subjects, is Albucasis. So little is known of his personal history, that both his birth and the country in which he lived have been the subject of controversy, and appear to be entirely conjectural. His principal works are on surgery; and the reputation which he acquired in this department is almost as great as that of Avicenna in medicine. He seems to have been a man of learning and talents, to have made himself master of the writings and practices of his predecessors, and to have improved upon them. The description which he has left of his operations shows him to have possessed a degree of boldness and dexterity which could only exist in one who was well acquainted with his art, and had been habituated to the practice of it. His practice was what we should now consider as unnecessarily severe, making much more use of the knife and of the actual cautery than is done in modern times, and in all respects inflicting both more pain and more permanent injury on his patients. The works of Albucasis appear, however, to have afforded by far the most complete view of the practice of surgery which then existed; and from this circumstance, as well as from their real merit, they were, for many ages, considered as standard performances, and employed as the text-book in various schools and colleges. (Freind, p. 506–524, 2. Haller, lib. ii. § 148. Eloy, in loco. Lauth, p. 285, 6. Sprengel, t. ii. p. 327-32.)

medical work, entitled, "Canon Medicinæ," which | considerable distinction as a writer on medical may be regarded as a kind of encyclopædia of all that was then known of medicine, and of the sciences connected with it, anatomy, surgery, therapeutics, and botany. Its celebrity was so great as to have acquired for its author the title of prince of physicians; for some centuries it was the received text-book in most of the medical schools, both of the Arabians and the Europeans; until the revival of letters it superseded, in a great measure, the works even of Galen, it produced scarcely less numerous commentaries and epitomes, and had not entirely lost its authority two centuries ago. Yet the matured judgment of one of the most learned and candid of the modern critics has not hesitated to bestow upon this so much vaunted production the character of an illdigested and servile compilation, containing little that is new either in the way of observation or of practice. Indeed, the sole aim of Avicenna seems to have been to collect matter from all quarters, without paying any regard to its value, or to the mode in which it was arranged. He was a devoted admirer of Aristotle and Galen, and seemed to imagine that the ultimate object either of the philosopher or the physician consisted in being intimately acquainted with their writings, and in defending them against all objections. Upon the whole, after making every allowance for the period in which he lived, it seems difficult to account for the very great credit which he acquired, not only during his life-time, but which was attached to his writings after his death; a credit so much | greater than what they merit, either from the importance of the information which they contain, or the mode in which it is conveyed.*

There are two Arabian writers of the name of Mesue, whose celebrity entitles them to a brief notice in this place, although considerable uncertainty attaches to both their individual history and to their works. The elder of them is said to have lived in the eighth, and the younger in the tenth century; and they are both represented as being Christians of the Nestorian sect, but to have exercised their profession at Bagdat. The elder Mesue is principally remarkable as having been among the first who made correct translations of the Greek physicians, and especially of Hippocrates and Galen, into Arabic; for although he appears to have composed many original works, we do not find that they rose into any high repute even among his contemporaries. To the younger Mesue is usually ascribed a treatise on materia medica and pharmacy, which for a long time was in great estimation, and was republished and commented upon even as late as the sixteenth century; it probably contained a full view of the state of the science when he wrote, and is interesting, as it indicates the introduction of several new remedies into medicine; but in other respects it is to be regarded merely as a literary curiosity. (Freind, p. 481, 2. Haller, Bibl. Med. Prac. lib. ii. § 126. Eloy, in loco. Enfield, v. ii. p. 213. Sprengel, t. ii. p. 325.)

The last of the Arabians who acquired any *Freind, lib. ii. p. 491-2. Haller, Bib. Med. lib. ii. § 139. Eloy, in loco. Lauth, p. 282-5. Enfield, v. ii. p. 222, 3. Sprengel, t. ii. p. 305-22. Hutton's Math. Dict., in loco. Goulin, Encyc. Méth. Médecine, "Avicenne." cenne," in Biog. Univ.

