Gilbertus Anglicus (Gilbert of England) (continued 2)

Wounds of nerves are treated with a novel dressing of earthworms lightly beaten in a mortar and mixed with warm oil, and he professes to have seen nerves not only healed (conglutinari), but even the divided nerve fibres regenerated (consolidari) under this treatment. In puncture of a nerve Gilbert surprises us (f. 179d) by the advice to divide completely the wounded nerve, in order to relieve pain and prevent tetanus (spasmus).

Goitre, not too vascular in character, is removed by a longitudinal incision over the tumor, after which the gland is to be dragged out, with its entire capsule, by means of a blunt hook. A large goitre in a feeble patient, however, is better left alone, as it is difficult to remove all the intricate roots of the tumor, and if any portion is left it is prone to return. In such cases Gilbert says we shrink from the application of the actual cautery, for fear of injury to the surrounding vessels and nerves. Whatever method of operation is selected, the patient is to be tied to a table and firmly held in position.

Wounds of the trachea and oesophagus, according to Gilbert, are invariably mortal.

In case an arrow is lodged within the cavity of the thorax, the surgeon is directed to trepan the sternum (os pectoris), remove the head of the arrow gently from the shaft, and withdraw the shaft itself through the original wound of entrance. If the head is lodged beneath or between the ribs, an opening is to be made into the nearest intercostal space, the ribs forced apart by a suitable wedge and the head thus extracted. The wound through the soft parts is to be kept open by a tent greased with lard and provided with a suitable prolongation (cauda aliqua) to facilitate its extraction and prevent its falling into the cavity of the chest.

Wounds of the heart, lungs, liver, stomach and diaphragm are regarded as hopelessly mortal (f. 233d), and the physician is advised to have nothing to do with them. Wounds of the heart are recognized by the profuse haemorrhage and the black color of the blood; those of the lung by the foamy character of the blood and the dyspnoea; wounds of the diaphragm occasion similar dyspnoea and are speedily fatal; those of the liver are known by the disturbance of the hepatic functions, and wounds of the stomach by the escape of its contents. Wounds of the intestine are either incurable, or at least are cured only with the utmost difficulty. Longitudinal wounds of the spine which do not penetrate the cord may be repaired, but transverse wounds involving the cord, so that the latter escapes from the wound, are rarely, if ever, cured by surgery. Wounds of the kidneys are also beyond the art of the surgeon. Wounds of the penis are curable, and if the wound is transverse and divides the nerve, they are likewise painless.

Si vene titillares in coxis abscidantur homo moritur ridendo. A passage which I can refer only to the erudition and risibility of our modern surgeons and anatomists. The ticklish vene titillares are to me entirely unknown.

Modern abdominal surgeons will probably be interested in reading Gilbert's chapter on the treatment of wounds of the intestines in the thirteenth century. He says (f. 234c):

If some portion of the intestine has escaped from a wound of the abdomen and is cut either longitudinally or transversely, while the major portion remains uninjured; if the wound has existed for some time and the exposed intestine is cold, some living animal, like a puppy (catulus), is to be killed, split longitudinally and placed over the intestine, until the latter is warmed, vivified by the natural heat and softened. Then a small tube of alder is prepared, an inch longer than the wound of the intestine, carefully thinned down (subtilietur) and introduced into the gut through the wound and stitched in position with a very fine square-pointed needle, threaded with silk. This tube or canula should be so placed as to readily transmit the contents of the intestine, and yet form no impediment to the stitches of the wound. When this has been done, a sponge moistened in warm water and well washed should be employed to gently cleanse the intestines from all foreign matters, and the gut, thus cleansed, is to be returned to the abdominal cavity through the wound of the abdominal wall. The patient is then to be laid upon a table and gently shaken, in order that the intestines may resume their normal position in the abdomen. If necessary the primary wound should be enlarged for this purpose. When the intestines have been thus replaced, the wound in the abdominal wall is to be kept open until the wound of the intestine seems healed. Over the intestinal suture a little pulvis ruber should be sprinkled every day, and when the wound of the intestine is entirely healed (consolidatur), the wound of the abdominal wall is to be sewed up and treated in the manner of ordinary flesh wounds.

