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In the meantime, another former Pythagorean, who was born here, in Croton, and who goes by the name '''Alcmeon''', is doing natural philosophy with a medical bent. Dissecting human corpses is forbidden for religious reasons, but his studies on animal eyes and brains, have led him to the conclusion that it's the brain, rather than the heart, that is the seat of mind and emotions. Similarly to the Pythagoreans, Alcmeon views the world as a constant struggle of opposites. This includes the human body, where ''warmth'' competes against ''coldness'', ''moistness'' against ''dryness'', and so forth. A balance between them all is what keeps you in good health, while the predominance of any one quality leads to illness.
'''Hippocrates of Kos''', born about half a century after Alcmeon, will eventually combine the latter's theory with Empedocles's by assigning one humour (including the imaginary black bile) to each of the four elements in order to explain the struggles of ''hot'' vs ''cold'' and ''moist'' vs ''dry''. He will be also known for introducing the general rule that the physician's duty is to make the patient feel better or at least not worse; and for contributing so much to medical theory that it becomes a stand-alone scholarly discipline. And all this without ever peeking inside a human body. This opportunity will only be become available in the following century (4th BCE) to doctors working in Alexandria, such as '''Herophilus of Chalcedon''' and '''Erasistratus of Ceos'''. This they will owe to the first Greek rulers of Egypt, of the house of Ptolemy, who, for the benefit of science, will allow dissections of human corpses to take place on the premises of the Alexandrian temple of the muses (known as a "museum", but really more like a university).
Much later, under the Roman Empire (1st–2nd centuries CE), Greek medics working in what will once be Turkey, will once again be only allowed to dissect animals (leading, for example, to a long-held notion that the human liver has not two, but five lobes, like in a dog) and will only ever have the chance to study human anatomy while looking after wounded soldiers and gladiators. What '''Dioscorides of Anazarbus''' and '''Galen of Pergamon''' will be remembered for is summarising all medical knowledge in books that will be read by generations of medics for centuries after the works of their predecessors will have gone up in smoke together with the library of the Alexandrian museum. Galen's book, in particular, will be crucial for preserving the theory of humours, which will come to be known as Galenic theory.
