From Galan to the Classroom

There are time when I’m listening to a lecture in medical school when I think about how it was to live in the time when Galan we first practicing medicine and medical experiments on wounded gladiators. Galen who lived in ancient Rome lived at a time were human dissection was taboo and thus the ability to acquire knowledge about the human organism was frighteningly limited.

Galan had to attempt to learn something about the human body while blood spurted from his dying victims and the screams of fear and pain echoed all around him. That sheer amount of concentration and focus that he had to e able to control is something that never ceases to fascinate me. To think about all of the knowledge the Galan must have known lay behind the human body yet not be able to access it because of ancient superstitious taboos must have been maddening to the great genius.

I contrast the ancient period of Rome with the process of medical training today and I must say that I am not only grateful but so proud of humanity. This reflection really makes me proud to be a member of the human race. To know that despite all of the evil and stupid things that my species had murdered each other for since time immemorial is in a limited way balances by the progress that has and continues to be achieved everyday on college and university campuses around the world.

I sit in classroom a few times a week and watch video clip and listen to lectures and practice on mannequins that are so precisely akin to the human body that it baffles the mind. the ability to learn and practice on a mannequin dummy and not have to endure a screaming persons shrieking as I attempt to learn something about the human boy before he dies is a real relief to say the least. I, and indeed humanity, are so fortunate to be able to pursue the cause of human wellbeing in a clean and wholesome environment and our results, discoveries, and inventions have proven my case.