If, however, the wound is large, a pledget (pecia) of lint, long enough to extend from one end to the other and project a little, is placed in the wound, and over this the exterior portion of the wound is to be carefully sewed, and sprinkled daily with the pulvis ruber. Every day the pledget which remains in the wound is to be drawn towards the most dependent part, so that the dressing in the wound may be daily renewed. When the intestinal wound is found to be healed, the entire pledget is to be removed and the unhealed openings dressed as in other simple wounds. The diet of the patient should be also of the most digestible sort.

Thus far Gilbert has followed Roger almost literally. But he now adds, apparently upon his own responsibility, the following paragraph:

Quod si placuerit, extrahe canellum: factis punctis in sutura ubi debent fieri antequan stringantur, inter duo puncta canellus extrahatur, et post puncta stringantur. Hoc dico si vulnus intestini sic (sit) ex transverso.

Apparently Gilbert feels some compunctions of conscience relative to the ultimate disposition of the canula of alder-wood, and permits, if he does not advise, its removal from the intestine before the tightening of the last stitches.

Roland adds nothing to the text of Roger. But The Four Masters (Quatuor Magistri, about A.D. 1270) suggest that the canula be made of the trachea of some animal, and add:

Canellus autem per processum temporis putrefit et emittur per egestionem, et iterum per concavitatem canelli transibit egestio.

In his further discussion of wounds of the intestine and their treatment Gilbert also volunteers the information that:

"Mummy (shade of Lord Lister!) is very valuable in the healing of wounds of the intestine, if applied with some astringent powder upon the suture."

In amends for the mummy, however, we are also introduced to the practice of mediaeval anaesthesia by means of what Gilbert calls the Confectio soporifera (f. 234d), composed as follows:

R.

Mix together in a brazen vessel and place this in the sun during the dog-days. Put in a sponge to absorb the mixture, and then place the sponge in the sun until all the moisture has evaporated. When an operation is necessary, let the patient hold the sponge over his nose and mouth until he goes to sleep, when the operation may be begun. To awaken the patient after the operation, fill another sponge with vinegar and rub the teeth and nostrils with the sponge, and put some vinegar in the nostrils. An anaesthetic drink may also be prepared as follows:

R.

The patient is to be aroused as before.

On folio 180d we find a chapter entitled "De cathena gulae incisa vel fracta," and copied almost literally from the chapter "De catena gulae" of Roger. In neither writer do I find any precise definition of what the cathena gulae is, though Roger says, Si es gulae, quod est catena, fractum fuerit, etc., nor do I find the terms used explained in any dictionary at present available. The description of the treatment of this fracture seems, however, to indicate that the catena gulae of Roger and Gilbert is what we call the clavicle, though the more common Latin names of this bone are claviculus, furcula, juglum or os juguli. Gilbert says: "But if the bone which is the cathena gulae is broken or in any way displaced (recesserit), let the physician with one hand raise the forearm (brachium) or arm (humerum) of the patient, and with the other hand press down upon the projecting portion of the bone. Then apply a pledget moistened with albumen, a pad and a splint in form of a cross, and over all a long bandage embracing both the arm and the neck and suspending the arm. A pad (cervical) should also be placed in the axilla to prevent the dropping of the arm, and should not be removed until the fracture is repaired. If the fracture is compound, the wound of the soft parts is to be left open and uncovered by the bandage, so that a tent (stuellus) may be inserted, and the wound is then to be dressed in the ordinary manner."

