Chapter I: Preface

Very few persons will challenge the truth of the statement that in the United States and Canada there are not many physicians who possess even a slight knowledge concerning the manner in which the science of medicine has attained its present power as an agency for good, or concerning the men who played the chief parts in bringing about this great result. Up to the present time no blame may justly be attached to any individuals or to any educational institutions for this prevailing lack of knowledge, and for two very good reasons, _viz._: first, in a newly settled country, in which the population grows by leaps and bounds through the influx of foreign immigrants, the training of young men for the degree of M.D. must necessarily be almost entirely of a practical character, and consequently the teaching of such a subject as the history of medicine would be quite out of place; and, second, the treatises on this subject which are purchasable by English-speaking physicians are of rather too scientific a character to appeal either to the undergraduate or to the busy practitioner. The first of the reasons named, it may now safely be assumed, is rapidly losing its validity, if indeed it has not already ceased entirely to afford a legitimate excuse for neglecting the study of this branch of medical science. On the other hand, the second reason mentioned is still in force,--so far at least as the present writer knows,--and, if such be the case, it certainly cannot fail to act as a deterrent influence of great potency. Here, then, is my apology for attempting to prepare an account of the history of medicine which shall present the essential facts truthfully and with a sufficient degree of attractiveness to win the continuing interest of the reader; which shall place before him, and especially before those who are just at the threshold of their professional career, word pictures of those physicians of past ages whose lives may safely be taken as models worthy to be copied; and which shall describe, so far as I am able to do this, the methods which they employed to advance the science of medicine, to gain genuine professional success, and to merit the enduring esteem of later generations of physicians. If my efforts prove successful in producing this kind of history it is fair to expect that, in a comparatively short time, those physicians whose interest may have been aroused by the perusal of this less complete and more popular work, will demand something of a more exhaustive character--a book, for example, like the admirable history which Max Neuburger, of Vienna, is now publishing, and of which two volumes have already issued from the press (the first in 1906 and the second in 1911).[1] It is to this work and the excellent history written by the late Dr. Haeser, of Breslau, that I am chiefly indebted for the information supplied in these pages; and I therefore desire to make special mention here of this indebtedness. The other sources from which I have been an occasional borrower are all mentioned in the “List of Authorities Consulted.” Footnotes and cross-references in the text interfere greatly with one’s pleasure in reading a book, and I have therefore not hesitated to introduce them sparingly.

It gives me a special pleasure to call attention here to the far-sighted generosity displayed by the founder of The Williams Memorial Fund in making it practicable henceforth for the Yale University Press to accept for publication medical treatises which deal with the historical and scientific questions of this branch of knowledge, but which for sound business reasons cannot be published on a merely commercial basis.

And I have the further pleasure of expressing my real appreciation of the skill with which the University Press has solved the problems of a suitable size and style of type for this volume, and of the sound advice which it has given with regard to the extent to which the effectiveness of the book may be increased by the introduction of pictorial illustrations.

To my friend, Lawrence F. Abbott, of New York, I am deeply indebted for the valuable assistance which he has rendered me throughout the entire progress of this work. Indeed, without this assistance, I doubt whether I should have had the courage to remain at my post to the very end.

ALBERT H. BUCK.
Cornwall, N. Y., December 29, 1916.

CONTENTS

PART I. ANCIENT MEDICINE

PAGE

Preface ix

Chapter I. Development of the Science and Art of Medicine 3

Chapter II. Oriental Medicine 11

Chapter III. Oriental Medicine (continued) 25

Chapter IV. Greek Medicine at the Dawn of History 46

Chapter V. The Significance of the Serpent in the Statues
and Votive Offerings Exposed to View in the
Aesculapian Temples 62

Chapter VI. The Beginnings of a Rational System of Medicine
in Greece 67

Chapter VII. Hippocrates the Great 81

Chapter VIII. Brief Extracts from Some of the Hippocratic
Writings 89

Chapter IX. The State of Greek Medicine after the Events
of the Peloponnesian War; the Founding of Alexandria
in Egypt, at the Mouth of the Nile; and the Development
of Different Sects in Medicine 96

