Galen: On Diseases and Symptoms

Johnston, Ian

doi:10.1017/cbo9780511482991

Cited by 13 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 98 publications

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“…"If the fluids…are changed in colour, a false vision (parorasis) involving the nature of those things occurs…those who are jaundiced seem to see everything as pale yellow but those who have suffered a hyphaema (hyposphagma) as red." (Kühn 7.99) (125).…”

Section: A Sense Of Humorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The history of cataract surgery: from couching to phacoemulsification

et al. 2020

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Where and when cataract surgery started have been a mystery. Indian tradition and the Persian author Zarrin-Dast attributed the procedure to the Indians, while pseudo-Galen suggested an Egyptian origin. Certain idiosyncratic practices are common to early Greek and Sanskrit descriptions of cataract couching, e.g., the requirement for maturity of the cataract, the preference for patients of intermediate ages, comparison of some eyes to glass, rubbing the eye, having a wide portion of the couching instrument shaft, pars-plana puncture with avoidance of the vein, and immediate vision testing. In ancient Greece and India, the words describing the color of a healthy blue eye (glaukos and nīla, respectively) could also characterize a poorly-seeing eye not curable by surgery. In both regions, the lens (or pupillary region) was compared to a lentil, and colored entoptic phenomena were noted. The sitting posture of the patient, ocular convergence towards the nose, the more systematized integration of the humoral theory with cataract surgery, and possibly blowing on the eye and putting cotton on the eye are all consistent with an Indian origin for the procedure. On the other hand, the emphasis on surgical ambidexterity could suggest an origin close to the Mediterranean. Thus, the question of where cataract surgery started has not been resolved. Various authors have suggested that multiple types of cataract surgery were practiced in the ancient and medieval periods: (I) couching, (II) discission (division), (III) aspiration through a tube, (IV) extraction through a limbal incision, and (V) expulsion of lens remnants around an embedded probe. We review the evidence in favor (and against) each of these types of surgery.

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Section: A Sense Of Humorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The history of cataract surgery: from couching to phacoemulsification

et al. 2020

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“…In antiquity, glaucoma patients with a normal-appearing eye would typically have been asymptomatic until progressing to visual field defects or loss of central vision. Vision loss with a normal-appearing eye was termed amblyopia ( µβλυωπ ας) 6,7 if mild, and amaurosis ( µαυρω ′ σεως) 7 if severe. Amaurosis was believed to be due to a blockage of the optic nerve.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What was Glaucoma Called before the 20th Century?

et al. 2015

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Glaucoma involves a characteristic optic neuropathy, often with elevated intraocular pressure. Before 1850, poor vision with a normal eye appearance, as occurs in primary open-angle glaucoma, was termed amaurosis, gutta serena, or black cataract. Few observers noted palpable hardness of the eye in amaurosis. On the other hand, angle-closure glaucoma can produce a green or gray pupil, and therefore was called, variously, glaucoma (derived from the Greek for glaucous, a nonspecific term connoting blue, green, or light gray) and viriditate oculi. Angle closure, with palpable hardness of the eye, mydriasis, and anterior prominence of the lens, was described in greater detail in the 18th and 19th centuries. The introduction of the ophthalmoscope in 1850 permitted the visualization of the excavated optic neuropathy in eyes with a normal or with a dilated greenish-gray pupil. Physicians developed a better appreciation of the role of intraocular pressure in both conditions, which became subsumed under the rubric “glaucoma”.

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“…I am accustomed, then, to call this whole class a dissolution of unity, or a destruction of unity, or dissolution of continuity, or however else I would hope the argument will be clear to those hearing it. For we have not received any term concerning this, established by those who have gone before, just as in the case of certain forms of this, when there is dissolution of continuity in bone [they speak of] fracture or caries ( teredon ), and ulcer ( helkos ) or wound ( trauma ) in flesh” ( 5 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ibn Sina’s (Avicenna) Contributions in the Treatment of Traumatic Injuries

et al. 2012

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Modern medicine owes much to the endeavours and contributions made by the ancients that are unfortunately anonymous or even neglected intentionally today. This study was done to give attention to “the ancient golden times”, as the author believes it deserves the nomination, to give credit to the manner our ancient physicians and masters practiced medicine and managed traumas in particular in a way that remains still unrivalled. Undoubtedly such masters as Galen of Pergamon, Hippocrates, Paul of Aegina and Avicenna paved the road for the so-called modern medicine and trauma surgery. Focus of this study is on Ibn Sina or Avicenna as the westerners call him and his methods in handling traumas of any kind and with any severity in the eleventh century based on the teachings handed down to him from the ancients; but he was not a mere imitator. What made him Avicenna was his genius talent in arranging the puzzles in such a way that was not even imagined by the others.

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Galen: On Diseases and Symptoms

Cited by 13 publications

References 98 publications

The history of cataract surgery: from couching to phacoemulsification

The history of cataract surgery: from couching to phacoemulsification

What was Glaucoma Called before the 20th Century?

Ibn Sina’s (Avicenna) Contributions in the Treatment of Traumatic Injuries

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