When Is Temporal Exactitude Desirable?

Abstract

AbstractChapter 6 offers a corrective to the notion that Galen would prefer doctors to keep their eyes on the clock at all times. This chapter argues that Galen actually seeks to present himself as occupying a reasonable, middle stance in an ongoing debate over the role of numerical precision in medical timekeeping. By examining a series of passages drawn from Galen’s works on fevers and bloodletting—as well as his magnum opus, On the Method of Healing—it becomes evident that, while Galen accuses some physicians of being insufficiently precise in their numerical timekeeping, he accuses others of being overly precise and programmatic. This chapter, like the preceding one, highlights the fact that, even in times and places where clocks were easily accessible, medical authors made different choices about when and how to employ hourly timekeeping. It reveals that certain medical concepts and treatments were seen as being especially ripe for debates over numerical temporal precision.