§1## ΓΑΛΗΝΟΥ ΠΕΡΙ ΝΕΥΡΩΝ ΑΝΑΤΟΜΗΣ ΒΙΒΛΙΟΝ.
Ὅτι μὲν οὐδὲν τῶν τοῦ ζώου μορίων οὔτε κίνησιν, ἣν προαιρετικὴν ὀνομάζομεν, οὔτε αἴσθησιν ἔχει χωρὶς νεύρου, καὶ ὡς, εἰ τμηθείη τὸ νεῦρον, ἀκίνητόν τε καὶ ἀναίσθητον εὐθέως γίνεται τὸ μόριον, ὡμολόγηται πᾶσι τοῖς ἰατροῖς.
GALEN'S BOOK ON THE ANATOMY OF NERVES. That none of the parts of an animal has either movement, which we call voluntary, or sensation without a nerve, and how, if the nerve is cut, the part immediately becomes both motionless and insensible, is agreed upon by all physicians.
ὅτι δὲ καὶ ἡ ἀρχὴ τῶν νεύρων ἐστὶν ὁ ἐγκέφαλος, ὥσπερ καὶ τοῦ νωτιαίου μυελοῦ, καὶ ὅτι τὰ μὲν ἐξ αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἐγκεφάλου, τὰ δὲ ἐκ τοῦ νωτιαίου πέφυκεν, οὐ πᾶσιν ἐγνώσθη, καίτοι τό γε κατὰ τὰς ἀνατομὰς φαινόμενον τοῦτον ἔχει τὸν τρόπον.
But that the origin of the nerves is the brain, just as it is of the spinal cord, and that some arise from the brain itself and others from the spinal cord, has not been known to all, although indeed what appears in dissections is of this nature.
§2Αὐταὶ μὲν αἱ ἐμπρόσθιαι κοιλίαι αἱ κατὰ τὸν ἐγκέφαλον εἰς τὸ πρόσω φερόμεναι στενοῦνται κατὰ βραχὺ κώνου σχήματι παραπλησίως, ἄχρι περ ἂν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀφίκωνται τῆς ῥινὸς, ἀλλήλαις παρακείμεναί τε καὶ ψαύουσαι διὰ παντὸς, ὡς μηδὲν εἶναι μέσον αὐτῶν, ὅτι μὴ τὴν λεπτὴν μήνιγγα.
The anterior ventricles themselves in the brain, as they proceed forward, gradually narrow in a manner similar to a cone, until they reach the origin of the nose, always lying next to and touching one another, so that there is nothing between them except the thin membrane.
τούτων δὲ ἑκατέρωθεν ἓν μὲν ἐν τοῖς δεξιοῖς μέρεσιν, ἓν δὲ ἐν τοῖς ἀριστεροῖς ἐστι νεῦρον ἀξιόλογον τῷ πάχει, καὶ σχεδὸν ἁπάντων τῶν ἄλλων νεύρων μαλακώτατον, ἐκφυόμενον μὲν ἐξ αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἐγκεφάλου, προερχόμενον δὲ εἰς τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἔξω τοῦ κρανίου διὰ τρήματος ἴσον ἔχοντος εὖρος ἀκριβῶς τῷ πάχει τοῦ νεύρου.
On each side of these, one on the right and one on the left, there is a nerve of remarkable thickness, and the softest of almost all the other nerves, arising from the brain itself and proceeding to the eyes outside the skull through a passage having a width exactly equal to the thickness of the nerve.
τέτακται δὲ τὸ τρῆμα τοῦτο, καθ’ ἃ πρῶτον ἡ χώρα τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ἄρχεται γεννᾶσθαι, καὶ δόξουσί σοι θεασαμένῳ καθάπερ τινὲς ῥίζαι τὰ νεῦρα ταῦτα εἶναι τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν.
This passage is situated where the region of the eyes first begins to be formed, and to you, as you observe them, these nerves will seem to be like certain roots of the eyes.
διαλύεταί γε μὴν οὐκ εἰς πολλὰς ἶνας, ὥσπερ τὰ ἄλλα σύμπαντα νεῦρα τὰ διανεμόμενα τοῖς ὑποδεχομένοις ὀργάνοις αὐτὰ, θαυμαστὸν δέ τινα τρόπον ἕτερον, ὃν οὔτε ῥᾴδιον εἰπεῖν, οὔτε ἀκούσας ἴσως πιστεύσεις, πρὶν αὐτόπτης γενέσθαι τοῦ θεάματος.
