Page:The growth of medicine from the earliest times to about 1800.djvu/295

 these drawbacks, however, the placing of Latin versions of Arabic writings within the reach of European physicians accomplished much good. Even the imperfections to which reference has just been made probably served to increase the eagerness of these men to gain access to the real sources of Arabic learning—viz., the writings in the original Greek. To anticipate a little, I may say here that this object was not attained until after the lapse of about two more centuries—that is, not until the scholars of Western Europe had learned to read the Greek, and had also brought out from their hiding places in churches and monasteries of the East the needed originals. At that period of the world's history centuries corresponded to decades as modern events are recorded.

One may gain some idea of the extent to which these Latin translations of Arabic original treatises and of Arabic versions of Greek medical works influenced the physicians of Western Europe, by consulting one of the important medical treatises of the fourteenth century—that, for example, of Guy de Chauliac (written 1363 A. D.). Edouard Nicaise, the accomplished editor of this and several other mediaeval medical treatises, has printed in his preface Joubert's table showing just how often Guy quotes each one of about four score earlier authors, and from this analysis it appears that Abulcasis was quoted 175 times, Aristotle 62 times, Avicenna 661 times, Galen 890 times, Haly Abbas 149 times, Mesué 61 times, Hippocrates 120 times, and Rhazes 161 times; or, to state the facts somewhat differently, the quotations from treatises introduced into Western Europe by the Arabs represent, in the present instance, 70 per cent of all the quotations (2279 of a total of 3243) made by this author. Another equally strong piece of evidence is that afforded by Vincent de Beauvais' encyclopaedia,—a work published in Paris toward the middle of the thirteenth century,—in which the parts relating to medicine appear to have been taken very largely from treatises written by Arabic authors. (See statement on page 270.) There can therefore be no reasonable doubt that the Arabs played a most important part