Michael Servetus Research Articles

On the Possibility of Identifying Michael Servetus as an Arian

Üniteryanizm’in kurucusu kabul edilen İspanyol hekim Michael Servetus Hristiyanlık tarihinde teslis karşıtı görüşleriyle ön plana çıkmıştır. Birçok eserinde teslis eleştirisi yapan Servetus, Hristiyanlığın teslis yanlısı ana akım teolojik çizgisinden ayrıldığı gerekçesiyle önce “sapkın” ilan edilmiş, ardından da 1553 yılında Calvin’in yönlendirmeleri neticesinde Cenevre şehir merkezinde yakılarak öldürülmüştür. Servetus’un görüşlerine yakından bakıldığında onun teslis karşıtı düşüncelerini Kitab-ı Mukaddes’e dayandırdığı görülmektedir. Bununla birlikte iddialarını ispatlamak için yer yer antik Yunan filozoflarına, erken dönem kilise babalarına, Yahudi ve İslam literatürüne referans yaptığı dikkatleri çekmiştir. Michael Servetus, çoğu Hıristiyan topluluğunun kabul ettiği geleneksel teslis doktrininin çok tanrılığa eşdeğer olduğu kanaatindedir. Bununla birlikte, o, geleneksel teslis doktrinini reddetmesine rağmen kendisinin tanımlamış olduğu başka bir Hristiyanlık anlayışına inanmıştır. O “Oğul”un aynı anda tam olarak hem tanrı hem de beşer olan bir doğasının olduğuna, “Baba”dan bağımsız bir ulûhiyet barındıran bir varlık olmadığına, bilakis Oğulun ebedi Kelamın (Logos) ebedi olmayan “Beşer İsa” ile birliğinden ibaret olduğuna inanmıştır ve Mesih’in doğasını “karışım” (Tanrı-beşer kombinasyonu) olarak tanımlamıştır. Servetus Baba, Oğul ve Kutsal Ruh’u ulûhiyette içkin olan “şahıslar” ya da “varlıklar/özler” olarak değil, Tanrının eylem/tezahür biçimleri olarak tasavvur etmiştir. Hristiyanlık tarihinde, tevhit ilkesine halel getirdiği düşüncesiyle teslis öğretisini reddeden teologlar ve gruplar her zaman var olmuştur. Antikçağ ve Geç Antikçağ özelinde bakılırsa, Ebionitler, Dinamik Monarşiyanistler veya Ariusçular bu bakımdan örnek gösterilebilir. 16. yüzyılda yaşamış İspanyol hekim ve teolog Michael Servetus da bu bağlamda önem taşıyan bir isimdir. Michael Servetus (1509-1553), Hristiyanlığın en temel dogması teslisi reddeden bir Hristiyan’dır. Hristiyanlık tarihine bakıldığında teslis anlayışını benimsememiş tek Hristiyan o değildir fakat onu önemli kılan husus hem tıp alanında önemli çalışmaları ve katkıları olan biri olması hem de sahip olduğu teolojik görüşlerle ilgili ciddi eserlerin günümüze ulaşmış olmasıdır. Hristiyan dünyada Servetus’un teslis karşıtı fikirlerini Arius ile kökleştiren yaklaşımlar daima var olmuştur. Bilindiği gibi Arius, IV. yüzyılda yaşamıştır ve onun Tanrı-Mesih ilişkisini açıklarken öne sürdüğü düşünceler o zamanlar büyük tartışmalara yol açmıştır. Ne var ki, Servetus’u Arius’un bir takipçisi olarak kabul etmek pek mümkün görünmemektedir. Nitekim Arius’un teolojik görüşleri incelendiğinde Servetus ile aralarında çok bariz farkların olduğu görülmektedir. Bu makalenin cevaplamak istediği en önemli soru Servetus’un bir Ariusçu olarak nitelendirilip nitelendirilemeyeceğidir. Arius’un görüşleriyle Servetus’un görüşlerinin uyuşup uyuşmadığı, aralarında hangi ölçüde paralellik olduğu veyahut ne ölçüde farklılıklardan bahsedilebileceği soruları da ayrıca önemlidir. İlgili soruların cevabını bulmak için öncelikle Arius ve Servetus’un yaptıkları kristolojik açıklamaların muhtevalarına hâkim olmak durumundayız. Dolayısıyla bu makale, Arius ve Servetus’un görüşlerini mukayese ederek aralarında bir bağlantı olup olmadığını ortaya çıkarmayı hedeflemektedir. Gerek ülkemiz gerekse batı literatürü tarandığında konuyla ilgili müstakil bir çalışmanın olmadığı görülmüştür. Bu vesileyle makale, literatürdeki boşluğa bir katkı çabası taşımaktadır.

