Herophilus

Scientist and physician

Born: c. 335 b. c.e.; Chalcedon, Bithynia (now Kadikoy, Turkey) Died: c. 280 b. c.e.; probably Alexandria, Egypt Also known as: Herophilus of Chalcedon Category: Science and technology; medicine

Life Herophilus (heh-RAHF-uh-luhs) began his medical apprenticeship on Hippocrates’ native island of Cos, studying under the famous physician Praxagoras. Cos had a close relationship with Alexandria, which was rapidly becoming the business, intellectual, and medical center of the ancient world.

At Alexandria, Herophilus was able to conduct research by practicing human dissection and even vivisection on live prisoners awaiting execution. His research resulted in eight major books dealing with ophthalmology, respiration, reproduction, blood circulation, digestion, the nervous system, general physiology, therapeutics, and causal theory. Conclusions drawn underscore Herophilus’s original genius. He distinguished between motor and sensory nerves and defined the structure of the brain and its central role in human intelligence. Also, he described the structure and function of the heart and the vascular system.

Influence The Herophileans, or Methodists, as his followers came to be known, continued the work of the great medical researcher for many centuries. Herophileans were still identifiable at the height of the Roman Empire. However, what rapidly disappeared after Herophilus’s death was human dissection, the practice that led to his original discoveries. Also all of Herophilus’s writings were lost in the fires that destroyed the great library of Alexandria. His conclusions, particularly on blood circulation, had to be rediscovered in the seventeenth century. Herophilus’s work is known through references in several ancient sources that did survive, particularly the works of Galen.

Further Reading

Longrigg, James. Greek Rational Medicine: Philosophy from Alcmaeon to the Alexandrians. New York: Routledge, 1993.

Tecusan, Manuela. The Fragments of the Methodists: Methodism Outside Soranus. Boston: Brill, 2006.

Von Staden, Heinrich. Herophilus: The Art of Medicine in Early Alexandria. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989.

Irwin Halfond

See also: Hippocrates; Medicine and Health; Science.