Simple fracture of the humerus, Gilbert tells us, is to be reduced (ad proprium locum reducator) at once by grasping the arm above and below the seat of fracture and exercising gentle and gradual extension and compression. Then four pieces of lint wet in egg-albumen are to be placed around the arm on all sides, a bandage, four fingers wide, also moistened in albumen is to be snugly applied, another dry bandage placed above this, and finally splints fastened in position by cords. This dressing is to remain undisturbed for three days, and then renewed every third day for nine days. After the ninth day a strictura (cast, apparatus immobile?) is to be prepared and firmly applied with splints and a bandage, and the patient is to be cautioned not to bear any weight upon the injured arm (ne infirmus se super illud appodiet?). The fracture is then left until it is believed that consolidation has occurred. If, however, it is found that swelling is occasioned by the cast (ex strictorio?), the latter should be removed, and the arm well bathed in warm water containing mallowae and other emollients and thoroughly cleansed. If the bone seems to be well consolidated, it should be rubbed with an ointment of dialthea or the unguentum marciation, after which the splints and bandage are to be reapplied. If, however, it is found that the bone is not well consolidated, the cast should be replaced in the original manner, until consolidation is accomplished. If erysipelas results from the dressings, it is to be treated in the ordinary manner. During the entire treatment potions of nasturtium seeds, pes columbini (crowfoot) and other "consolidatives" are to be administered diligently. If the fracture is compound, any loose fragments of bone are to be removed, the fracture reduced as before, and similar dressings applied, perforated, however, over the wound in the soft parts.

In fracture of the ribs (flexura costi) Gilbert recommends a somewhat novel plan for the replacement of the displaced bone. Having put the patient in a bath, the physician rubs his hands well with honey, turpentine, pitch or bird-lime (visco), applies his sticky palms over the displaced ribs, and gradually raises them to their normal position. He also says (f. 183a), the application of a dry cup (cuffa vero cum igne?) over the displaced rib is a convenient method for raising it into position.

Of fractures of the forearm Gilbert simply says that they are to be recognized by the touch and a comparison of the injured with the sound arm. They should be diligently fomented, extension made if necessary, and then treated like other fractures.

Dislocation of the atlo-axoid articulation (os juguli) he tells us threatens speedy death. The mouth of the patient is to be kept open by a wooden gag, a bandage passed beneath the jaw and held by the physician, who places his feet upon the shoulders of the patient and pressing down upon them while he elevates the head by the bandage, endeavors to restore the displaced bone to its normal position. Inunctions of various mollitives are then useful.

Dislocations of the lower jaw are recognized by the failure of the teeth to fit their fellows of the upper jaw, and by the detection of the condyles of the jaw beneath the ears. The bone is to be grasped by the rami and dragged down until the teeth resume and retain their natural position, and the jaw is then to be kept in place by a suitable bandage.

In dislocation of the humerus the patient is to be bound in the supine position, a wedge-shaped stone wrapped with yarn placed in the axilla, and the surgeon, pressing against the padded stone with his foot and raising the humerus with his hands, reduces the head of the bone to its natural position. If this method fails, a long crutch-like stick is prepared to receive at one end the axillary pad, the patient is placed standing upon a box or bench, the pad and crutch adjusted in the axilla, and while the surgeon stands ready to guide the dislocated bone to its place, his assistants remove the bench, leaving the patient suspended by his shoulder upon the rude crutch. In boys, Gilbert tells us, no special apparatus is required. The surgeon merely places his doubled fist in the axilla, with the other hand grasps the humerus and lifts the boy off the ground, and the head of the bone slips readily back into place. After we are assured that the reduction is complete, a strictorium is prepared, consisting of the pulvis ruber, egg-albumen and a little wheat flour, with which the shoulder is to be rubbed. Finally, when all seems to be going on well, warm spata drapum (sparadrap) is to be applied upon a bandage, and if necessary the apostolicon ointment.

