Page:The growth of medicine from the earliest times to about 1800.djvu/301



FURTHER PROGRESS OF MEDICINE AND SURGERY IN WESTERN EUROPE DURING THE THIRTEENTH, FOURTEENTH AND A PART OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURIES

Among the men who, during the thirteenth century, exerted more or less influence upon the growth of medical knowledge there are three who deserve to receive some consideration at our hands. They were not physicians, but yet some of their writings deal with topics which are closely related to the science of medicine. They are: Albert von Bollstädt, a German who is generally known as Albertus Magnus, one of the greatest scholastic philosophers of the Middle Ages; Vincent of Beauvais (Vincentius Bellovacensis), a French Dominican monk, who was reader to Louis IX., and who compiled a general encyclopaedia which brought him great fame at that period; and Roger Bacon, an Englishman who, by reason of the extraordinary extent of his knowledge and his remarkable powers of observation, was given the name of "Doctor mirabilis."

Albertus Magnus.—Albertus Magnus was born at Lauingen, Swabia, in 1193 A. D., obtained his education in Italy (at the University of Padua, during the latter part of his stay), joined the Order of the Dominicans on arriving at the age of thirty, and afterwards, throughout his long life, devoted himself largely to teaching, particularly at Paris and Cologne. He was a prolific writer and his works, particularly those which treat of topics belonging to the domain of natural history, were greatly appreciated. The effect, however, which they produced upon a certain class of readers was to persuade them that he was a great