Demosthenes Philalethes was an ancient Greek physician of Asia Minor

Asia Minor

Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...

 who was one of the pupils of Alexander Philalethes

Alexander Philalethes

Alexander Philalethes was an ancient Greek physician, whom Priscian called Alexander Amator Veri , and who was probably the same person quoted by Caelius Aurelianus under the name of Alexander Laodicensis. He lived probably towards the end of the 1st century, as Strabo speaks of him as a...

, a contemporary of Aristoxenus

Aristoxenus (physician)

Aristoxenus was a Greek physician of Asia Minor who was quoted by Caelius Aurelianus. He was a pupil of Alexander Philalethes and contemporary of Demosthenes Philalethes, and must therefore have lived around the 1st century. He was a follower of the teachings of Herophilos, and studied at the...

, and a follower of the teachings of Herophilos

Herophilos

Herophilos , sometimes Latinized Herophilus , was a Greek physician. Born in Chalcedon, he spent the majority of his life in Alexandria. He was the first scientist to systematically perform scientific dissections of human cadavers and is deemed to be the first anatomist. Herophilos recorded his...

. He succeeded Alexander as the head of the Herophilean school of medicine in Carura

Carura

Carura was an ancient town of Asia Minor on the north-eastern border of Caria.Its position east of the range of Cadmus assigns it to Phrygia, under which country Strabo describes it. It was on the south side of the Maeander River, 20 miles west of Laodicea to Ephesus...

. He probably lived around the beginning of the 1st century, and was especially celebrated for his skill as an oculist. He was the author of the most influential ophthalmological

Ophthalmology

Ophthalmology is the branch of medicine that deals with the anatomy, physiology and diseases of the eye. An ophthalmologist is a specialist in medical and surgical eye problems...

 work of antiquity, the Ophthalmicus, on diseases of the eye, which appears to have been still extant in the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

, but of which nothing now remains, although some extracts are preserved by Aëtius Amidenus

Aëtius Amidenus

Aëtius of Amida was a Byzantine physician and medical writer, particularly distinguished by the extent of his erudition. Historians are not agreed about his exact date...

, Paul of Aegina

Paul of Aegina

Paul of Aegina or Paulus Aegineta was a 7th-century Byzantine Greek physician best known for writing the medical encyclopedia Medical Compendium in Seven Books...

, Rufus of Ephesus

Rufus of Ephesus

Rufus of Ephesus was an ancient Greek physician and author who wrote treatises on dietetics, pathology, anatomy, and patient care. He was to some extent a follower of Hippocrates, although he at times criticized or departed from that author's teachings...

, and other later writers. He also wrote a work on the pulse

Pulse

In medicine, one's pulse represents the tactile arterial palpation of the heartbeat by trained fingertips. The pulse may be palpated in any place that allows an artery to be compressed against a bone, such as at the neck , at the wrist , behind the knee , on the inside of the elbow , and near the...

, which is quoted by Galen

Galen

Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus , better known as Galen of Pergamon , was a prominent Roman physician, surgeon and philosopher...

. Demosthenes was the last known Herophilean in Asia Minor.