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“The medical school of Alexandria was dominated by the names of Herophile (300 BC), best known as a specialist in anatomy, and Erasistratus, the physiologist. Now it was pre-anatomy, and Erasistratus, the physiologist. Now it was precisely in Egypt, where connections between the heart and pulse beats had already been formulated for 2,500 years, and where the portable water clock (clepsydra) had also been in use for centuries, that Herophile counted pulse beats using the clepsydra. The Greek doctor invented neither the practice of taking pulse beats, nor the instrument for counting them. Conditions in Egypt facilitated the measuring of pulse beats.”

“This same Herophile, a Greek scholar born in Bithynia who went to work in Alexandria, made such a serious study of anatomy that he came to be considered a precursor in the discipline. He had advanced knowledge of the eye, liver, heart and brain. The posterior confluence of the cranial sinuses was named after him, as Herophile’s clamp. Before him, the ancient Egyptians had identified the connection between the beating of the heart, this central organ, and pulses in the peripheral organs and limbs, which they knew how to take at different points. They had studied the brain, meninges and cerebro-spinal fluids. Their knowledge of the external anatomy of the eyes (irty), especially of the pupil (dfd), was appreciable. They were also familiar with the liver (mist). Like such other visceral organs as kidneys, lungs and intestines, livers were preserved in Canopic jars.”

Theophile Obenga
“African Philosophy: The Pharaonic Period: 2780-330BC”
Page 377