Dislocation of the elbow is reduced by passing a bandage around the bend of the arm, forming in this a loop (scapham) into which the foot of the surgeon is to be placed for counter-extension, while with the hands extension is to be made upon the forearm until the bones are drawn into their normal position. Flexion and extension of the joint are then to be practised three or four times (to assure complete reduction?), and the forearm flexed and supported by a bandage from the neck. After a few days, Gilbert tells us, the patient will himself often try to flex and extend the arm, and the bandage should be so applied as not to interfere with these movements.

Dislocation of the wrist is reduced by gentle extension from the hand and counter-extension from the forearm, and dislocation of the fingers by a similar manipulation.

After so full a consideration of the surgical injuries of the head, trunk and upper extremities, we are somewhat surprised to find Gilbert's discussion of the similar injuries of the lower extremities condensed into a single very moderate chapter entitled "De vulneribus cruris et tybie" (f. 358a b).

In this, Gilbert, emphasizing the importance of wounds of the patella and knee-joint and the necessity for their careful treatment, also declares that wounds of both the leg and thigh within three inches of the joints, or in the fleshy portion of the thigh ubi organum est (?), involve considerable danger. He then speaks of a blackish, hard and very painful tumor of the thigh, which, when it ascends the thigh (ad superiora ascendit) is mortal, but if it descends is less dangerous. Separation of the sacrum (vertebrum) from the ilium (scia), either by accident or from the corrosion of humors, leaves the patient permanently lame, though suitable fomentations and inunctions may produce some improvement. Sprains of the ankle are to be treated by placing the joint immediately in very cold water ad repercussionem spiritus et sanguinis, and the joint is to be kept thus refrigerated until it even becomes numb (stupefactionem); after which stupes of salt water and urine are to be applied, followed by a plaster of galbanum, opoponax, the apostolicon, etc.

Fractures of the femur are to be treated like those of the humerus, except that the ends of the fractured bone are to be separated by the space of an inch, and a bandage six fingers in width carefully applied. Such fractures within three inches of the hip or knee-joint are regarded as specially dangerous.

Dislocations of the ankle, after reduction of proper manipulation, should be bound with suitable splints. If of a less severe character, the dislocation may be dressed with stupes of canabina (Indian hemp), urine and salt water, which greatly mitigate the pain and swelling. Afterwards the joint should be strapped for four or five inches above the ankle with plaster, ut prohibeatur fluxus.

It should be said that the brevity of this chapter of Gilbert is modeled after the manner of Roger of Parma, who refers the treatment of injuries of the lower extremities very largely to that of similar injuries of the upper, merely adding thereto such explanations as may be demanded by the differences of location and function of the members involved. Thus in his discussion of dislocation of the femur Roger says:

Si crus a coxa sit disjunctum, eadem sit cura quam et in disjuncturam brachii et cubiti diximus, etc.

The general subject of fistulae is treated at considerable length on folio 205b, and fistula lachrymalis and fistulae of the jaw receive special attention in their appropriate places. As a rule, the fistula is dilated by a tent of alder-pith, mandragora, briony or gentian, the lining membrane destroyed by an ointment of quick-lime or even the actual cautery, and the wound then dressed with egg-albumen followed by the unguentum viride. Necrosed bone is to be removed, if necessary, by deep incisions, and decayed teeth are to be extracted.

The elongated uvula is to be snipped off, and abscesses of the tonsils opened tout comme chez nous.