Nevertheless, it does not dissolve into many fibers, as do all the other nerves distributed to the organs that receive them, but in some other wonderful way, which is neither easy to describe, nor perhaps will you believe upon hearing it, until you become an eye-witness of the sight.
εἰς γὰρ τὸν κατ’ εὐθὺ κείμενον ὀφθαλμὸν ἑκάτερον εἴσω δυόμενον εἰς πλάτος ἐκτείνεται, περιφερόμενον ἐν κύκλῳ σφαιροειδῶς τῷ κατ’ αὐτὸν ὑγρῷ καλουμένῳ ὑελοειδεῖ, μηδέν τι παραλλάττον ἐνταῦθα τῆς ἐγκεφάλου φύσεως.
For entering into each of the eyes situated directly opposite, it extends in breadth, being carried around in a spherical circle about the fluid in the eye called vitreous, differing in no way here from the nature of the brain.
ἀλλὰ καὶ μόνοις τούτοις τοῖς νεύροις, πρὶν εἰς τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν ἐμφύεσθαι, σαφῶς ἔνδον ἐστὶν αἰσθητός τις πόρος, ὅθεν αὐτὰ καὶ πόρους ἔνιοι τῶν ἀνατομικῶν ἐκάλεσαν, οὐ νεῦρα, τινὲς δὲ ὀπτικὰ νεῦρα προσαγορεύουσιν, ἀπὸ τῆς ἐνεργείας τοὔνομα θέμενοι.
But also in these nerves alone, before they insert into the eye, there is clearly a perceptible passage inside, whence some of the anatomists called them passages, not nerves, while others call them optic nerves, giving them the name from their activity.
καὶ πρώτην γε ταύτην συζυγίαν ἀριθμοῦσιν τῶν ἀπ’ ἐγκεφάλου νεύρων, ἁπασῶν τῶν ἄλλων οὖσαν μαλακωτάτην.
And indeed they count this as the first pairing of the nerves from the brain, being the softest of all the others.
§3Ἑτέρα δ’ ἐφεξῆς ἐστι συζυγία τοῖς κινοῦσι τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς μυσὶ διανεμομένη, σκληροτέρα τε καὶ μικροτέρα πολλῷ τῆς προειρημένης, καὶ διεκπίπτει γε τοῦ κρανίου παραπλήσιον ἐκείνοις, ὀστῷ λεπτοτάτῳ διοριζομένη.
Next is another pairing, distributed to the muscles that move the eyes, much harder and smaller than the aforementioned one, and it issues from the skull in a manner similar to them, being separated by a very thin bone.
§4Παράκειταί δὲ αὐτῇ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ κρανίου φορὰν, οὐ μὴν κατὰ τὴν πρώτην ἔκφυσιν, τρίτη τῶν νεύρων συζυγία.
And next to it along the course of the skull, though not at their first origin, lies a third pairing of nerves.
καλοῦσι δ’ αὐτὰ μαλακὰ, πάμπολλα φαινόμενα κατὰ τὴν πρώτην ῥίζαν εὐθὺς, εἰ προσέχεις τὸν νοῦν αὐτοῖς ἀκριβῶς, ὡς ἀμελέστερόν γε θεωμένῳ πάντα ἕν σοι δόξει.
They call them soft, appearing very numerous right at their first root, if you pay close attention to them, so that to one observing more carelessly they will all seem to you to be one.
μαλακώτερα μὲν ὄντως ἐστὶ ταῦτα τὰ νεῦρα καὶ τῶν ἐν τῇ προειρημένῃ δευτέρᾳ, καὶ τῶν ἐν τῇ δ΄, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν ἐφεξῆς.
These nerves are indeed softer than those in the aforementioned second pairing, and those in the fourth, and the others that follow.
ἔτι δὲ μᾶλλον φαίνεται τοιαῦτα, διότι πλείονα τὸν ἀριθμὸν ὄντα καὶ θριξὶν ὁμοίως λεπτὰ κατ’ ἀλλήλων ἐπίκεινται χωρὶς τοῦ πεπιλῆσθαί τε καὶ καταπεπλέχθαι.
And they appear even more so because, being more numerous and as thin as hairs, they lie upon one another without being compressed or interwoven.