(
1. One of the most celebrated physicians and anatomists of antiquity, is generally supposed
to have been born at Iulis in the island of Ceos (Suidas, s. v.
s. v.
Introd. 100.4, vol. xiv. p. 683), and the emperor Julian of Samos. (Misopog. p. 347.) Pliny says he was the grandson of Aristotle by his
daughter Pythias (H. N. 29.3), but this is not confirmed by any other
ancient writer; and according to Suidas, he was the son of Cretoxena, the sister of the
physician Medius, and Cleombrotus ; from which expression it is not quite clear whether
Cleombrotus was his father or his uncle. He was a
pupil of Chrysippus of Cnidos (de Ven. Sect. adv.
Erasistr. 100.7, vol. xi. p. 171), Metrodorus (Sext. Empir. c.
Mathem. 1.12, p. 271, ed. Fabric.) and apparently Theophrastus. (Galen, de Sang. in Arter. 100.7, vol. iv. p. 729.) He lived for some time at the court of
Seleucus Nicator, king of Syria, where lie acquired great reputation by discovering the
disease of Antiochus, the king's eldest son, probably Demtetr. 100.38; Appian, de Rebus Syr. 100.59.)
Antiochus fell violently in love with his mother-in-law, but did not disclose his passion, and
chose rather to pine away in silence. The physicians were quite unable to discover the cause
and nature of his disease, and Erasistratus himself was at a loss at first, till, finding
nothing amiss about his body, he began to suspect that it must be his mind which was diseased,
and that he might perhaps be in love. This conjecture was confirmed when he observed his skin
to be hotter, his colour to be heightened, and his pulse quickened, whenever Stratonice came
near him, while none of these symptoms occurred on any other occasion; and accordingly he told
Seleucus that his son's disease was incurable, for that he was in love, and that it was
impossible that his passion could be gratified. The king wondered what the difficulty could
be, and asked who the lady was. " My wife," replied Erasistratus; upon which Seleucus began to
persuade him to give her up to his son. The physician asked him if he would do so himself if
it were his wife that the prince was in love with. The king protested
that lie would most gladly; upon which Erasistratus told him that it was indeed his own wife
who had inspired his passion, and that he chose rather to die than to disclose his secret.
Seleucus was as good as his word, and not only gave up Stratonice, but also resigned to his
son several provinces of his empire. This celebrated story is told with more or less variation
by many ancient authors, (Appian, de Rebus Syr. 100.59-61; Galen, de Praenot. ad Epig. 100.6. vol. xiv. p. 630; Julian, Misopog. p. 347, ed. Spanheim; Lucian, de Syria Dea, §§
17, 18; s. v.
Chil. vii.
Hist. 118; Valer. Max. 5.7), and a similar anecdote has been told of Hippocrates (Soranus, Vita Hippocr. in Hippocr. Opera, vol. iii. p. 852),
Galen (de Praenot. ad Epig. 100.6. vol. xiv. p. 630), Avicenna (see Biogr. Dict. of the
Very little more is known of the personal history of Erasistratus : he lived for some time
at Alexandria, which was at that time beginning to be a celebrated medical school, and gave up
practice in his old age, that he might pursue his anatomical studies without interruption.
(Galen, de Hippocr. et Plat. Deer. 7.3, vol. v. p. 602.) He prosecuted
his experiments and researches in this branch of medical science with great success, and with
such ardour that he is said to have dissected criminals alive. (Cels. de
Medic. i. praef. p. 6.) He appears to have died in Asia Minor, as Suidas mentions that
he was buried by mount Mycale in Ionia. The exact date of his death is not known, but he
probably lived to a good old age, as, according to Eusebius, he was alive de Venae Sect. adv.
Erasistr. 100.2, vol. xi. p. 151), Apollonius Memphites, Apollophanes (Cael. Aurel. de Morb. Acut. 2.33, p. 150) Artemidorus, Charidemus, Chrysippus,
Heraclides, Hermogenes, Hicesius, Martialis, Menodorus, Ptolemaeus, Strato, Xenophon. He wrote
several works on anatomy, practical medicine, and pharmacy, of which only the titles remain,
together with a great number of short fragments preserved by Galen, Caelius Aurelianus, and
other ancient writers: these, however, are sufficient to enable us to form a tolerably correct
idea of his opinions both as a physician and an anatomist. It is in the latter character that
he is most celebrated, and perhaps there is no one of the ancient physicians that did more to
promote that branch of medical science. He appears to have been very near the discovery of the
circulation of the blood, for in a passage preserved by Galen (de Usu
Part. 6.12, vol. iii. p. 465) he expresses himself as follows :--" The vein pulmonary artery, which received
the name Appell. Part. Corp. Hum. p. 42.right] ventricle [of the heart]; and the artery
[or pulmonary vein] arises from the part where the veins have their
origin, and penetrates to the pneumatic [or left] ventricle of the
heart." The description is not very clear, but seems to shew that he supposed the venous and
arterial systems to be more intimately connected than was generally believed; which is
confirmed by another passage in which he is said to have differed from the other ancient
anatomists, who supposed the veins to arise from the liver, and the arteries from the heart,
and to have contended that the heart was the origin both of the veins and the arteries.