An elaborate discussion of the subject of hernia is given under the title "De relaxatione siphac et ruptura" (f. 280c)—siphac being the Arabian name for the peritoneum. Gilbert tells us the siphac is sometimes relaxed, sometimes ruptured (crepatur?) and sometimes inflated. He had seen a large rupture (crepatura) in which it was impossible to restore the intestines to the cavity of the abdomen in consequence of the presence in them of large hard masses of fecal matter, which no treatment proved adequate to remove, and which finally occasioned the death of the patient. Rupture of the siphac is most frequently the result of accident, jumping, straining in lifting or carrying heavy weights, or in efforts at defecation, or of shouting in boys or persons of advanced age, or even in excessive weeping, etc. It is distinguished from hernia by the fact that in hernia pain is felt in the testicle, radiating to the kidneys, while in rupture of the siphac a swelling on one side of the pubes extends into the scrotum, where it produces a tumor not involving the testicle. Rupture of the siphac, he says, is a lesion of the organs of nutrition, hernia a disease of the organs of generation. Accordingly, in the pathology of Gilbert, the term hernia is applied to hydrocele, orchitis and other diseases of the testicle, and not, as with us to protrusions of the viscera through the walls of their cavities.

In young persons, he tells us, recent ruptures of the siphac may be cured by appropriate treatment. The patient is to be laid upon his back, the hips raised, the intestines restored to the abdominal cavity and the opening of exit dressed with a plaster of exsiccative and consolidating remedies, of which he furnishes a long and diversified catalogue. He is also to avoid religiously all exercise or motion, all anger, clamor, coughing, sneezing, equitation, cohabitation, etc., and to lie with his feet elevated for forty days, until the rupture (crepatura) is consolidated. The bowels are to be kept soluble by enemata or appropriate medicines, and the diet should be selected so as to avoid constipation and flatulence. A bandage or truss (bracale vel colligar) made of silk and well fitted to the patient is also highly recommended. If the patient is a boy, cakes (crispelle?) of consolida major mixed with the yolk of eggs should be administered, one each day for nine days before the wane of the moon. If, however, the rupture is large in either a boy or an adult, and of long standing, whether the intestine descends into the scrotum or not, operation, either by incision or by the cautery offers the only hope of relief. Singularly enough too, while Roger devotes to the operation for the cure of hernia nearly half a page of his text, Gilbert dismisses the whole subject in a single sentence, as follows:

Scindatur igitur totus exitus super hac cute exteriori cum carne fissa, et uatur y fac cum file serice et acu quadrata. Deinde persequere ut in exitu intestini per vulnus superius demonstratum est (f. 281d).

Turning now to the title "De hernia" (f. 289b), Gilbert tells us "Swelling (inflatio) of the testicles is due sometimes to humors trickling down upon them (rheumatizantibus), sometimes to abscess, or to gaseous collections (ventositate), and sometimes to escape of the intestines through rupture of the siphac." He adds also: "Some doubt the propriety of using the term hernia for an inflation. On this point magister Rn says: There is a certain chronic and inveterate tumor of the testicles, which is never cured except by means of surgery, as e.g., hernia. For hernia is an affection common to the scrotum and the testicles."

The apparent confusion between these two passages is easily relieved by the explanation that inguinal or other herniae not extending into the scrotum are called by Gilbert ruptures of the siphac, but scrotal hernia is classed with other troubles located in the scrotum as hernia. Accordingly hernia, with Gilbert, includes not only scrotal hernia, but also hydrocele, orchitis, tumors of the testicles, etc. This is apparent, too, in his treatment of hernia, which consists usually in the employment of various poultices and ointments, bleeding from the saphena, cups over the kidneys, etc., though hydrocele is tapped and a seton inserted. If the testicle itself is "putrid," it should be removed; otherwise it is left. It may be remarked en passant that the surgeons of medieval times, in their desire for thoroughness, often displayed very little respect to what Baas calls "the root of humanity."

We will terminate our hasty review of diseases discussed in the Compendium by an abstract of Gilbert's views on vesical calculus and its treatment, which cover more than fifteen pages of his work.

Stone and gravel arise from various viscous superfluities in the kidneys and bladder, which occasion difficulty in micturition. Stone is produced by the action of heat upon viscous moisture, sublimating the volatile elements and condensing the denser portions. Putrefication of stone in the bladder is the result of three causes, viz., consuming heat, viscous matter and stricture of the meatus. For consuming heat acting on viscous material retained by reason of stricture of the meatus, by long action dries up, coagulates and hardens the moisture. This is particularly manifest in boys who have a constricted meatus.

