I declared it was no fever
but a digestive disorder, due to the food he had eaten, which must be
converted into phlegm before being excreted. Then the emperor repeated
three times, 'That's the very thing,' and asked what was to be done. I
answered that I usually gave a glass of wine with pepper sprinkled
on it, but for you kings we only use the safest remedies, and it will
suffice to apply wool soaked in hot nard ointment locally. The emperor
ordered the wool, wine, etc., to be brought, and I left the room. His
feet were warmed by rubbing with hot hands, and after drinking the
peppered wine, he said to Pitholaus (his son's tutor), 'We have only one
doctor, and that an honest one,' and went on to describe me as the first
of physicians and the only philosopher, for he had tried many before who
were not only lovers of money, but also contentious, ambitious, envious,
and malignant."(7)

It will be seen from this that Galen had a full appreciation of his own
abilities as a physician, but inasmuch as succeeding generations for
a thousand years concurred in the alleged statement made by Marcus
Aurelius as to his ability, he is perhaps excusable for his open avowal
of his belief in his powers. His faith in his accuracy in diagnosis and
prognosis was shown when a colleague once said to him, "I have used the
prognostics of Hippocrates as well as you. Why can I not prognosticate
as well as you?" To this Galen replied, "By God's help I have never been
deceived in my prognosis."(8) It is probable that this statement was
made in the heat of argument, and it is hardly to be supposed that he
meant it literally.

His systems of treatment were far in advance of his theories regarding
the functions of organs, causes of disease, etc., and some of them are
still first principles with physicians. Like Hippocrates, he laid great
stress on correct diet, exercise, and reliance upon nature. "Nature is
the overseer by whom health is supplied to the sick," he says. "Nature
lends her aid on all sides, she decides and cures diseases. No one can
be saved unless nature conquers the disease, and no one dies unless
nature succumbs."

From the picture thus drawn of Galen as an anatomist and physician, one
might infer that he should rank very high as a scientific exponent of
medicine, even in comparison with modern physicians. There is, however,
another side to the picture. His knowledge of anatomy was certainly
very considerable, but many of his dedu