History of vivisections

Despite their significant contributions, their legacy is shrouded with great controversy and grave accusations; they were accused of the unspeakable: performing vivisections on live humans. He fled to Alexandria to begin practicing medicine and commence his research.

History of anatomy

He took deep interest in general anatomy, and soon realized that the only way he could truly study human anatomy was by becoming the first person to perform systematic dissection of the human body, presumably on cadavers. In Alexandria, Herophilus lived in an environment in which the dissection of human corpses was not met with general disapproval and religious taboos.

His method proved to be a potent research tool, affording him unparalleled advantages over previous students of human anatomy who had formulated their insights mainly on indirect evidence and speculation. Apart from plying his trade, he penned down at least eleven treaties, which were unfortunately lost during the great fire in the Ancient Library of Alexandria, where his works were believed to be stored in However, his anatomical knowledge passed down to the generations, providing vital input towards understanding the brain, eye, liver, and reproductive organs.

Herophilus has been credited with giving the best description of the reproductive system up to the Middle Ages. It was his work on the nervous system, however, that was considered to have been the most important. He is believed to be one of the first to differentiate nerves from blood vessels and tendons, and to realize that nerves convey neural impulses.

Before travelling to Alexandria and joining Herophilus, he served as royal physician at the court of Seleucus I in Mesopotamia. Erasistratus was also the first to dispel the notion that nerves are hollow and filled with pneuma air ; instead, he averred that they are solid, consisting of spinal marrow. In his account of the heart and its function, he distinguished between pulmonary and systemic circulation; he appears to have been very close to discovering the circulation of the blood, a feat eventually achieved by English physician William Harvey in Later physicians, such as Cornelius Celsus and Galen charged both Herophilus and Erasistratus with performing vivisection on condemned criminals awarded to them by the rulers of Alexandria.

It has been theorized that accusations of vivisections is the main reason why Herophilus has not received as much recognition for his scientific investigations of the human body as Hippocrates, Galen, or Vesalius.