Galen and the Anatomists
The Complete History of Science
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Galen's Anatomy
At the time in ancient Greece, there was a great taboo against touching corpses which made it impossible to perform dissections on humans. Galen attempted to make up for this by taking every opportunity he was afforded to examine the human body. He learnt much about anatomy from examining the wounds of the gladiators at the school in Pergamum. Also discusses how he took any opportunity which was presented to observe human corpses, such as those which might wash up after a flood. While Galen couldn't perform human dissections himself, for a brief period in the Greek city of Alexandria, there were people who could.
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