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.