Erasistratus

Erasistratus (c. 305 BC in Iulis on Ceos, † 250 BC) was a Greek anatomist and physiologist. It shall Herophilus of Chalcedon as the main representative of the Alexandrian school, and along with this, and Galen as the most important descriptive anatomist of antiquity.

Life

His exact survival data are not known. Erasistratus (today Kea ) born in Iulis on the Aegean island of Ceos, the son of Cleombrotus and Kretoxene. In addition to his father and his uncle Medios his brother Kleophantos was a doctor. He studied medicine in Athens, where Metrodorus, a son of Aristotle, his teacher should have been. To 280 BC he went to Kos, birth island of Hippocrates, and continued his studies at Praxagoras continued. He finally - probably only at a later age - in Alexandria, where at that time there was a very science -friendly atmosphere among the early Ptolemies, down. There he was able to conduct extensive sections on humans. In addition, he dissected animals. Whether he was actually accused as he later sentenced to death criminals has dissected alive ( vivisection ) is controversial.

Work

Erasistratos examined especially nervous and circulatory system. His findings include the differentiation of sensory and motor nerves, and contrary to popular belief, he did not for these hollow. He also provided fairly accurate descriptions of the anatomy of the brain with distinction from large and small brain and descriptions of the cerebral convolutions ( gyri ) and realized that all the nerves ultimately emanate from the brain. Its true neurophysiological observations, such as the role of the cerebellum for movement coordination, suggest that he at least has actually been carried out on animals vivisection. Furthermore, he distinguished the small (pulmonary ) of large (body) circulation and described the heart valves, the trachea and the pancreas.

From the records of the Erasistratos obtained by the citations of Galen, Oribasius and other authors only fragments, the originals were probably the first (48 BC) and second ( 391 ) Fire the Library of Alexandria irretrievably lost.

Legend

A us by Appian and Plutarch traditional legend says that Antiochus, the son of the Syrian king Seleucus I Nicator, was seriously ill and his father, after all the other doctors did not advise, let fetch Erasistratos. As this Antiochus examined, entered the young wife of the king, Stratonike I., the room, and Erasistratus recognized from the accelerated pulse of his patient that no physical suffering, but the love of the unreachable stepmother of the disease was based. Although Erasistratos time may not have been the Seleucid personal physician ( Antiochus married Stratonike 293 BC. ), This still illustrates its importance in the ancient history of medicine.

Plant fragments

• Ivan Garofalo (ed.), Erasistrato, I frammenti. Pisa 1988.

Swell

• Heinz Schott (ed.): Milestones of Medicine. Haren mountain, Dortmund 1996. ISBN 3-611-00536-3.
• Articles in Enkephalos. In: Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry