Illustrating Galen’s physiological teaching
The basic principle of life, in the Galenic physiology, is a spirit, anima or pneuma, drawn from the general world-soul in the act of respiration. It enters the body through the rough artery (τραχεῖα ἀρτηρία, arteria aspera of mediaeval notation), the organ known to our nomenclature as the trachea. From this trachea the pneuma passes to the lung and then, through the vein-like artery (ἀρτηρία φλεβώδης, arteria venalis of mediaeval writers, the pulmonary vein of our nomenclature), to the left ventricle. Here it will be best to leave it for a moment and trace the vascular system along a different route.
Plan of the foetal circulation
Vertical section of the skull, showing the sinuses of the dura mater
Vertical section of the skull
Passage into trachea and esophagus; Pharynx
Superficial veins of the head and neck
The Skull
Front view of the thorax
The Spine
The root of the left lung
Skeleton
The right auricle and ventricle laid open
A cross section of the skin
Lymphatics of the head and neck. B, the thoracic duct
The cartilages of the larynx; the trachea and bronchi
Lymphatics of the leg.
The regions of the abdomen and their contents
The arch of the aorta and its branches