Editing Embryology (section)

====Later Greek embryology====
Reportedly, some [[Stoicism|Stoics]] claimed that most parts of the body formed at once during embryological development. Some [[Epicureanism|Epicureans]] claimed that the fetus is nourished by either the amniotic fluid or the blood, and that both male and female supply material to the development of the fetus. According to the writings of [[Tertullian]], [[Herophilus]] in the 5th century BC described the ovaries and fallopian tubes (but not past what was already described by Aristotle) and also dissected some embryos. One advance Herophilus made, against the conceptions of other individuals such as Aristotle, was that the brain was the center of intellect rather than the heart. Though not a part of Greek tradition, in [[Book of Job|Job]] 10, the formation of the embryo is likened to the curdling of milk into cheese, as described by Aristotle. Whereas Needham sees this statement in Job as part of the Aristotelian tradition, others see it as evidence that the milk analogy predates the Aristotelian Greek tradition and originates in Jewish circles.<ref name="kot">Samuel Kottek, "Embryology in Talmudic and Midrashic Literature", Journal of the History of Biology 1981.</ref> In addition, the [[Wisdom of Solomon]] (7:2) also has the embryo formed from menstrual blood. [[Soranus of Ephesus]] also wrote texts on embryology which went into use for a long time. Some rabbinic texts discuss the embryology of a female Greek writer named Cleopatra, a contemporary of [[Galen]] and Soranus, who was said to have claimed that the male fetus is complete in 41 days whereas the female fetus is complete in 81 days. Various other texts of less importance also appear and describe various aspects of embryology, though without making much progress from Aristotle. [[Plutarch]] has a chapter in one of his works titled "Whether was before, the hen or egg?" Discussion on embryological tradition also appears in many [[Neoplatonism|Neoplatonic traditions]].<ref>James Wilberding, ''Forms, Souls, and Embryos: Neoplatonists on Human Reproduction'', Routledge 2017.</ref>

Next to Aristotle, the most impactful and important Greek writer on biology was Galen of Pergamum, and his works were transmitted throughout the [[Middle Ages]]. Galen discusses his understanding of embryology in two of his texts, those being his ''On the Natural Faculties'' and his ''On the Formation of the Foetus''.<ref>Michael Boylan, ''Galen's Conception Theory'', Journal  of the History of Biology 1986.</ref> There is an additional text spuriously attributed to Galen known as ''On the Question of whether the Embryo is an Animal''. Galen described embryological development in four stages. In the first stage, the semen predominates. In the second stage, the embryo is filled with blood. In the third stage, the main outlines of the organs have developed but various other parts remain undeveloped. In the fourth stage, formation is complete and has reached a stage where we can call it a child. Galen described processes that played a role in furthering development of the embryo such as warming, drying, cooling, and combinations thereof. As this development plays out, the form of life of the embryo also moves from that like a plant to that of an animal (where the analogy between the root and umbilical cord is made). Galen claimed that the embryo forms from menstrual blood, by which his experimental analogy was that when you cut the vein of an animal and allow blood to flow out and into some mildly heated water, a sort of coagulation can be observed. He gave detailed descriptions of the position of the umbilical cord relative to other veins.<ref>Joseph Needham, ''A History of Embryology'', Cambridge 1959, pp. 60-74.</ref>