Description

The AiA rendering shows the body according to Galen. Heat plays a central role in the theory of Galen. The three ‘faculties’ of the body are the nutritive, vital and logical. The nutritive faculty was believed to be associated with the stomach and the liver. The stomach was noted to “cook” the food and converted it into chyle. The chyle was then transported to the liver by the portal vein. In the liver further heat converted the food into blood and added natural spirit. Some of the blood was transported via the veins to the heart where more heat was added to create a vital spirit. The blood became thinner and was distributed to the body by the arteries giving warmth and enabling growth. The vital spirit was measured through the pulse. The brain added psychic pneuma, which provided the rational and logical faculty in the form of thought, will, and choice. These were then distributed to the body via the nerves. The logical faculty reigned supreme and was followed in order of importance by the vital and nutritive faculties. The transport systems of the body included the nerves which transmitted the logical faculty, the arteries which transported the vital spirit, and the veins which transported the blood with nutritive faculty from the liver.  Three organs worked in unison to produce and store three of the four humors of the body: blood (liver) yellow bile (gallbladder) and black bile (spleen).