Stones are thus generated not only in the kidneys and bladder, but also even in the stomach and the intestines, whence they are ejected by vomiting or in the stools. Indeed they may also be found occasionally in the lungs, the joints and other places. They are comparatively rare in women, in consequence of the shortness of the urethra and the size of their meatus.

Sometimes calculi occur in the bladder, sometimes in one kidney and occasionally in both kidneys. The symptoms produced by their presence vary in accordance with the situation of the concretion. If the stone is in the kidney, the foot of the side affected is numb (stupidus), the spine on the affected side is sore and there is difficulty of micturition and considerable gravelly sediment in the urine. If the stone is increasing in size, the quantity of sediment also increases, but if the stone is fully formed and confirmed, the amount of sediment decreases daily, and the urine becomes milky both in the kidneys and the bladder. A stone in the bladder occasions very similar symptoms, together with pain in the peritoneum and pubes, dysuria and strangury, and sometimes the appearance of blood and flocculi (trumbos?) in the urine. Patients suffering from vesical calculus are always constipated, and the dysuria may increase to the degree called furia, a condition not without some danger.

Three things are necessary in the cure of stone, viz., a spare and simple diet, the use of diuretics and a moderate amount of exercise. It should, however, be remarked that confirmed stone is rarely or never cured, except by a surgical operation.... If a boy has a clear and watery urine after it has been sandy, if he frequently scratches his foot, has involuntary erections and finally obstruction in micturition, I say that he has a stone in the neck of his bladder. If now he be laid upon his back with his feet well elevated, and his whole body be well shaken, if there is a stone present it is possible that it may fall to the fundus of the bladder. Afterwards direct the boy to bear down (ut exprimat se) and try to make water. If this treatment turns out in accordance with your theory, the urine necessarily escapes and your idea and treatment are confirmed. If, however, the urine not escape, let the boy be shaken vigorously a second time. If this too fails and strangury ensues, it will be necessary to resort to the use of a sound or catheter (argaliam), so that when the stone is pushed away from the neck of the bladder the passage may be opened and the urine may flow out. It may be possible too that no stone exists, but the urethra is obstructed or closed by pure coagulated blood. Perhaps there may have been a wound of the bladder, although no external haemorrhage has appeared, but the blood coagulating gradually in the bladder has occasioned an obstruction or narrowing of the urinary passage. Or possibly the blood from a renal haemorrhage has descended into the bladder and obstructs the urethra. Hence I say that the sound is useful in these cases where the urethra is obstructed by blood or gross humors. Examination should also be made as to whether a fleshy body exists in the bladder, as the result of some wound. This condition is manifest if, on the introduction of the sound, the urine flows out promptly. I once saw a man suffering from this condition, who complained of severe pain in the urinary passage as I was introducing the sound, and I recognized that there were wounds in the same part, for as soon as these were touched by the sound the urine began to flow, followed soon after by a little blood and fleshy particles.... So far as the operation of physicians is concerned, it is necessary only to be certain of the fact that obstruction to the passage of urine depends upon no other cause than stone or the presence of coagulated blood (f. 271).

Gilbert's medical treatment of vesical calculus consists generally in the administration of diuretics and lithontriptics and the local application of poultices, plasters and inunctions of various kinds. Of the lithontriptics, certain combinations, characterized by famous names or notable historical origin, are evident favorites. Among this class we read of the Philoantropos major and minor, the Justinum, the Usina "approved by many wise men of Babylon and Constantinople," the Lithontripon and the "Pulvis Eugenii pape," with numerous others.

