Most influential Roman physician and anatomist.
- Believed in deriving facts from experimental evidence
- Performed public dissection on a wide range of animals (dissections on humans were not allowed in Roman Empire)
- Thought the mind is located in the brain, not the ventricles
- Also thought the cerebrum is soft since sensation requires softer nerves; in contrast the hard cerebellum encoded motor funtions
Galen's Physiology
Three primary systems in the body, each controlled by a "pneuma" or spirit:
- Natural Spirit (liver and veins) - nutrition and growth
- Vital Spirit (heart) - energy for living
- Animal Spirit (brain) - responsible for the soul, especifically the rete mirabile
- Animal spirits were then stored in ventricles.
Popularized the idea that intellect consists of:
- Imagination
- Cognition
- Memory