Galen's Fame
Galen was born in AD 129 in Pergamum, Greece. Pergamum had an
important Asclepion at which Galen first began his training, at the
age of 16. He then spent twelve years travelling to improve his
knowledge and visited famous places like Alexandria and Smyrna. After
his travels he returned to Pergamum and became a doctor to the
gladiators. He was able to treat stab wounds, broken bones and other
injuries and this was ideal for Galen to learn more about the skill of
surgery.
In AD 161 Galen travelled to Rome. He was very ambitious and worked
hard at gaining a reputation. He became doctor to the Emperor's son
and wrote over 100 medical texts. Galen supported the theories of
Hippocrates on ethics and OBSERVATION and he believed in the four
humours. He increased his anatomical knowledge (gained from treating
wounded gladiators) by dissecting animals. He wasn't allowed to
dissect human bodies or study skeletons so he often had to wait for
CHANCE opportunities like a flood in a cemetery or a rotting corpse on
a gibbet. Some of Galen's work was wrong because of his limited bodies
to study. He described livers as the wrong shape and thought that the
"rete mirabile" which is a network of blood vessels on the
undersurface of an animal's brain would be found in humans. He also
let his ambition take over. He only recorded his successful cases and
regularly saw what he wanted to see - such as tiny pore in the septum
of the heart, which would let blood pass from the right side to the
left side. He also thought that the blood started life in the liver
and then travelled around the body picking up spirits and believed at
the end it was consumed, rather than recirculated.
Nevertheless, Galen was very convincing and his fame and popularity
meant that many did not question his judgement. His work continued to
be used as the primary source of medical knowledge for some 1400
years. His books survived when the Roman Empire collapsed and were
B. Quotation 2: “The other eye had been poked out and was now oozing white-yellow stuff that looked like jocoque” (52).
In the article, Gawande shares a story from when he worked in a hospital as a resident. His first real procedure, placing a central line through a stout man’s heart to receive nutrition, would result in few problems if it were performed by experienced hands. However, knowing this is his first operation to be done alone, Gawande’s nervousness grew with every thought of what could go dramatically wrong. Before beginning, the author recollects studying all of the precise moves and cuts his superior named S. carried out on the same type of procedure on a person beforehand. After feeling informed and confident, Gawande begins by gathering all the necessary tools needed for the job. But as he thought he finished, S. chimes in reminding him of the multiple things he failed to remember to grab or setup. He uneasily shook off the mistakes, and began by locating the point on the man’...
He had produced an unknown ray being emitted from the tube that could pass through the paper. He found that this new ray would pass through most objects, casting shadows of solid substances. He first investigated with his hand and was surprised when he saw his bones. His discovery would open up an exciting field for doctors because now it was possible to stu...
The patients were sedated and placed in a side-lying position to allow the doctor easy access to the insertion site. The scope was inserted into the rectum using lubrication and advanced to the cecum portion of the large intestines. On the scope are small ports that allowed the doctor to manipulate the intestinal tract of the colon. The two ports developed a greater visualization by inflating the colon with air and washing debris from the walls with water. A third port of the scope provided an access for clamps to be inserted and retrieve a biopsy of abnormal tissue. (Lewis, Dirksen, Heitkemper, & Bucher, 2014, p. 881)
The next examination was called the eyelid lift. The doctors used a hook to lift the eyelids to look for trachoma. Trachoma is " an easily spread infection of the eye. Repeated occurrences scar the upper eyelid, eventually turning it inward. The eyelashes then scratch the cornea, leading to blindness." Chalk marks were put on their clothes to indicate what was wrong. A few were, Sc for scalp disease, G for goiter, K for hernia, L for lameness and S for senility.