Chapter X. Erasistratus and Herophilus, the Two Great
Leaders in Medicine at Alexandria; the Founding of
New Sects 104

Chapter XI. Asclepiades, the Introducer of Greek Medicine
into Rome 116

Chapter XII. The State of Medicine at Rome after the Death
of Asclepiades; the Founding of the School of the
Methodists 129

Chapter XIII. The Further History of Methodism at Rome,
and the Development of Two New Sects, viz., the
Pneumatists and the Eclectics.--A General Survey of
the Subject of Sects in Medicine 138

Chapter XIV. Well-known Medical Authors of the Early
Centuries of the Christian Era 151

Chapter XV. Claudius Galen 160

Chapter XVI. The Influence of Christianity upon the
Evolution of Medicine 179

PART II. MEDIAEVAL MEDICINE

Chapter XVII. The Condition of Medicine at Byzantium
during the Early Part of the Middle Ages 191

Chapter XVIII. Beginning of the Arab Renaissance under the
Caliphs of Bagdad 203

Chapter XIX. Further Advance of the Arab Renaissance
during the Ninth and Succeeding Centuries of the
Christian Era 212

Chapter XX. Hospitals and Monasteries in the Middle Ages 235

Chapter XXI. Medical Instruction at Salerno, Italy, in the
Middle Ages 243

Chapter XXII. Early Evidences of the Influence of the
Renaissance upon the Progress of Medicine in Western
Europe 259

Chapter XXIII. Further Progress of Medicine and Surgery
in Western Europe during the Thirteenth, Fourteenth
and a Part of the Fifteenth Centuries 269

Chapter XXIV. During the Latter Half of the Middle Ages
Surgery Assumes the Most Prominent Place in the
Advance of Medical Science 292

Chapter XXV. Brief History of the Allied Sciences--Pharmacy,
Chemistry and Balneotherapeutics 315

PART III. MEDICINE DURING THE RENAISSANCE

Chapter XXVI. Important Events that Preceded the
Renaissance--Early Attempts to Dissect the Human Body 327

Chapter XXVII. The Founders of Human Anatomy and Physiology 340

Chapter XXVIII. Further Details Concerning the Advance in
Our Knowledge of Anatomy.--Dissecting Made a Part of
the Regular Training of a Medical Student.--Iatrochemists
and Iatrophysicists.--The Employment of Latin in
Lecturing and Writing on Medical Topics 355

Chapter XXIX. The Contributions Made by Different Men
during the Renaissance, and More particularly by
William Harvey of England, to Our Knowledge of the
Circulation of the Blood, Lymph and Chyle 371

Chapter XXX. Advances Made in Internal Medicine and in
the Collateral Branches of Botany, Pharmacology,
Chemistry and Pathological Anatomy 387

Chapter XXXI. Chemistry and Experimental Pharmacology 398

Chapter XXXII. Some of the Leaders in Medicine in Italy,
France and England during the Sixteenth and
Seventeenth Centuries 411

Chapter XXXIII. The Three Leading Physicians of Germany
during the Latter Half of the Seventeenth Century:
Franz de le Boë Sylvius, Friedrich Hoffmann and Georg
Ernst Stahl 426

Chapter XXXIV. Hermann Boerhaave of Leyden, Holland, one
of the Most Distinguished Physicians of the Seventeenth
Century 438

Chapter XXXV. General Remarks on the Development of
Surgery in Europe during the Fifteenth and Sixteenth
Centuries 446

Chapter XXXVI. Surgery in Germany and Switzerland during
the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries 454

Chapter XXXVII. The Development of Surgery in Italy during
the Renaissance 472

Chapter XXXVIII. The Development of Surgery in Spain and
Portugal during the Renaissance 484

Chapter XXXIX. The Development of Surgery in France during
the Renaissance.--Pierre Franco 490

Chapter XL. The Development of Surgery in France
(continued).--Ambroise Paré 499

Chapter XLI. Surgery in Great Britain during the Sixteenth
and Seventeenth Centuries 516

Chapter XLII. Reforms Instituted by the Italian Surgeon
Magati in the Treatment of Wounds.--Final Ending of
the Feud between the Surgeons and the Physicians of
Paris.--Revival of Interest in the Science of
Obstetrics 529