Rather curiously and suggestively no mention is made in this immediate connection of the technique of lithotomy. On a later page, however (f. 309a), we find a chapter entitled "De cura lapidis per cyrurgiam," in which Gilbert writes:

"Mark here a chapter on the cure of stone in the bladder by means of surgery, which we have omitted above. Accordingly, to determine whether a stone exists in the bladder, let the patient take a warm bath. Then let him be placed with his buttocks elevated, and, having inserted into the anus two fingers of the right hand, press the fist of the left hand deeply above the pubes and lift and draw the entire bladder upward. If you find anything hard and heavy, it is manifest that there is a stone in the bladder. If the body feels soft and fleshy, it is a fleshy excrescence (carnositas), which impedes the flow of urine. Now, if the stone is located in the neck of the bladder and you wish to force it to the fundus: after the use of fomentations and inunctions, inject through a syringe (siringa) some petroleum, and after a short interval pass the syringe again up to the neck of the bladder and cautiously and gently push the stone away from the neck to the fundus. Or, which is safer and better, having used the preceding fomentations and inunctions, and having assured yourself that there is a stone in the bladder, introduce your fingers into the anus and compress the neck of the bladder with the fist of the left hand above the pubes, and cautiously remove the stone and guide it to the fundus. But if you wish to extract the stone, let a spare diet precede the operation, and let the patient lie abed for a couple of days with very little food. On the third day introduce the fingers into the anus as before, and draw down the stone into the neck of the bladder. Then make your incision lengthwise in the fontanel, the width of two fingers above the anus, and extract the stone. For nine days after the operation let the patient use, morning and evening, fomentations of branca (acanthus mollis), paritaria (pellitery) and malva (mallows). A bit of tow (stupa) moistened with the yolk of egg in winter, and with both the yolk and white of egg in summer, is to be placed over the wound. Proud flesh, which often springs up near a wound in the neck of the bladder, should be removed by the knife (rasorio), and two or three sutures inserted. The wound is then to be treated like other wounds. It should be remarked, however, that if the stone is very large, it should be simply pushed up to the fundus of the bladder and left there, and no effort should be made to extract it."

This description of the diagnosis of stone and of the operation of lithotomy is copied almost literally from Roger of Parma.

Sufficient (perhaps more than enough) has been written to give the reader a fair idea of the general character of Gilbert's "Compendium Medicine."

A few words may be added with reference to the proper place of the work in our medical literature.

It is not difficult, of course, to select from the Compendium a charm or two, a few impossible etymologies and a few silly statements, to display these with a witty emphasis and to draw therefrom the easy conclusion that the book is a mass of crass superstition and absurd nonsense. This, however, is not criticism. It is mere caricature.

To compare the work with the teachings of modern medicine is not only to expect of the writer a miraculous prescience, but to minimize the advances of medical science within the last seven hundred years.

Even Freind and Sprengel, admirable historians, though more thoughtful and judicious in their criticisms, seem for the moment to have forgotten or overlooked the true character of the Compendium.

Freind says:

"I believe we may even say with justice that he (Gilbert) has written as well as any of his contemporaries of other nations, and has merely followed their example in borrowing very largely from the Arabians," and Sprengel writes: "Here and there, though only very rarely, the author offers some remarks of his own, which merit special attention."

Now, what precisely is Gilbert's Compendium designed to be? In the words of its author it is

"A book of general and special diseases, selected and extracted from the writings of all authors and the practice of the professors (magistrorum), edited by Gilbert of England and entitled a Compendium of Medicine."

and a few pages later he adds:

"It is our habit to select the best sayings of the best authorities, and where any doubt exists, to insert the different opinions, so that each reader may choose for himself what he prefers to maintain."

The author does not claim for his work any considerable originality, but presents it as a compendium proper of the teachings of other writers. Naturally his own part in the book is not obtruded upon our notice.

Now the desiderata of such a compendium are:

1. That it shall be based upon the best attainable authorities.

2. That these authorities shall be accurately represented.

3. That the compendium shall be reasonably comprehensive.

In neither of these respects is the compendium of Gilbert liable, I think, to adverse criticism.