Защита астрологии стоит Парижа, или О «мужестве использовать свой собственный разум»

The article presents a translation of fragments of the text of a Spanish thinker of the XVI century, Michael Servetus (Spanish: Miguel Servet), “Reasoning in Defense of Astrology against a Certain Medic.” Despite the fact that this text touches on a small area of knowledge, which includes medicine and astrology, taken in their close interaction, it clearly demonstrates the characteristic feature of Servetus’ philosophical worldview. In the era in question, objective internal processes going on in the depths of the paradigm of thinking, like volcanoes erupt in various fields of knowledge. Servetus is one of those outstanding personalities whose activity activates this process by starting to cross the boundaries outlined by tradition and authorities, anticipating what will become the greatest value in the new paradigm – obtaining new knowledge. This small work is methodological in nature and clearly demonstrates an example of following the chosen personal method, without turning off the path, neglecting the possible consequences. Servetus hopes to convince the reader that medicine needs additional facts that can be provided by knowledge of the laws of the movement of the heavenly bodies and their influence on human earthly affairs and the state of his health. Observation of astronomical phenomena contributes, in his opinion, to obtaining additional knowledge and experience useful in medical practice. The system of the world order built by him unites the unconnected, violates the boundaries of subject areas, not only within science, but also between science and theology, which gives him the opportunity to talk about various facets of reality. He demonstrates the talent of a thinker, rare and relevant in all epochs – to see the whole and not to neglect knowledge that goes beyond the generally accepted framework, collecting a general picture of being at all possible and cognizable levels: visible and invisible; expressible and inexpressible; earthly and heavenly; spiritual and material; human and divine.

From the Reformation to the Theocratic Kingdom: A New Reading of John Calvin through the Case of Michael Servetus

Hıristiyanlıktaki Reform süreci Katolik Kilisesi’ne karşı bir protestoyu temsil etmekte ve çoğu zaman dinî alanda düşünce özgürlüğü bağlamında değerlendirilmektedir. Bununla birlikte, Reform hareketlerine önderlik eden bazı Protestan liderlerin kimi zaman “dinî alanda özgürlük” ve “yalnızca iman” gibi mottolara aykırı tutumlar sergilemiş olmaları bir ironi olarak karşımıza çıkmaktadır. Örneğin, Michael Servetus’un (1509-1553) Hıristiyanlık hakkındaki görüşlerine en yüksek sesli tepkiyi veren John Calvin (1509-1564) olmuştur ve aleyhte yürüttüğü faaliyetler sebebiyle Servetus 1553’te Cenevre’de yargılanmış ve diri diri yakılarak öldürülmüştür. Bu makale, özellikle teslis karşıtı düşünceleriyle bilinen Michael Servetus’un infaz edilmesiyle sonuçlanan davada Cenevre’deki Protestan lider John Calvin’in rolünü tartışmaktadır. Zira Katolik Kilisesi’ne eleştirileri ile varlık bulmuş bir hareketin öncülerinden olan Calvin’in farklı seslere nasıl bir yaklaşım sergilediğinin tespit edilmesi önemlidir. Bu doğrultuda, makalede önce Servetus’un Hıristiyanlık anlayışı ele alınmış, akabinde yargılandığı davada John Calvin’in nasıl bir etkisinin olduğu tartışılmıştır.

The Trinity in the Theology of Michael Servetus

READ ONLINEEPUBThe Trinity (taslīs in Arabic), which constitutes the most fundamental dogma of Christianity, expresses a triune conception of God represented as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In its current form, the Trinity has been made the official belief basis of Christianity following the decisions taken in the councils, which occupy a significant place in the history of Christianity. In the most general terms, Trinity is the belief that each of these three entities, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is God and that there is no superiority or difference between them in divinity. Acceptance of the Trinity is necessary for becoming a Christian. Nevertheless, it is well-known that in the history of Christianity, some individuals and groups rejected the Trinity despite identifying themselves as ‘‘Christians’’. The most notable of these names is Michael Servetus. He is also considered the founder of the movement known today as Unitarianism. Servetus wrote some books in which he seriously criticized the Holy Trinity. According to Servetus, the Trinity is not mentioned in the Holy Bible, and this dogma has no place in the essence of Christianity. The Trinity is a construct fashioned by Greek philosophy and falsifies Christianity. These objections, which made an overwhelming impression in his time, greatly angered the Protestant and Catholic theologians. Servetus was burned to death in Geneva in 1553 due to Catholic and Protestant collaboration. This study examines the religious thought of Michael Servetus, particularly his interpretation of the Trinity, and analyzes his challenges to the traditional understanding of the Trinity.