"Avi

It remains for us to give an account of two individuals, who, although natives of Spain, and residing principally in that country, were of Saracenic origin, and wrote in the Arabic language— Avenzoar and Averroes. Avenzoar was born at Seville, in the end of the eleventh century, and is said to have lived to the unusual length of one hundred and thirty-five years; but probably some error may have crept into this statement in consequence of both his father and his son having been, like himself, engaged in the practice of medicine. His principal work, entitled "Thaissyr,"† which consists in a general compendium of medical practice, displays more originality and discrimination than the writings of any of the native Arabians; so that, although he was professedly a disciple of Galen, he does not hesitate, on certain occasions, to shake off his authority when his opinions or practice were not sanctioned by his own experience. We may collect, from certain parts of his works, that he practised both surgery and pharmacy, as well as medicine properly so called; and we have many valuable observations on each of these departments. Upon the whole, we may consider Avenzoar as respectable both from his general character and his professional skill, and entitled to our regard as one of the improvers of his art. (Freind, p. 492–503. Haller, lib. ii. § 142. Eloy, in loco. Sprengel, t. ii. p. 332-7.)

Besides the reputation which Avenzoar derived from his own merits, he was perhaps still more known among his countrymen as being the preceptor of the celebrated Averroes. Averroes was a native of Corduba, and flourished in the twelfth

Freind designates the Thaissyr as “liber qui omnia victus et medicinæ precepta in plerisque morbis contineret:" p. 493.

centuries was, perhaps, the period in which Europe was in the state of the most complete barbarism and superstition. The only remains of a taste for literature and science, or for the fine arts, were found among the Moors and Arabs; and it was from this source, by the intervention of the crusaders, and the intercourse which was thus effected between the Asiatics and the Europeans, that the philosophical and medical writings of the Greeks were first made known to the inhabitants of Italy and of France. And even after their introduction into Europe, it appears that they were for some time read only in Arabic translations, or in Latin versions made from these translations; so that it was not until a considerably later period that they were perused in their native language. Indeed so completely was the study of the Greek tongue suspended during the dark ages, that it may be doubted whether the writings of the ancient physicians might not have been entirely lost to posterity had they not been preserved in these translations.

century; he was of illustrious birth, and highly educated in all the branches both of literature and of science which were then taught in the Saracenic colleges of Spain. From certain political causes he was, in the early part of his life, the subject of religious persecution; but he succeeded in repelling the attacks that were made upon his faith, and was finally reinstated in all his former honours and in the public estimation. These circumstances, coinciding probably with the peculiar temperament of his mind, gave to his character a degree of ascetic gloom and austerity; but he appears to have been a man of distinguished worth and of superior abilities. Averroes' professional occupations were principally in a civil capacity; he is therefore to be regarded, not as a practitioner, but as a scholar who pursued the study of medicine as a branch of physical science. But such was his ardour in the pursuit of general knowledge, and the fondness which he manifested for this particular department, that he made himself intimately acquainted with it in all its details, and in his great work entitled "The Universal," he shows that he was not deficient in any part of the science which could be acquired by the mere study of books. As a philosopher he was a zealous and obsequious follower of the opinions of Aristotle, and as a physician, of those of Galen; he published many comments on both of them, which acquired the highest degree of reputation, and for many ages were considered as standard performances. Yet there is reason to suppose that he was ignorant of the Greek language, and, like his contemporaries, became acquainted with Aristotle and Galen only through the medium of Arabic translations. The great estimation in which the works of Averroes were held is proved by the number of editions of them which were published from time to time, one of which appeared at Venice so late as the commencement of the seventeenth century. With respect to his medical writings, as they do not profess to be the re-respect to the origin of pharmaceutical chemistry, sult of original observation, we cannot be surprised that their reputation is no longer supported. They are indeed entirely neglected; and it may be affirmed that, notwithstanding the celebrity which they once enjoyed, and which they so long maintained, they have not left a single permanent addition to the science.*

With Averroes terminated the Arabic or Saracenic school of medicine; after his time we have no writer whose name is sufficiently distinguished to deserve particular mention: even the study of the ancients began to be neglected, while no original observations were made, and no novel opinions or speculations were framed which might tend to exercise the mind or dissipate the darkness which now covered all parts of the world.

There are, however, two points in which the Arabians conferred a real obligation upon their successors, the introduction of various new articles into the materia medica, and the original description of certain diseases. The additions which the Arabians made to pharmacy consisted partly in the vegetable products of the eastern or southern countries of Asia, which were only imperfectly known to the Greeks, and with which they had no intercourse. Among other substances we may enumerate rhubarb, tamarinds, cassia, manna, senna, camphor, various gums and resins, and a number of aromatics, which were brought from Persia, India, or the oriental isles. But a still more important addition which they made to the pharmacopoeia consisted in what were styled chemical remedies, such as were produced by some chemical process, in opposition to those substances that were used nearly in their natural state. With

it may be sufficient to observe that a rude species of chemical manipulation appears to have been practised in Arabia in the fifth century, that distillation was performed, and that the metals were subjected to various processes, by which some of their oxides and salts were produced. The immediate object of these processes was the transmutation of the metals; an operation which, for many centuries, formed a main subject of attention to almost all the individuals who were considered as cultivators of natural philosophy.

