Due to a terrible misreading of a hashtag, we prepared something to post tomorrow, then realised it was wrong.

Due to a terrible misreading of a hashtag, we prepared something to post tomorrow, then realised it was wrong. So today, let's celebrate #GalenTines Day. Here's some stuff Galen of Pergamon had to say about the gynaecological anatomy which influenced physicians for over a millennium...

If you've not heard of Galen before, he was a Roman-Greek physician and anatomy whose work was *heavily* influential on medical sciences for a very long time - his work was still cited as authoritative in the 16th century. So anything he got wrong, physicians that followed tended to get wrong too.

If you've not heard of Galen before, he was a Roman-Greek physician and anatomy whose work was *heavily* influential on medical sciences for a very long time - his work was still cited as authoritative in the 16th century. So anything he got wrong, physicians that followed tended to get wrong too.

We try our best to be even-handed before proceeding to dunk on a dude who died in the second century BCE, so here's some things he got right, unlike physicians before and after him:
-He didn't believe the uterus could wander round the body.
-He acknowledged the clitoris existed.

Now to proceed with the dunking. Despite sensibly knowing that the uterus couldn't possibly migrate around the body wreaking havoc wherever it went, and that the clitoris (which was RIGHT THERE) existed, Galen was pretty much wrong about everything else.

Galen, like many physicians of his time, believed that heat of the body influenced the sex of any resulting offspring. While that's true for some animals, notably crocodiles, it is not pertinent to humans. Galen applied this to humans, nevertheless.

Galen, like many physicians of his time, believed that heat of the body influenced the sex of any resulting offspring. While that's true for some animals, notably crocodiles, it is not pertinent to humans. Galen applied this to humans, nevertheless.

Galen believed that the uterus had two cells: a left cell and a right cell. If a foetus gestated in to the left, it would probably be a girl; to the right would probably make a boy. This was because the right uterus was closer to the liver, which warmed it up, and boys need heat to develop.

Now, in Galen's defence, he was under the impression that uteruses had a distinct left cell and right cell because he had never looked at a human uterus. His anatomical dissection work was based on dogs. And dogs actually *do* have two very distinct horns to their uteruses.

However, bitches aren't born because they gestate further away from the liver, so Galen was still very, very wrong regarding the heat thing.

Galen believed that the genital and reproductive organs were much the same in either sex, but went inside if they were cold during gestation, and stuck out if they were sufficiently warm during gestation.

This meant that Galen correctly identified the ovaries as homologous to the testes. However, he believed the vagina was homologous to the penis, and that the uterus itself was an internal scrotum. Which it very much isn't.

So where does the clitoris - the organ which is *actually* homologous to the penis - factor in? Galen ultimately didn't have very much to say about it. He only mentions it once, in the context of the rest of the vulva.

According to Galen, the function of the labia minora, labia majora and clitoris is... insulation. These structures exist to keep the uterus cosy and warm.

Galen believed that the genital and reproductive organs were much the same in either sex, but went inside if they were cold during gestation, and stuck out if they were sufficiently warm during gestation.

This meant that Galen correctly identified the ovaries as homologous to the testes. However, he believed the vagina was homologous to the penis, and that the uterus itself was an internal scrotum. Which it very much isn't.

So where does the clitoris - the organ which is *actually* homologous to the penis - factor in? Galen ultimately didn't have very much to say about it. He only mentions it once, in the context of the rest of the vulva.

According to Galen, the function of the labia minora, labia majora and clitoris is... insulation. These structures exist to keep the uterus cosy and warm.

And while Galen was a dissenting voice in a prevailing belief that the uterus could up sticks and move around the body, causing all sorts of illnesses in women, he wasn't quite right about this, either. He instead believed that all these horrid diseases affecting women such as feeling sad or having a headache were in fact caused by stuff getting into the uterus. He was a proponent of various steaming practices to cleanse the uterus of these contaminants.

Galen, like many physicians of his time, believed that heat of the body influenced the sex of any resulting offspring. While that's true for some animals, notably crocodiles, it is not pertinent to humans. Galen applied this to humans, nevertheless.

The thing about Galen was he wasn't just some dude who wrote weird shit two millennia ago. His comprehensive writings on medicine were practically a bible for physicians, for most of those two millennia. This left a lasting influence, some of which hangs around in cultural beliefs.

Galen's belief that the clitoris was not a particularly relevant organ meant that this amazing body part has been largely ignored or sometimes pathologised. Galen's beliefs about the uterus led to dismissal of ill health in women being largely put down to something about your womb being wrong. And Galen's attitude towards sex differentiation implies that not bearing sons is somehow wholly the fault of the woman.

So happy #GalenTines Day. Now you have a name to blame for instigating myths and misconceptions about the gynaecological anatomy which persisted for millennia!