Michael Servetus. Pulmonary circulation at the stake

Michael Servetus. Pulmonary circulation at the stake

Review: Speaking with the Dead in Early America, by Erik R. Seeman

Review: <i>Speaking with the Dead in Early America</i>, by Erik R. Seeman

The Holy Spirit in the Theological Work of Michael Servetus

Abstract This article examines the pneumatology in the theological works of the “heretic” Michael Servetus, which so far has received limited attention in research. This is worthwhile, since Servetus developed two answers to the question of what the Holy Spirit is: on the one hand, a movement of God in the human spirit understood as a divine accident of God; or, on the other, even the divine substance itself, which is physiologically incorporated by humans. The occasion and the focus of this article are therefore the perception and the discussion of these two pneumatological approaches and their most significant differences. Both approaches are outlined in their main features and explained in their respective contexts. Nevertheless, these separate analyses will also be related to each other in a comparative fashion, so that a fundamental moment of Servetus’ entire pneumatology can be identified: the constitution and mediation of unity between God and creation.

Sacred hearts and pumps: cardiology and the conflicted body politic (1500–1900)

This article examines how conflicting notions of the body politic between the natural and the spiritual have contextualised the evolution of cardiology. After a brief look at the place of...

How Could Early Christians Be Wrong? The Role of Fahm al-Salaf in the Biblical Hermeneutics of Ibn Taymiyyah and Michael Servetus

How Could Early Christians Be Wrong? The Role of Fahm al-Salaf in the Biblical Hermeneutics of Ibn Taymiyyah and Michael Servetus

Faces of Muhammad: Western Perceptions of the Prophet of Islam from the Middle Ages to Today by John V. Tolan (review)

Faces of Muhammad: Western Perceptions of the Prophet of Islam from the Middle Ages to Today by John V. Tolan Peter Heinegg Faces of Muhammad: Western Perceptions of the Prophet of Islam from the Middle Ages to Today. By John V. Tolan. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2019. xii + 309 pp. $29.95. There are many stories told about, and words attributed to, the great religious founders, the Buddha, say, and Jesus, and Muhammad, although very little of all this material is verifiable history in the strict sense. Professor Tolan teaches history at the University of Nantes; but in any case his subject is not the actual person of Muhammad, but “Mahomet,” the construct or fantasy or caricature created by western writers from roughly the twelfth to the twenty‐first century. It's safe to say that no other major religious figure has been as distorted and vilified as the Prophet—though there are some important exceptions to this wrongheaded record. But Tolan's dense, briskly moving summary (which could well have been far longer) tells us not about Islam, but the various cultural agendas of Europeans reacting to what they thought Islam was or looking to gain some sort of polemical mileage out of their misguided notions. For medieval crusade chroniclers, “Mahomet” was a golden idol, a false god worshiped by the “Saracens” (= Arabs, but connected by a folk etymology to Sarah), a term Muslims never used to describe themselves. Or else, he was a master heretic who seduced Christians into the toils of a false faith, and was thus consigned by Dante to the ninth trench of Hell in a gory scene that Tolan oddly skims over. Such gross distortions lingered on for ages, but in the sixteenth century Miguel Servet (1509 or 1511–1553), better known as Michael Servetus, like later “Unitarians,” drew upon the Qur'an for arguments against the Trinity, only to be burned at the stake in Geneva for his troubles. As wars between Catholics and Protestants began to tear Europe apart, some critics cited the tolerant view of religious diversity in the Qur'an and the Ottoman Empire. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, anti‐clerical writers praised Muhammad as a “reformer who abolished the privileges of a corrupt and superstitious clergy.” In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Muhammad was sometimes treated as “a sort of Arab national hero, bringing law, religion, and glory to his people.” Voltaire (1694–1778) tried to have it both ways. In Fanaticism, or Mahomet the Prophet: A Tragedy (1736), he uses the old cliché of Muhammad the imposter as a stalking horse to attack targets closer to home. But in his huge Essay on the Manners and Thinking of the Nations (begun in 1756), he takes a much more broad‐minded view, comparing him favorably to Alexander the Great, calling him not a fanatic, but an “enthusiast.” “As a conqueror, legislator, monarch, and pontiff, he played the greatest role that can be played on earth in the eyes of the common people.” Note the culminating swipe, which Voltaire couldn't resist. To be sure, Voltaire prefers Confucius to Muhammad because Confucius was a purely rational sage who foreswore the Prophet's modes of worldly power, just as he prefers the Chinese to the Arabs because he thought they were more “civilized.” Still, though parts of the Qur'an may be contradictory, absurd, or confused, other passages are “sublime.” All things considered, Voltaire considers Muhammad a great man and a hero. Figures as disparate as Goethe, Napoleon, and Thomas Carlyle would strongly agree. Eventually, as time went on, the work of scholars, translators, and other western experts, sometimes unfairly tarred as “Orientalists,” made it possible to arrive at a fairer assessment of Muhammad. In the English‐speaking world, ground‐working was done when George Sale produced a serviceable, unbiased translation of the Qur'an (1734), with a prefix validating the Prophet as a righteous enemy of superstition and overweening clerical privilege. Before Sale, in 1671 Henry Stubbe, who knew no Arabic and read most Islamic documents in Latin translation, published his Originall & Progress of Mahometanism with a preface that hails Muhammad as “a religious reformer, beloved and admired...

