Gilbertus Anglicus - Medicine of the Thirteenth Century by Henry Ebenezer Handerson
page 72 of 105 (68%)
page 72 of 105 (68%)
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by the addition of vinegar. Exposure to the midday sun and to the
nocturnal cold, constipation and diarrhoea should be avoided, and prompt attention should be given to all disorders of the health. To these wise counsels Gilbert courteously adds a medieval _bon voyage_ in these words: "_Dominus autem omnia dirigat in tranquilitate. Amen._" It has been already remarked upon a preceding page that Gilbert of England was not a surgeon. Nevertheless it is only fair to say that the surgical chapters of the Compendium present a more scientific and complete view of surgical art, as then known, than any contemporaneous writings of the Christian West, outside of Italy. It is well known that during the Middle Ages the practice of surgery in western Europe was generally regarded as disreputable, and operative surgery was for the most part relegated to butchers, barbers, bath-keepers, executioners, itinerant herniotomists and oculists, _et id omne genus_, whose pernicious activity continued to make life precarious far down into the modern period. In Italy alone did surgery vindicate for itself an equality with medicine, and the pioneer of this advance was Roger of Parma, who, as we have seen, flourished early in the thirteenth century. Roger and his pupil Roland, with the somewhat mythical "Four Masters" (_Quatuor Magistri_), were the surgical representatives of the School of Salernum, while Hugo (Borgognoni) di Lucca and his more famous son Theodorius represented the rival school of Bologna. Equally famous Italian surgeons of this century were Bruno of Logoburgo (in Calabria) |
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