On the Natural Faculties
by Galen · Περὶ φυσικῶν δυνάμεων
Assigned by 3 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- c. 170 CE
- Era
- Roman Empire
- Language
- Greek
- Length
- Short · 110 ppunder 120 pages
- Difficulty
- Difficult4 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendOn the Natural Faculties, translated by Arthur John BrockLoeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, 1916Greek and English facing, with an introduction to Galen's physiology; the translation the Great Books reprint.
These links go straight to Amazon and Bookshop.org and earn this site nothing today. Prices are the same either way. How this works.
A treatise in three books by the physician of Marcus Aurelius on the powers by which living bodies grow, nourish themselves and generate. Galen argues, against the atomists and the school of Erasistratus, that nature acts purposively and that each organ has specific faculties of attraction, retention, alteration and expulsion. He explains digestion, the making of blood in the liver, the work of the kidneys and the bladder, and defends his views with experiments on animals, including tying off the ureters. The book fixed the physiology that Harvey overturned fifteen centuries later.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns On the Natural Faculties are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
