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 348 MEDICINE 4th century, Aetius about 500, Alexander Tral- lianus in the 6th century, and Paulus ^Egineta in the 7th, all wrote in Greek, and were all zealous Galenists. It is but just to observe that Paulus seems to have been fuller than his originals in the description of surgical dis- eases and operations. It was only when medi- cine already tended toward its decline that it became legally organized. In the pagan world every one practised at his will, making his way by such qualities as he possessed. The injury done by quackery and imposture led finally to a remedy. Under the Christian em- perors every town of a certain size had its archiaters (chief physicians), and no one could practise medicine without having undergone an examination by them. They were paid by the state, and in return were bound to attend the poor gratuitously. In a number of the principal towns medical schools were estab- lished, in which the professors and lecturers received a regular salary. The archiaters of the emperors had the title of count or duke, and ranked with the principal officers of state. Hospitals and dispensaries owe their origin to Christianity; the pagans appear to have had no analogous institutions. The first hos- pital seems to have been founded at Csesarea by St. Paula toward the end of the 4th cen- tury, and the example was soon followed by the pious, the powerful, and the wealthy. While the western empire had sunk into bar- barism, and the eastern, sadly limited, was struggling for existence, medical science found refuge among the Arabians. Excepting on two points, they contributed little or nothing to its advancement; but Rhazes, Ali Abbas, Avicenna, Albucasis, with the Spanish Sara- cens Avenzoar and Aver roes, were all volu- minous writers. Their writings consist main- ly of compilations from the Greek authors, chiefly from Galen, whose subtleties and re- finements were suited to their genius ; yet the "Canon" of Avicenna was for several centu- ries the received text book in v the medical schools of both the Arabians and Europeans ; and all the knowledge Europe had of the Greek authors was derived from the transla- tions of the Arabs. In two particulars, as was mentioned, the writings of the Arabians are of high interest: 1. In them we get the earliest clear account of the existence of erup- tive fevers ; these were divided by them into two forms, variola (smallpox) and morlilli (the little pests), the latter including measles, scarlet fever, and probably other non-vesic- ular eruptions. 2. Not only do we derive from the Arabians a number of our milder purgatives, cassia, manna, senna, rhubarb, to- gether with tamarinds, camphor, &c., but in their pursuit of alchemy they produced dis- tilU-d liquors, some of the metallic salts, and many new pharmaceutic preparations, and laid the foundations of a science which has been of the most essential service to medi- cine. As order began to emerge again from the chaos of barbarism which succeeded the fall of the western Roman empire, monks and priests became the principal physicians, and a little medicine was taught in some of the monasteries; for a long time the Bene- dictine monks of Monte Casino enjoyed in this respect an extended reputation. From the 9th to the 13th century the Jews, acqui- ring in their commerce with the Saracens such knowledge as was possessed by the latter, be- came celebrated as physicians; and as such, despite the laws which forbade them to ad- minister remedies to Christians, obtained ac- cess to courts and even to the palace of the Roman pontiffs. One small town affords a glimmer of light during the darkness of this period. The school of Salerno is said to have been founded about the time of the de- struction of the Alexandrian library by the Saracens. Toward the end of the 8th century it had attained reputation, and from the 10th to the 13th was at the height of its celebrity. The Regimen Sanitatis Salerni, the dietetic precepts of the school of Salerno, composed by John of Milan for the use of Robert duke of Normandy, the son of William the Conqueror, has been frequently republished and commen- tated (translated by Prof. Ordronnaux, New York, 1872). The most celebrated member of this school was Constantinus Africanus, who, driven from his native country as a sorcerer, for a time taught at Salerno. His works, which are numerous, are translations from the Arabic, written in barbarous Latin. In the early part of the 13th century Frede- rick II. published an edict that no one should practise medicine in the kingdom of Naples until he had been examined by the faculty of Salerno. The candidate, after completing his course of studies, was examined on the Thera- peutics of Galen, the first book of Avicenna, and the Aphorisms of Hippocrates. He after- ward swore to be pure in his life, to be sub- missive to the laws, to attend the poor gra- tuitously, and not to share the profits of the apothecary. He then received a diploma, but for the first year was compelled to practise un- der the superintendence of an older physician. About the year 1315 Mondino, a professor in the university of Bologna, dissected the bod- ies of two females ; he afterward published an anatomical description of the body, which for the next 300 years was used as a text book in the Italian universities. His merit consists mainly in the boldness of his undertaking, as his anatomy was not much in advance of that of Galen. He did not open the cranium, for fear of committing a mortal sin. Before the year 1500 human dissections were prosecuted at Bologna, Padua, and Pavia. Toward the commencement of the 16th century Du Bois, or Sylvius, as his name was Latinized, used the human body in his demonstrations at Paris as often as it could be procured. Galen was still looked up to as an indisputable authority ; and when the results of dissection did not coincide