The book is, undoubtedly, the work of a famous and strictly orthodox physician, possessed of exceptional education in the science of his day, a man of wide reading, broadened by extensive travel and endowed with the knowledge acquired by a long experience, honest, truthful and simple minded, yet not uncritical in regard to novelties, firm in his own opinions but not arrogant, sympathetic, possessed of a high sense of professional honor, a firm believer in authority and therefore credulous, superstitious after the manner of his age, yet harboring, too, a germ of that healthy skepticism which Roger Bacon, his great contemporary, developed and illustrated.

I believe, therefore, that we may justly award to the medical pages of the Compendium not only the rather negative praise of being written as well as the work of any of Gilbert's contemporaries, but the more positive credit of being thoroughly abreast of the medical science of its age and country, an "Abstract and brief chronicle of the time."

The surgical chapters of the work are unique in a compendium of medicine, and merit even more favorable criticism.

The discouragement of the practice of medicine and surgery on the part of ecclesiastics by the popes and church councils of the twelfth century, culminating in the decree of Pope Innocent III in 1215, which forbade the participation of the higher clergy in any operation involving the shedding of blood (Ecclesia abhorret a sanguine); the relatively scanty supply of educated lay physicians and surgeons, and finally the pride and inertia of the lay physicians themselves; all these combined to relegate surgery in the thirteenth century to the hands of a class of ignorant and unconscionable empirics, whose rash activity shed a baleful light upon the art of surgery itself. As a natural result the practice of this art drifted into an impasse, from which the organization of the barber-surgeons seemed the only logical means of escape.

The earliest evidence of the public surgical activity of the barbers, as a class, is found, I believe, in Joinville's Chronicle of the Crusade of St. Louis (Louis IX) in the year 1250. According to Malgaigne, no trustworthy evidence of any organization of the barbers of Paris is available before 1301, and the fraternity was not chartered until 1427, under Charles VII. The barbers of London are noticed in 1308, and they received their charter from Edward IV in 1462. The parallel lines upon which the confraternities of the two cities developed is very noticeable—making due allowance for Gallic enthusiasm and bitterness.

Lanfranchi, the great surgeon of Paris, about the year 1300 is moved to write as follows:

"Why, in God's name, in our days is there such a great difference between the physician and the surgeon? The physicians have abandoned operative procedures to the laity, either, as some say, because they disdain to operate with their hands, or rather, as I think, because they do not know how to perform operations. Indeed, this abuse is so inveterate that the common people look upon it as impossible for the same person to understand both surgery and medicine. It ought, however, to be understood that no one can be a good physician who has no idea of surgical operations, and that a surgeon is nothing if ignorant of medicine. In a word, one must be familiar with both departments of medicine."

Now Gilbert by the incorporation of many chapters on surgery in his Compendium inculcates practically the same idea more than fifty years before Lanfranchi, and may claim to be the earliest representative of surgical teaching in England. Malgaigne, indeed, does not include his name in the admirable sketch of medieval surgery with which he introduces his edition of the works of Ambroise Pare, and says Gilbert was no more a surgeon than Bernard Gordon. This is in a certain sense true. Gilbert was certainly not an operative surgeon. But it needs only a very superficial comparison of the Compendium of Gilbert with the Lilium Medicinae of Gordon to establish the fact that the books are entirely unlike. Indeed, it may be truthfully said that Gordon's work does not contain a single chapter on surgery proper. His cases involving surgical assistance are turned over at once, and with little or no discussion, to those whom he calls "restauratores" or "chirurgi," and his own responsibility thereupon ends.

We have no historical facts which demonstrate that Gilbert's Compendium exercised any considerable influence upon the development of surgery in England, but when we consider the depressed condition of both medicine and surgery in his day, we should certainly emphasize the clearness of vision which led our author to indicate the natural association of these two departments of the healing art, and the assistance which each lends to the other.