Galen

Meaning

Galien is invoked as testimony that some animals perform exceptional feats of dexterity. The concession qualifies the broad comparison between animals and humans: natural skill is not simply absent from animals. Nuysement nevertheless distinguishes such abilities from the human capacity to learn arts and communicate them by instruction. He supplies no work or exact Galenic reference here, so the attribution should remain at the level the text provides. The example also helps control Book III’s later abbreviated description of animals as without reason: III.3 already grants inward vital-soul reason and limited exceptional skill.