(Galen, de Hippocr. et Plat. Decr. 6.6, vol. v. p. 552.) With these
ideas, it can have been only his belief that the arteries contained air,
and not blood, that hindered his anticipating Harvey's celebrated
discovery. The tricuspid valves of the heart are generally said to have
derived their name from Erasistratus ; but this appears to be an oversight, as Galen
attributes it not to him, but to one of his followers. (De Hippocr. et Plat.
Deer. 6.6, vol. v. p. 548.) He appears to have paid particular attention to the anatomy
of the brain, and in a passage out of one of his works preserved by Galen (ibid. 7.3, vol. v. p. 603) speaks as if he had himself dissected a human brain. Galen
says (ibid. p. 602) that before Erasistratus had more closely examined
into the origin of the nerves, he imagined that they arose from the dura mater and not from
the substance of the brain; and that it was not till he was advanced in life that he satisfied
himself by actual inspection that such was not the case. According to Rufus Ephesius, he
divided the nerves into those of sensation and those of motion, of which the former he
considered to be hollow and to arise from the membranes of the brain, the latter from the
substance of De Appell.
Part. &c. p. 65.) It is a remarkable instance at once of blindness and presumption,
to find this acute physiologist venturing to assert, that the spleen (Galen, de Atra Bile, 100.7. vol. v. p. 131), the bile (id. de Facult.
Natur. 2.2, vol. ii. p. 78), and several other parts of the body (id. Comment. in Hippocr. " CDe Alim." 3.14. vol. xv. p. 308), were
entirely useless to animals. In the controversy that was carried on among the ancients as to
whether fluids when drunk passed through the trachea into the lungs, or through the oesophagus
into the stomach, Erasistratus maintained the latter opinion. (Plut. Sympos. 7.1; Saturn. 7.15.) He is also supposed to have been the first person who added to the word
trachea. He attributed the sensation of hunger to vacuity of the
stomach, and said that the Scythians were accustomed to tie a belt tightly round their middle,
to enable them to abstain from food for a longer time without suffering inconvenience. (spiritual substance, played a very important part both in his system of
physiology and pathology: he supposed it to enter the lungs by the trachea, thence to pass by
the pulmonary veins into the heart, and thence to be diffused throughout the whole body by
means of the arteries (Galen, de Differ. Puls. 4.2, vol. viii. p. 703, et
alibi); that the use of respiration was to fill the arteries with air (id. de
Usu Respir. c. l. vol. iv. p. 471); and that the pulsation of the arteries was caused by
the movements of the pneuma. He accounted for diseases in the same way, and supposed that as
long as the pneuma continued to fill the arteries and the blood was confined to the veins, the
individual was in good health; but that when the blood from some cause or other got forced
into the arteries, inflammation and fever was the consequence. (Galen, de
Venae Sect. adv. Erasistr. 100.2. vol. xi. p. 153, &c.; Plut. de
Philosoph. Plac. 5.29.) Of his mode of cure the most remarkable peculiarity was his
aversion to bloodletting and purgative medicines : he seems to have relied chiefly on diet and
regimen, bathing, exercise, friction, and the most simple articles of the vegetable kingdom.
In surgery he was celebrated for the invention of a catheter that bore his name, and was of
the shape of a Roman S. (Galen, Introd. 100.13. vol. xiv. p. 751.)
Further information repecting his medical and anatomical opinions may be found in Le Clerc,
Hist. de la Méd.; Haller, Biblioth. Anat.
and Biblioth. Medic. Pract.; Sprengel, Hist. de la
Méd.; and also in the following works, which the writer has never seen : Jo.
Frid. Henr. Hieronymi Dissert. Inauy. exhibens Erasistrati Erasistrateorumnque
Historinm, Jen. 1790, 8vo. ; F. H. Schwartz, Herophilus und
Erasistratus, cine historische Parallele, Inaug. Abhandl., Würrzburg, 1826, 8vo..;
Jerem. Rud. Lichtenstadt, Erasistratus als Vorgänger von Broussais,
in Hecker's Annal. der Heilkunde, 1830, 17.153.