greatly opposed
to the extraction of a tooth unless absolutely necessary. It might be
thought that such aversion depended upon an exaggerated idea of the
dangers connected with the extraction of a tooth, an idea widely diffused
at that period; but regarding such a daring surgeon as Archigenes was,
it is more logical to suppose that in similar cases he had recourse to
trephining and not to extraction, especially on account of the importance
he attached to the preservation of the tooth.
Surgery in ancient times was eminently conservative; later on — partly
by effect of its own progress— it became too readily inclined to the
removal of diseased parts; in modern times it has again become what it
was originally, and what it must ever be, viz., conservative in the highest
possible degree.
Claudius Galen, after Hippocrates the greatest physician of ancient
times, was born at Pergamus, a city in Asia Minor, in the year 131 of our
era. His father Nicon, a man of great abilities, who was at the same
time a man of letters, a philosopher, a mathematician, and an architect,
had put him, at a very early age, to the study of science and of the liberal
arts. Galen began to study medicine at the age of seventeen, under the
guidance of skilful doctors of his native country; he made several journeys
in order to have the benefit of the instruction of celebrated masters, and
finalU fre(|uented the renowned medical school at Alexandria. On
going to Rome, in the thirty-fourth year of his life, he soon acquired in
that city a very high renown. He died in the first decade of the third
century, but we do not know exactly in what year.
Cjlalen was a most prolific writer, and his works, considering the period
in which they were written, form a real medical encyclopedia. Anatomy
through his researches made considerable progress, for he studied with
' R. F)uval, Rtchtrchcs liisr()ii(jins siir I'art du dcntiste chez les anciens, Paris, 1808,
J.
p. 19. (Sec Carabclli, p. 13.)
108 FIRST PERIOD—ANTIQUITY
such cases. When a tooth appeared discolored, without being affected
by caries, and was the seat of violent pains, against which every remedy
had proved of no avail, Archigenes perforated it with a small trephine,
invented bv himself for the purpose. He applied the instrument to that
part of the crown which was most discolored and drilled right down
to the centre of the tooth.
Without doubt this talented surgeon was induced to adopt this method
of cure by the idea of the existence of morbid substances in the interior
of the tooth and by the consequent indication of giving them a free exit.
The operation devised by Archigenes proves, among other things, two
important facts : first, that the anatomical constitution of the teeth had
already been explored, seeing that Archigenes did not ignore the existence
of the pulp cavity; and secondly, that Archigenes was greatly opposed
to the extraction of a tooth unless absolutely necessary. It might be
thought that such aversion depended upon an exaggerated idea of the
dangers connected with the extraction of a tooth, an idea widely diffused
at that period; but regarding such a daring surgeon as Archigenes was,
it is more logical to suppose that in similar cases he had recourse to
trephining and not to extraction, especially on account of the importance
he attached to the preservation of the tooth.
Surgery in ancient times was eminently conservative; later on — partly
by effect of its own progress— it became too readily inclined to the
removal of diseased parts; in modern times it has again become what it
was originally, and what it must ever be, viz., conservative in the highest
possible degree.
Claudius Galen, after Hippocrates the greatest physician of ancient
times, was born at Pergamus, a city in Asia Minor, in the year 131 of our
era. His father Nicon, a man of great abilities, who was at the same
time a man of letters, a philosopher, a mathematician, and an architect,
had put him, at a very early age, to the study of science and of the liberal
arts. Galen began to study medicine at the age of seventeen, under the
guidance of skilful doctors of his native country; he made several journeys
in order to have the benefit of the instruction of celebrated masters, and
finalU fre(|uented the renowned medical school at Alexandria. On
going to Rome, in the thirty-fourth year of his life, he soon acquired in
that city a very high renown. He died in the first decade of the third
century, but we do not know exactly in what year.
Cjlalen was a most prolific writer, and his works, considering the period
in which they were written, form a real medical encyclopedia. Anatomy
through his researches made considerable progress, for he studied with
' R. F)uval, Rtchtrchcs liisr()ii(jins siir I'art du dcntiste chez les anciens, Paris, 1808,
J.
p. 19. (Sec Carabclli, p. 13.)
