On the other hand, Mr. Kingsford bases his theory of Gilbert's sojourn
in Syria upon a story adopted, I think, from Littré and found in the
Histoire litéraire de la France. The Compendium of Gilbert contains
(f. 137a) a chapter giving the composition of a complex collyrium
with which he professes to have cured the almost total blindness of
Bertram, son of Hugo de Jubilet, after the disease had baffled the
skill of the Saracen and Christian-Syrian physicians of his day.
Now Littré avers that a certain Hugo de Jubilet was involved in an
ambuscade in Syria in the year 1227, and that he had a son named
Bertram. It is very natural, of course, to conclude that this Bertram
was the patient recorded in the book of Gilbert. Kingsford says that
Gilbert "met" Bertram in Syria, but the text of the Compendium says
nothing of the locality of their meeting, which might have taken place
almost anywhere in Europe, perhaps even at Salernum, a favorite resort
of the invalided Crusaders in these times. Finally, Dr. Payne disposes
effectually of the authenticity of the entire story by calling
attention to the fact that the chapter referred to in the Compendium
is marked plainly "_Additio_," without indicating whether this
addition is from the pen of Gilbert or some later glossator.

Finally, I may suggest another line of argument, which, so far as I
know, has not yet been advanced for the determination of the period of
Gilbert.

The Compendium Medicinae of Gilbert is, of course, a compendium of
internal medicine. But the book is also something more. Not less
than fifty chapters are devoted to a comparatively full discussion of
wounds, fractures and dislocations, lithotomy, herniotomy, fistulae
and the various diseases on the border line between medicine and