With respect to the second subject alluded' to above, the description of new diseases, it is well known, that from causes which are now altogether inexplicable, diseases of the most marked and distinct nature, which are the least liable to be mistaken or confounded with other affections, and which, had they existed, are too violent to have been overlooked, are not mentioned by the Greek and Roman physicians, and are described for the first time by the Arabians. Of these the two most

If we inquire into the causes of the great celebrity of the Arabian school of medicine, we shall be led to the conclusion that they were rather incidental and factitious than derived from its absolute merits. It has been justly observed that a considerable portion of this celebrity must be as-remarkable are the small-pox and the measles. cribed to the comparative condition of the neighbouring countries. From the eighth to the twelfth Freind, p. 503-6. Bayle's Dict., in loco. Moreri's Dict., in loco. Haller, lib. ii. sect. 142. Eloy, in loco. Nouveau Dict. Hist. in loco. Enfield, t. ii. p. 226–231. Sprengel, t. ii. p. 337-41.

There is some reason to suppose that the smallpox had been known in China and the more remote parts of India at a much earlier period, but it is generally admitted that it was first recognised in the western part of Asia, at the siege of Mecca,

school of medicine, which may be considered as extending from the eighth to the twelfth century, the science remained nearly stationary, or was even retrograde among the successors of the Greeks and Romans. We have scarcely a single

about the middle of the sixth century, when it raged with great violence in the army of the besiegers. We have remarked above, that the disease was alluded to by Ahrun shortly after its appearance, but it was Rhazes to whom we are indebted for the first clear and distinct account of its symp-name of sufficient importance to arrest our attentoms and treatment. There is no subject in the whole range of medical science of more difficult solution than that which respects the origin of diseases, especially such as, when produced, are propagated solely by contagion. Into this subject, however, it would be improper for us to enter in this place, as our readers will find it fully considered in the appropriate articles; it is here only alluded to as an historical fact, in connection with the writings of the Arabians.*

We are indebted to them for the transmission of the works of the ancient Greek physicians, to which they made certain additions of insulated facts with respect to the description of diseases, but with respect to the general principles of therapeutics the additions, if any, were few and imperfect. In anatomy they made no advances, and we have reason to suppose that the examination of bodies, either in a sound or morbid state, was scarcely practised by them. Medical theory was much attended to, but their theories consisted more in subtile refinements, formed upon the Aristotelian model, than in the study of pathology, or an accurate discrimination of the phenomena of disease. Some little advance appears to have been made in surgery by Albucasis, but he is the only individual who seems to have aimed at improving this branch of the profession; and it may be doubted whether the practice of surgery was not, upon the whole, in a retrograde state, during the period of which we are now treating. It is in the department of pharmacy alone that they made any additions of real value; and, although in this case it may be attributed more to accidental circumstances than to any enlightened spirit of improvement, yet it is incumbent upon us to acknowledge the obligation, which was both extensive and permanent.† CHAPTER VII.-State of medicine in Europe after the extinction of the Arabian schoolMedical schools of Monte-Cassino and Salerno

-Medicina Salernitana.

tion, and we have no improvements to record, either in theory or in practice. The only attempts that were made in Greece or in Italy during this period, which deserve to be noticed, are connected with the Neapolitan schools of Monte-Cassino and of Salerno, which acquired some degree of reputation in the eleventh century. It was at this period that the physicians attached to the school of Salerno wrote the verses on dietetic medicine, entitled "Medicina Salernitana,' a work which, as afterwards published with the commentary of Arnoldus de Villanova, acquired considerable celebrity, and may be regarded as a valuable document, by its affording, in a small compass, a correct idea of the state of Italian medicine at that early period.

