1
It’s the business of the physician to know, in the first place, things similar and things dissimilar; those connected with things most important, most easily known, and in anywise known;The meaning of the first clause of this sentence, according to Galen, is, that the first thing which the medical practitioner must do is to make himself well acquainted with semeiology, by comparing carefully the condition of disease with that of health. In all cases of accident, it was the practice of the ancient surgeons to compare carefully the injured part with its fellow or corresponding part on the opposite side. which are to be seen, touched, and heard; which are to be perceived in the sight, and the touch, and the hearing, and the nose, and the tongue, and the understanding; which are to be known by all the means we know other things.
2
The things relating to surgery, are—the patient; the operator; the assistants; the instruments; the light, where and how; how many things, and how; where the body, and the instruments; the time; the manner; the place.