The radiolab program “Guts” the cast talk about the fascinating world that is our intestines. They begin by introducing William Beaumont an army doctor at fort mackinac, who saves Alexis Saint Martin from a gunshot wound that had left a giant hole in his stomach. Being a doctor and a scientist in 1822 Beaumont was intrigued with he had seen coming out of this hole; guts, lungs, and food. A year after the GSW the hole hadn’t gone away, Alexis had grown a fistula with just a flap of skin covering the hole. After noticing this Beaumont offers him a job, not just out of kindness but to study Alexis and his fistula. Beaumont then begins his experiments; he began by inserting different kinds of food attached to a string into the fistula and recorded
seating and the easiest access to the Colosseum. Even though many people think that the
Within the Ancient world, political leaders manipulated the balance between religion and politics to further their own power. In particular, Gaius Octavius (63 BC – 14 AD) later known as Imperator Caesar Divi Filius Augustus, exploited the ‘imperial cult’ as a political tool within the Roman Empire. Termed by modern historians, the imperial cult was a combination of local religious cults where people worshipped the emperor as a deity who received divine honours exceeding all other living entities. By directly allowing the imperial cult in the Roman provinces, this achieved much required unity and stability throughout the Empire. Consequently, this enabled Augustus to indirectly incorporate the cult into Rome’s ritualistic polytheism practices.
because of pain and blood in the rectal area when he regained his senses. “I ask myself
the winecup fall from his shocked hand. Like pipes his nostrils jetted crimson runnels, a river of mortal red, and
Why is Cleopatra Famous? Known for her love affairs with some of Rome’s most famous leaders, and wanting to be worshipped as a goddess, associating herself with the goddess Isis, Cleopatra was a famous powerful queen in Ancient Egypt. Cleopatra was born as Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator to Ptolemy XII and Cleopatra V Tryphaena. She was born in 69 B.C.E in Alexandria, and later died there in 30 B.C.E. Because of the time period in which Cleopatra lived, not very much is known of her.
The Iliad, the Greek epic documented by Homer that describes the battles and events of the ten year siege on Troy by the Greek army. Both Trojans and Greeks had their fair share of heroes and warriors, but none could match the skill and strength of the swift runner, Achilles. Achilles had the attributes of a perfect warrior with his god-like speed and combat abilities. However, even though he was Greek’s greatest warrior, he still possessed several flaws that made him fit the role of the Tragic Hero impeccably. Defined by Aristotle, a Tragic Hero is someone who possesses a high status of nobility and greatness, but must have imperfections so that mere mortals cannot relate to the hero. Lastly, the Tragic Hero’s downfall must be partially their own fault through personal choice rather than by an evil act, while also appearing to be not entirely deserved of their unfortunate fate. Achilles is a true Tragic Hero because he withholds all of these traits. Achilles proves to be a good man that puts his loved ones first, reveals his tragic flaws of pride and anger, shows dynamic qualities as a character when his flaws are challenged, and has a moment of clarity at the end of his rage. Achilles truly exemplifies the qualities of a Tragic Hero.
Across the world, ordinary people find heroes that they aspire to imitate. Comic books portray heroes as super strong men in spandex suits, and although a three-year-old child might aspire to be superman, more mature audiences hopefully find more realistic figures to idolize. Take Barack Obama, the President of the United States; he worked his entire life to attain the highest position in our government, President. Obama was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth but to a single mother in Hawaii. Through hard work and motivation, he went to college and received an education at Columbia University. He later obtained a law degree from Harvard University and began working with the Democratic Party. In 1996 he was elected to the Illinois Senate and acquired a seat in the United State’s Senate in 2004. After only 5 years of experience in the Senate, he was elected the 44th president. Obama’s exponential growth in importance and power could only have been achieved by an exemplary man. His determination, intelligence, hard work, and professionalism all made his success attainable, and he should be admired for these traits. Every country has a national hero and Barack Obama is the United State’s.
In his classic work "Poetics" Aristotle provided a model of the tragic hero. According to Aristotle, the tragic hero is more admirable than the average person. This results in the tragic hero being admired by the audience. For the audience to accept a tragic ending as just, it is crucial that the tragic hero be responsible for their undoing. At the same time though, they must remain admired and respected. This is achieved by the tragic hero having a fatal flaw that leads to their undoing. One of literature's examples of the tragic hero is Achilles from Homer's The Iliad. However, Achilles is different from the classic tragic hero in one major way - his story does not end tragically. Unlike the usual tragic hero, Achilles is able to change, reverse his downfall, and actually prove himself as a true hero.
Christopher Marlowe’s 14th century play “The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus” demonstrates not how the Devil can lead mankind to temptation, but how mankind through free-will can ultimately lead itself to suffering through sin. I believe that Marlowe heavily uses Christian doctrine through the actions of John Faustus in order to criticize those who do not partake in or see the seriousness of religion.