Alcmaeon of Croton
Part of The Encyclopedia of Southern Italy.
Alcmaeon of Croton>: (b. c535 BC, Croton). Natural Philosopher, physician, scientist, and medical theorist. Believed by many to have been a pupil of Pythagoras, he wrote principally on medical topics and injected Pythagorean aspects into his writing. There is some controversy as to whether he actually practiced medicine or was a purely a theorist. Regarding of this, he was a true pioneer in medicine, and is often called the true “Father of Greek Medicine” in opposition to that title being given to the later Hippocrates. He can be said to be the founder of empirical psychology and is one of the earliest known scientists to practice dissection on animals. There is some speculation as to whether he extended his dissections to human cadavers, a practice forbidden at that time. Particularly interested in the working of the eyes, he has been credited with the discovery of the Eustachian tubes and the optic nerve through dissections. He believed that the eyes were connected to the brain through pores. He appears to have been the first physician to differentiate between veins and arteries, and was the first to study the trachea. Alcamaon also helped to spark the study of embryology and theorized about the origin and nature of sperm. He was also the first to study internal causes of illnesses. He believed that good health was a matter of maintaining equilibrium between opposing humors. Illnesses were caused by factors in the environment, nutrition and lifestyle. Alcmaeon believed that the brain was the true center of intellect, opposing the prevalent belief of that time that this was located in the heart.
>Alcmaeon’s interests were not limited solely to medicine. Other subjects covered in his writings include astrology and meteorology. Only a scant few fragments of his writings have survived.