The first six books of Galen's massive pharmacological encyclopaedia, classifying simple drugs by their properties. Each drug is evaluated for its warming, cooling, moistening, or drying effects, with degrees of intensity carefully graded.
Start ReadingGalen classifies simple drugs by their degrees of heating, cooling, moistening, or drying properties.
Simple drugs and their primary qualities. Galen classifies individual medicinal substances by their degrees of heating, cooling, moistening, or drying.
Further analysis of simple drugs, examining their compound properties and interactions with the body.
Drugs acting on specific conditions. Galen describes medicinal plants and minerals effective against particular diseases.
Regional materia medica. Galen describes medicinal substances available from different parts of the Mediterranean world.
The evaluation and testing of simple drugs. Galen describes how to verify the properties of medications through systematic observation.
Galen specifies which patients should be purged, which cathartics to use for each humoral imbalance, and proper timing and dosage.
Galen prescribes treatment for a boy with epilepsy, illustrating his diagnostic method and therapeutic approach.
Animal-derived medicines. Galen examines therapeutic substances obtained from animals — fats, organs, secretions, and venoms.
Mineral medicines. Galen classifies medicinal earths, metals, and mineral compounds by their therapeutic properties.
A comprehensive review of simple drug properties and their clinical applications, concluding the pharmacological encyclopaedia.