Herophilus [key], fl. 300 b.c., Greek anatomist, called by some the father of scientific anatomy. A contemporary of Erasistratus at Alexandria, he made public dissections, comparing human and animal morphology. He studied the structure of the brain (which he regarded as the site of intelligence) and the spinal cord and distinguished between motor and sensory nerves. He also investigated the eye, the alimentary canal (he is credited with naming the duodenum), the reproductive organs, and the arteries and veins.
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