Page:A short history of nursing - Lavinia L Dock (1920).djvu/73

Christianity and Care of the Sick 57 her work under a veil of mystery and protect her- self by a claim of supernatural revelation. Her books, remarkable as they are now known to be, were not included in the list of those approved by the Church. The opposition of the Church to dissection was, of course, a basic hindrance to the progress of medical knowledge, but from the viewpoint of religious thought at that time dissection seemed a blasphemy, as the body was, in a very special sense, regarded as the temple of the Holy Spirit. The firm belief in the doctrine of bodily resur- rection also inspired popular aversion to the idea of dissection. Then too, rational medicine seemed destructive of the miracle, and so of faith. The whole attitude of the mediaeval mind was so different from ours, that it is not easy to interpret it correctly except after careful study, perhaps not even then. The clerical power was, for similar reasons, especially opposed to surgery, and toward the twelfth century there were several decrees forbidding monks and priests to practice medicine or surgery, or at least limiting their practice to their own monasteries. (These decrees suggest real progress and activity, as, otherwise, decrees would not have been needed). Before university schools grew up, lay pupils had been received in monas-