Galen and the Anatomists
The Complete History of Science
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Galen's Version of the Cardiovascular System
Like Erastratus, Galen couldn't explain how blood entered the arteries. He knew that veins and arteries were connected but didn't believe they passed blood between them. Instead he suggested a small set of pores in the septum was responsible for this. These pores supposedly carried large amounts of blood from the right chamber to the left - which then went into the arteries. This is despite there being no direct evidence these pores even existed. A similar issue with Galen's version of the cardiovascular system is what happened to the blood after it had been used up by the body. For him, we can only guess at where our bodies lost or consumed all their stored-up blood.
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