self. Galen, being called in consultation, pointed out
that the injury was probably not in the hand itself, but in the ulner
nerve, which controls sensation in the fourth and fifth fingers.
Surmising that the nerve must have been injured in some way, he made
careful inquiries of the patient, who recalled that he had been thrown
from his chariot some time before, striking and injuring his back.
Acting upon this information, Galen applied stimulating remedies to the
source of the nerve itself--that is, to the bundle of nerve-trunks known
as the brachial plexus, in the shoulder. To the surprise and confusion
of his fellow-physicians, this method of treatment proved effective and
the patient recovered completely in a short time.

Although the functions of the organs in the chest were not well
understood by Galen, he was well acquainted with their anatomy. He knew
that the lungs were covered by thin membrane, and that the heart was
surrounded by a sac of very similar tissue. He made constant comparisons
also between these organs in different animals, as his dissections were
performed upon beasts ranging in size from a mouse to an elephant. The
minuteness of his observations is shown by the fact that he had noted
and described the ring of bone found in the hearts of certain animals,
such as the horse, although not found in the human heart or in most
animals.

His description of the abdominal organs was in general accurate. He
had noted that the abdominal cavity was lined with a peculiar saclike
membrane, the peritoneum, which also surrounded most of the organs
contained in the cavity, and he made special note that this membrane
also enveloped the liver in a peculiar manner. The exactness of the last
observation seems the more wonderful when we reflect that even to-day
the medical, student finds a correct understanding of the position
of the folds of the peritoneum one of the most difficult subjects in
anatomy.

As a practical physician he was held in the highest esteem by the
Romans. The Emperor Marcus Aurelius called him to Rome and appointed
him physician-inordinary to his son Commodus, and on special occasions
Marcus Aurelius himself called in Galen as his medical adviser. On
one occasion, the three army surgeons in attendance upon the emperor
declared that he was about to be attacked by a fever. Galen relates
how "on special command I felt his pulse, and finding it quite normal,
considering his age and the time of day,