Housing a Heretic: Johannes Oecolampadius (1482–1531) and the ‘Pre-History’ of the Servetus Affair

ABSTRACTAlthough many scholars have written about Calvin's treatment of Michael Servetus, very few have explored Servetus's earliest encounters with other Protestant Reformers. By utilizing letters, prefaces and other writings in the sixteenth century, this study aims to develop a portrait of the multiple ways in which the Basel Reformer, Johannes Oecolampadius, influenced Servetus and ultimately, the outcome of his trial. Perhaps most notably in the background of the Servetus affair, Oecolampadius allowed Servetus to live in his house for 10 months prior to the publication of his first antitrinitarian book. The correspondence between the two of them, and the correspondence between Oecolampadius and other Reformers in 1530–1531, enables us to fill out the picture of Servetus's early ideas and reactions to them. The descriptions of events more than 20 years later in Geneva likewise aid our understanding of Servetus's trial and the ways Oecolampadius's legacy and reputation affected it.

Jean Tagault (c. 1486-1546), professor heelkunde in Parijs, plagiator van Vesalius’ Tabulae anatomicae sex (1538)?

Jean Tagault was an important surgeon and academician in Paris during the first half of the sixteenth century. Nevertheless only very little is known about his person. This article discusses his biography, his academic career, and his family. The history of his dispute with Michael Servetus and Jean Thibault is sketched. The significance of his frequent mentions in the Chirurgia magna, once attributed to Vesalius, is analysed. His presumed plagiary of Vesalius’ Tabulae anatomicae sex (1538) is discussed too. An overview of the different editions of the works by Jean Tagault is included.

Renaissance medicine and the discovery of the lesser circulation: the role of Michael Servetus (1511-1553)

Human urine is currently the subject of biomedical investigations as a potential therapeutic resource and it continues to be used in remedies in different cultures and societies, including the Spanish culture. In this study we gather etnomedical knowledge about urotherapy and determine their associated symbolisms in Spain. A literature overview and a case study were carried out to compile urine-based remedies and as a direct analysis of symbolic systems. Urotherapy is widespread in Spanish folk medicine. Among the 204 collected remedies, those related to treatment of diseases or skin conditions predominate (63%). Remedies have been reported for the treatment of skin diseases such as eczema, chloasma, alopecia, etc. to treat or alleviate burns, chilblains, wounds or skin chapping, and as a treatment of venomous bites. Most of the collected remedies have an associated naturalist symbolism, based on local traditions and the transmission of empirical initial knowledge. The use of urine in Spain is a result of the interaction of two types of practice: a local and traditional urotherapy, rural and with a utilitarian purpose, and a technical urotherapy, limited to an urban environment and a naturopathic medicine.

Eight sages over five centuries share oxygen's discovery.

