Herophilos

The early Christian author Tertullian states that Herophilos vivisected at least 600 live prisoners;[1] however, this account has been disputed by many historians.

Together, they worked at a medical school in Alexandria that is said to have drawn people from all over the ancient world due to Herophilos's fame.

[2] After the death of Herophilos in 280 BC, his anatomical findings lived on in the works of other important physicians, notably Galen.

Dissecting with the purpose to gain knowledge about human anatomy started again in early modern times (Vesalius), more than 1600 years after Herophilos's death.

Herophilos emphasised the use of the experimental method in medicine, for he considered it essential to found knowledge on empirical bases.

He believed that the sensory and motor nerves shot out from the brain and that the neural transmissions occurred by means of pneuma.

Part of Herophilos's beliefs about the human body involved the pneuma, which he believed was a substance that flowed through the arteries along with the blood.

To make this consistent with medical beliefs at the time, Herophilos stated that diseases occurred when an excess of one of the four humors impeded the pneuma from reaching the brain.

Other areas of his anatomical study include the liver, the pancreas, and the alimentary tract, as well as the salivary glands and genitalia.

He once said that "when health is absent, wisdom cannot reveal itself, art cannot become manifest, strength cannot be exerted, wealth is useless, and reason is powerless".