Page:The growth of medicine from the earliest times to about 1800.djvu/225

 the reign of the Emperor Valentinianus I. at Constantinople (364-375 A. D.), and that subsequently he was chosen the private physician of the Emperor Gratianus (375-383 A. D.). The treatise which he composed, and which bore the title of "Euporiston," was originally written in Greek, but was afterward translated by its author into Latin. An excellent German version of the work by Meyer-Steineg was published in Jena in 1909. As the book was intended by Priscianus to serve chiefly as a guide to practitioners of the art, it contains practically nothing about anatomy and physiology. In his pathology he follows closely the teachings of the Methodists; his first question, in the presence of a case of illness, being: "Do the symptoms point to a condition of strictum rather than to one of laxum, or vice versa?" "In his treatment," says Meyer-Steineg, "Priscianus follows very closely the rule that every patient, no matter what may be the disease with which he is affected, should first undergo a certain amount of general treatment." In his choice of remedies Priscianus invariably gives the preference to those agents which are of a simple character and easy to obtain. On the other hand, he does not hesitate to admit that he sometimes employs certain magical remedies, as is shown by the following quotation taken from Book IV., Chapter I., section 4:—

If a person wears, during the waning of the moon, a wreath of polygonum on his head, he will obtain relief from his headache If one drinks of the water from which an ox has just drank, he will be relieved of the pain in his head If a loadstone be held upon the head it will draw out the hidden pain, and the same effect may be obtained by rubbing over the forehead a swallow's nest thoroughly mixed with vinegar.

In Book I, paragraph 2, Priscianus draws a picture of the rude and uncivilized behavior of the practitioners of his day in the sick-room. The following are his words as translated from the German of Meyer-Steineg:—

As the patient lies on his bed prostrated by the severity of the disease, there quickly comes into the room a crowd of us physicians. No feeling of sympathy for the sick man have we, nor do