During the last century, historians have discovered that between the 13th and 18th centuries, at least six sages discovered that the air we breathe contains something that we need and use. Ibn al-Nafis (1213-1288) in Cairo and Michael Servetus (1511-1553) in France accurately described the pulmonary circulation and its effect on blood color. Michael Sendivogius (1566-1636) in Poland called a part of air "the food of life" and identified it as the gas made by heating saltpetre. John Mayow (1641-1679) in Oxford found that one-fifth of air was a special gas he called "spiritus nitro aereus." Carl Wilhelm Scheele (1742-1786) in Uppsala generated a gas he named "fire air" by heating several metal calcs. He asked Lavoisier how it fit the phlogiston theory. Lavoisier never answered. In 1744, Joseph Priestley (1733-1804) in England discovered how to make part of air by heating red calc of mercury. He found it brightened a flame and supported life in a mouse in a sealed bottle. He called it "dephlogisticated air." He published and personally told Lavoisier and other chemists about it. Lavoisier never thanked him. After 9 years of generating and studying its chemistry, he couldn't understand whether it was a new element. He still named it "principe oxigene." He was still not able to disprove phlogiston. Henry Cavendish (1731-1810) made an inflammable gas in 1766. He and Priestley noted that its flame made a dew. Cavendish proved the dew was pure water and published this in 1778, but all scientists called it impossible to make water, an element. In 1783, on June 24th, Lavoisier was urged to try it, and, when water appeared, he realized that water was not an element but a compound of two gases, proving that oxygen was an element. He then demolished phlogiston and began the new chemistry revolution.

Realdo Colombo in the fifth centenary of his birth.

The date of birth of Realdo Colombo is still uncertain. However, 1516 is conventionally credited as the year where he was born in Cremona. Colombo’s life can be divided into three periods, according to the cities where he worked: Padua, Pisa and Rome. A talented anatomist, in Padua Colombo became assistant of Andreas Vesalius in 1541. In 1545 he moved to Pisa at the behest of the Grand Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici. Finally, he was invited in Rome by Pope Paul III and became the physician of many important patients, including Michelangelo Buonarroti. He also performed the autopsy on the body of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. In his unique masterpiece, De re anatomica, consisting of 15 books, Colombo reported original observations. He hoped to have a text illustrated by Michelangelo that would have competed with the fabrica of Vesalius, but that purpose did not realize. Indeed, the unique engraving of the volume, published posthumously in 1559, is the frontispiece. The most important anatomical discovery attributed to Colombo is the original description of the pulmonary circulation, based on hundreds of dissections and vivisections. The Galen’s long-standing doctrine of the blood circulation from the right ventricle to the left ventricle through invisible pores of the interventricular septum was definitively rejected. Although two other figures had already described the pulmonary circulation – the thirteenth century Arabic physician Ibn al-Nafis, in the Commentary on Anatomy in Avicenna’s Canon, and the Spanish philosopher Michael Servetus, in the theological book Christianismi restitutio – Colombo seems to have arrived at his conclusions independently. He also understood the function of the cardiac valves. Colombo’s book had a profound effect on William Harvey, when he prepared his lectures on anatomy for the College of Physicians of London, and was determinant for the publication of his description of the blood circulation in De motu cordis (1628). Other anatomical observations are attributed to Colombo. He corrected previous misconceptions, demonstrating that the right kidney is lower than the left, and showing that the lens is in the anterior chamber of the eye. He recognized anatomical variants, such as the presence of palmaris longus muscle, and described congenital malformations, such as the horseshoe kidney. He also seems to have coined the term “placenta” and claimed to have been the first to describe the clitoris and its function.

Écrire contre l’intolérance : l’Historia de Morte Serveti de Sébastien Castellion

The lutheran Reformation causes a explosion of different sects in the 16th century. In view of the many heresies that arise, religious tolerance becomes an urgent issue. The French reformer Sebastien Castellion, living in exile in Basel, refers to scriptural knowledge in order to face the widespread excessive violence in the name of orthodoxy. He takes Jean Calvin’s case against Michael Servetus in 1553 in Geneva as an occasion to write his Historia de Morte Serveti, a short pamphlet, in which he criticizes emphatically the death sentence in one of the first reformed trials of reformed heterodoxy.

A construção da autoimagem de cristão e a fabricação do herege nas polêmicas do século XVI

O objetivo deste trabalho é, primeiramente, entender a lógica que preside aos mecanismos da polêmica que atuam nos discursos apologéticos cristãos, e, em seguida, tendo-a compreendido, apontar as estratégias retóricas com que o polemista constrói e valida um ethos de cristão verdadeiro e de “advogado da Verdade” para si, ao mesmo tempo em que fabrica a imagem do “inimigo”, o herege, o “falso mestre” para seu adversário. Para isso, comentaremos as técnicas de apropriação de auctoritas praticadas pelo autor ao tratar de si mesmo, e, ao mesmo tempo, os aspectos satíricos da constituição de caricaturas do “outro”, quando se visa não apenas à derrisão, mas à exclusão de um adversário. E nós o faremos por meio de um livro “herético”, em que o autor, perseguido ele mesmo, reproduz, no entanto, o mesmo processo empregado por aqueles que buscavam instituir uma religião por assim dizer oficial, ou falavam autorizados por ela. Nosso corpus é o livro “herético” Christianismi Restitutio, de autoria de Miguel Serveto, publicado em 1553.

