Galen

Anatomical illustration of the human body showing arteries and viscera

Galen (129-200 CE) was an ancient Greek physician and philosopher. His theories about the workings of the heart and the movement of the blood endured for more than a thousand years. These ideas were part of Galen’s wider understanding of how the body worked as a whole. He rejected Aristotle’s established view that the heart was the controlling organ of the body. He considered the brain and liver to be equally important, each of the three having a different function. He compared them to the structure of the universe - to the heaven, sky and earth. Within this system, there were four ‘humours’ that flowed through the body, whose balance ensured good health. Emotions were also defined by the levels of each humour present in the body.Anger, for example was the result of a rush of choler, or bile, to the heart.

This was not an unusual way of thinking about the body. In Ayurveda, a system of medicine from ancient India, elemental forces analogous to the humours flowed through the body, governing a person’s health and character. In traditional Chinese medicine, health was achieved through the balance of yin and yang energies. often left with the body to ensure that the heart would give a good account of the deceased.

For a taste of what you would have seen in the 'Galen' section of Wellcome Collection's 'Heart' gallery, take a look at key exhibits.