In connection with this subject we may notice Constantinus Africanus, who is supposed to have flourished about the end of the eleventh century. He was, as his name imports, an African; he possessed an ardent desire to obtain knowledge, studied in the schools of Bagdat, and is said to have travelled even to India. At his return to his native country he was regarded as a sorcerer, and was compelled, in order to save his life, to take refuge in Italy, where he was finally attached to the university of Monte-Cassino. He principally employed himself in translating the works of the Greek and Latin physicians into Arabic, which was at that time the general language of science. His translations are, however, said to be incorrect, and his style barbarous; while his works, which are not professed translations, appear to be composed of transcripts from other authors, without any particular merit, either of selection or of arrangement. (Freind, p. 533, 4. Haller, Bibl. Med. lib. iii. sec. 159. Eloy, in loco. Sprengel, t. ii. p. 355, 6.)

real name has not been transmitted to us, comWe must mention in this place a writer whose bore in the court of Constantinople; (for the orimonly called Actuarius, from the office which he Constantinus Afgin of the term, see Adelung, Gloss. Man., in ricanus —Actuarius — Rise of the study of loco). He is supposed to have lived in the twelfth anatomy-Mondini-Gilbert -Effect of the crusades, of the reformation, and of the invention of printing, on the literature of Europe On medical science-Alchemists-Establishment of universities - Linacre Chemical physicians-Paracelsus-Appearance of new

diseases.

During the flourishing period of the Saracenic * On the origin of the small-pox, see Freind, p. 52-49; Mead's Discourse on Small-Pox and Measles, ch. i.; Thompoon's Enquiry into the Origin of Small-Pox; Plou quet, Literatura Digesta,

Variola, Antiquitas, Historia," in loco: ample references may be found in this learned and laborious compilation on all analogous topics, but we may regret that the writer appears to have aimed rather at multiplying his authorities than estimating their value.

† We are indebted to Freind for a candid and judicious account of the Arabian medical school, p. 529-33. Haller's second book of his Bibl. Med. Prac. is devoted to the same subject. See also Robertson's Charles V. vol. i. note 28. Berrington's Middle Ages, App. No. 2. Gibbon's History, vol. x. ch. lii. Ackermann, cap. xxvii-xxix. Oelsner, Des Effets de la Religion de Mahommed, p. 196

century. The works which he left are numerous,
from Galen and the Arabian physicians, with
and, although consisting principally of extracts
whose writings he appears to have been familiar,

are not without some additions derived from his
own observations and experience. He is consid-
ered as having been the first Greek physician by
whom chemical medicines are mentioned, as well
as various articles of the materia medica, which
were originally introduced by the Arabians. We
may regard Actuarius as a diligent collector of
9: this is perhaps too much disposed to exalt the merits
of the Arabian school.
he styles "Fontes Medicine," is entitled, "Scriptores
Kühn, Bib. Med. sec. 3, of what
Medici inter Arabes præcipui," p. 180-6. Portal, Hist.
Anat. ch. ix. Des Anatomistes et des Chirurgiens
Arabes, t. i. p. 143 et seq. Blumenbach, Introd. sect. 6.
"Arabes."

↑ Haller ascribes the Latin verses of the Medicina Salernitana to John of Milan; he remarks that of this work there had been published "editiones ferè innumerabiles;" Bib. Med. lib. iii. sec. 140. See also Eley t. ii. p. 599; Ackermann, sec. 422, and Blumenbach, sec. 114. 3

facts, acquainted with all the information of his age, and as more free from prejudice and bigotry than the generality of his contemporaries. (Freind, p. 452–462. Eloy, in loco. Sprengel, t. ii. p. 241-4.)

The school of Salerno, to which we have referred above, obtained a degree of celebrity from its local situation, this city being one of the great outlets from which the crusaders passed over from Europe to Asia in their expeditions to Palestine; and it was probably from this circumstance that Robert of Normandy stopped at Salerno, in order to be cured of a wound which he had received in the holy wars. It was on this occasion that the verses mentioned above, and which were addressed to him, were written. Upon the decline of the Saracenic universities of Spain, the only medical knowledge which remained was in Italy, where a few individuals, who were not of the ecclesiastical profession, continued to comment on Galen and Avicenna, and occasionally to deliver lectures; but we have a long dreary interval, in which there is nothing to arrest our attention, or to relieve the dull monotony of ignorance and superstition.

