performed by him does not appear; but he would hardly have
recommended it if it had not been sometimes, at least,
successful. That he mentions it at all, however, is significant,
as this difficult operation is considered one of the great
triumphs of modern surgery.

But Paul of Aegina is a striking exception to the rule among
Byzantine surgeons, and as he was their greatest, so he was also
their last important surgeon. The energies of all Byzantium were
so expended in religious controversies that medicine, like the
other sciences, was soon relegated to a place among the other
superstitions, and the influence of the Byzantine school was
presently replaced by that of the conquering Arabians.


THIRTEENTH-CENTURY MEDICINE

The thirteenth century marks the beginning of a gradual change in
medicine, and a tendency to leave the time-worn rut of
superstitious dogmas that so long retarded the progress of
science. It is thought that the great epidemics which raged
during the Middle Ages acted powerfully in diverting the medical
thought of the times into new and entirely different channels. It
will be remembered that the teachings of Galen were handed
through mediaeval times as the highest and best authority on the
subject of all diseases. When, however, the great epidemics made
their appearance, the medical men appealed to the works of Galen
in vain for enlightenment, as these works, having been written
several centuries before the time of the plagues, naturally
contained no information concerning them. It was evident,