General Catalogue of the Hemiptera

Abstract

ABOUT the end of the fourth century B.C., very shortly after the death of Aristotle, we come to two great names in the history of medicine-Herophilus, who may be called the founder of Systematic Anatomy, and Erasistratus, the first scientific physiologist. They both migrated from their homes in Asia Minor to Alexandria, attracted thither by the prospect of material advancement and the facilities for prosecuting their advanced studies which Ptolemaic Egypt offered to all eminent students. Their works are entirely lost, but some details of their teaching may be recovered from the voluminous writings of Galen, who possessed their books in entirety, and from scattered references in later writers. Of Erasis-tratus it must suffice for the moment to say that he came very near to discovering the circulation of the blood, and if he had started on the investigation of the arterial system with an open mind he must almost inevitably have reached the right con-clusion. As it was, however, he was handicapped by the "pneumatic " theories of