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55 Christianity and Care of the Sick 55 by Bishop Masona in Spain. It is not in existence now, but three of the most ancient hospitals are still in full activity, namely, the Hotel-Dieu in Lyons, France (542 a.d.), the Hotel-Dieu of Paris (651 A.D.), and the Santo Spirito in Rome (717 A.D.). There were also at a very early date pro- visions made for the sick in the inns and refuges for travellers on the high mountain passes of the Alps and Pyrenees. Every monastery that was established had its hospital, varying from the small lodge for emergency illness to the large and well organized set of wards for all kinds of cases. In the earlier Christian period the medical pro- fession retained to some extent the light of Hippo- cratic science. Basil, Bishop of Cesarea, -1 1 A 1,. , Status of was educated at Athens, and m addi- medicine tion to classic subjects he had there under mo- 11, 1 r 1' nasticism gamed a thorough knowledge of medi- cine as taught by the Hippocratic school. After the Roman conquest of Greece Alexandria became the centre of Hippocratic medical learn- ing, and medical men practised dissection. Mu- seums and libraries arose as scholars of all countries and all specialties gathered there, but the passion for metaphysical speculation gradually trans- formed even medicine to mysticism. The last of the great medical men of the ancient