Unholy Fire: Discovering Michael Servetus' Contribution to Pulmonary Physiology Through Modern Historical Fiction

Unholy Fire is a recent work of modern historical fiction by Don Stratton. Stratton's novel centers in part on the work of Michael Servetus (b. 1511) an anatomist, cartographer, and mathematician whose writings in his theological magnum opus Christianismi Restitutio put him at odds with the Catholic Church as well as John Calvin. Servetus was tried and found guilty for his anti‐Trinitarian views and was burned at the stake in 1553 in Geneva, Switzerland. Exactly who was Michael Servetus and how did his Christianismi Restitutio play an important role in the history of physiology? Despite the mainly theological nature of Servetus' Christianismi Restitutio, he is credited with the first accurate description, including key physiological and mechanical details, of the pulmonary circulation. First, in Christianismi Restitutio Servetus described how the spirit (blood) originates in the left ventricle and with the aid of the lungs is transported through the right ventricle and that this occurs through anastomoses within the lung and not through pores in the cardiac septum as previously postulated by Galen (129‐210 AD). Second, he said that it is in the lungs that the mixture of inspired air occurs and that this mixture contributes to the change in color of the blood. Third, Servetus hypothesized that based simply on the diameter of the arterial vein (pulmonary artery) it is too large in caliber to be for the sole purpose of supplying blood to the lungs. Because of his scholarly acumen, Servetus' placed himself among the first to shed new light on our understanding of the pulmonary circulation thereby loosening the dominance that Galen's teachings had held on medicine for nearly 14 centuries.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension: yesterday, today, tomorrow.

With more than 25 centuries of efforts to resolve its mysteries, the pulmonary circulation continues to inspire and humble researchers, frustrate clinicians, and scare patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Its mysteries lie in lost manuscripts written in the 12th-century Syria; within the pages of one of the rarest books in history written in 1531 by an author burned alive with his books, condemned by the Inquisition; within a publication from a young urologist self-experimenting 30 years before he received the Nobel prize…What kind of disease is this one that in the age of planning missions to Mars, no medical therapy can save its victims? It is certainly a disease that deserves our respect. The objective of this compendium is to present the state of the art in PAH, but mostly emphasize its future, discussing several evolving theories on its pathogenesis. Its objective is also to comprehensively summarize our current clinical approach to the disease, with patients in mind. In addition to researchers, clinicians, health professionals, students, and residents, its target audience includes patients: the patients who suffer, desperate for answers, and the patients who, one way or another, not only participate in but also fund our research through their taxes and donations. In the age of instant and easy information dissemination, many patients are already quite informed when they visit a specialist. How do we describe the cutting-edge developments in this complex disease to the informed patient? It is not easy, but most would agree that only the expert who really understands his/her subject is able to describe it in lay terms and pass its main messages. Humbled by the complexity of PAH and its challenges, we need to focus on what drives all of us fighting this disease. In addition to our patients, it is scientific curiosity: PAH …

Galen and the beginnings of Western physiology.

Galen (129-c. 216 AD) was a key figure in the early development of Western physiology. His teachings incorporated much of the ancient Greek traditions including the work of Hippocrates and Aristotle. Galen himself was a well-educated Greco-Roman physician and physiologist who at one time was a physician to the gladiators in Pergamon. Later he moved to Rome, where he was associated with the Roman emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus. The Galenical school was responsible for voluminous writings, many of which are still extant. One emphasis was on the humors of the body, which were believed to be important in disease. Another was the cardiopulmonary system, including the belief that part of the blood from the right ventricle could enter the left through the interventricular septum. An extraordinary feature of these teachings is that they dominated thinking for some 1,300 years and became accepted as dogma by both the State and Church. One of the first anatomists to challenge the Galenical teachings was Andreas Vesalius, who produced a magnificent atlas of human anatomy in 1543. At about the same time Michael Servetus described the pulmonary transit of blood, but he was burned at the stake for heresy. Finally, with William Harvey and others in the first part of the 17th century, the beginnings of modern physiology emerged with an emphasis on hypotheses and experimental data. Nevertheless, vestiges of Galen's teaching survived into the 19th century.