During this period the school of Salerno still retained its reputation, and was even favoured with especial privileges by the emperors; but its merits were probably rather comparative than ab

emanated from it, nor any authors whose writings maintained their celebrity after the age in which they were produced. It is, however, in one respect deserving of our notice, as it appears to have been the earliest establishment in which what may be styled regular medical diplomas were granted to candidates, after they had passed through a prescribed course of study, and been subjected to certain examinations. The regula tions are upon the whole judicious, and display a more enlightened and liberal spirit than might have been expected in that age, when the human mind was in so degraded a state. (Freind, p. 535-7. Eloy, art. « Salerne." Lauth, p. 291, 2. Ackermann, cap. xxxi.) The school of Salerno maintained its celebrity until the thirteenth century, when it was eclipsed by the general diffusion of medical science through Europe, and more particularly by the rising reputation of the universities of Bologna and Paris.

After the extinction of the Saracenic school of Spain, we have an interval of about three hundred years, from the twelfth to the fifteenth century, during which what are termed the dark ages still remain enveloped in the deepest gloom; every department of science was neglected, and among others that of medicine fell into its lowest state of dégradation. What remained, either of literature or of science was in possession of the monks, who were themselves grossly ignorant, and whose interest it was to preserve mankind in the same state of ignorance. The exercise of the medical profession was principally in their hands, and they still adhered for the most part to the doctrines and practice of Galen, but with these they mixed up a large portion of superstition, and had not unfrequently recourse to magic and astrology. By these means they obtained an unbounded influence over the minds of the people, and operated so power-solute, for we do not find any improvements that fully on the imagination of their patients, as in many cases to give an apparent sanction to their confident assumption of supernatural agency. (Sprengel, sec. vii. ch. i.) The only branch of science which was cultivated with any ardour or success, was chemistry. The chemistry of these times can indeed only be interesting to us, as having led indirectly to the discovery of various substances which have been found of great importance in medicine, to which we have already referred. Its immediate objects were two-fold, the transmutation of the baser metals into gold, and the discovery of what was termed a universal medicine, which should possess the property of removing all diseases, and preserve the constitution in a state of health and vigour; objects which it is unnecessary to observe were completely vain and illusory. Yet by promoting a spirit of research, and by making the experimentalist acquainted with the various forms and properties of the substances on which he operated, they gave him some insight into the physical laws of matter, and by a gradual although very slow process, laid the foundation of the splendid improvements of modern science. Many of the alchemists of the dark ages, we can have no doubt, were impostors of the lowest description, who were completely aware of the folly of their pretensions; but at the same time there were others who appear to have been the dupes of their own credulity, and who bestowed a large portion of their time and fortune upon these researches. Between these two extremes there were some rare cases of individuals who may be entitled to hold an intermediate rank, who were sincere and honourable in their views, and without giving full credit to the professions of the alchemists, conceived that the objects at which they aimed were at least not altogether impossible. To these we may add another class of individuals, consisting of that singular and unaccountable compound of knavery and folly, which is not confined to the subject now under consideration, where it is extremely difficult to draw the line between these two qualities, or to decide which of them forms the predominant characteristic.

S

It was about this period that we may date the commencement of a practice which has eventually proved of the greatest importance to medical science in all its departments-the study of human anatomy. We have already had occasion to remark that the ancients, even in their most enlightened ages, seldom if ever ventured to examine the human subject, but were content to derive their knowledge of it from the dissection of `animals which were supposed the most nearly to resemble it, making up the deficiencies by the casual examinations which were afforded them by accidents or diseases, and perhaps more frequently by supposed analogies, or rather by the efforts of the imagination. The individual to whom the credit is ascribed of having so far overcome vulgar prejudice as to have introduced this most important improvement into his art, is Mondini, a professor in the university of Bologna, who is said to have publicly dissected two female subjects about the year 1315, and who published an anatomical description of the human body, which appears to have had the rare merit of being drawn immediately from nature. This work deservedly obtained a high reputation: for three hundred

years it was considered as a standard performance, | ments in pharmacy. (Freind, p. 547-50. Eloy, and was used as a text-book in the most cele- in loco. Aikin's Biog. Mem. of Med. in Gt. Brit. brated of the Italian universities. Mondini is p. 8, 9. Sprengel, t. ii. p. 402–6.) also entitled to the gratitude of posterity for About this period, a grand political revolution having given a very early, if not the first exam- was commencing in Europe, which eventually ple of anatomical plates; the figures were cut in produced an entire change in the civil condition wood, and although, as might be supposed, they of its inhabitants, and indirectly affected, in an were not executed with much elegance or deli- equal degree, its science and its literature. The cacy, they are said to have been correct and ex-feudal system, after being firmly established for pressive.*