cold, moist, dry, &c.—as in the human body; and, on the principle
of curing by contraries, the use of one or other was indicated. The
writings of Galen contain less of simple objective observations than
those of several other ancient physicians, all being swept into the
current of dogmatic exposition. But there is enough to show the
thoroughness and extent of his practical knowledge. Unfortunately
it was neither this nor his zeal for research that chiefly won him
followers, but the completeness of his theoretical explanations,
which fell in with the mental habits of succeeding centuries, and
were such as have flattered the intellectual indolence of all ages.
But the reputation of Galen grew slowly; he does not appear to have
enjoyed any pre-eminence over other physicians of his time, to most
of whom he was strongly opposed in opinion. In the next generation
he began to be esteemed only as a philosopher; gradually his system
was implicitly accepted, and it enjoyed a great though not exclusive
predominance till the fall of Roman civilization. When the
Arabs possessed themselves of the scattered remains of Greek
culture, the works of Galen were more highly esteemed than any
others except those of Aristotle. Through the Arabs the Galenical
system found its way back again to western Europe. Even when
Arabian medicine gave way before the direct teaching of the Greek
authors rescued from neglect, the authority of Galen was increased
instead of being diminished; and he assumed a position of autocracy
in medical science which was only slowly undermined by the growth
of modern science in the 17th and 18th centuries.
The history of medicine in Roman times is by no means the same thing as the history of the fate of the works of Galen. For some centuries the methodic school was popular at Rome, and produced one physician, Caelius Aurelianus, who must be pronounced, next to Celsus, the most considerable of the Latin medical writers. His date was in all probability the end of the 4th or the beginning of the 5th century. The works bearing his name are, as has been said, entirely based upon the Greek of Soranus, but are important both because their Greek originals are lost, and because they are evidence of the state of medical practice in his own time. The popularity of Caelius is evidenced by the fact that in the 6th century an abridgment of his larger work was recommended by Cassiodorus to the Benedictine monks for the study of medicine.
Before quitting this period the name of Aretaeus of Cappadocia must be mentioned. So little is known about him that even his date cannot be fixed more closely than as being between the second half of the 1st century and the beginning of the 3rd. His works have been much admired for the purity of the Greek style, and his accurate descriptions of disease; but, as he quotes no medical author, and is quoted by none before Alexander of Aphrodisias at the beginning of the 3rd century, it is clear that he belonged to no school and founded none, and thus his position in the chain of medical tradition is quite uncertain. Alexander of Aphrodisias, who lived and wrote at Athens in the time of Septimius Severus, is best known by his commentaries on Aristotle, but also wrote a treatise on fevers, still extant.
Ancient Medicine after Galen.—The Byzantine school of medicine, which closely corresponds to the Byzantine literary and historical schools, followed closely in Galen’s footsteps, and its writers were chiefly compilers and encyclopaedists. The earliest is Oribasius (326–403), whose date and position are fixed by his being the friend and court physician of Julian the Apostate. He was a Greek of Pergamum, educated in Alexandria, and long resident in Byzantium. His great work Συναγογαὶ ἰατρικαί, of which only about one-third has been preserved, was a medical encyclopaedia founded on extracts from Hippocrates, Galen, Dioscorides (fl. A.D. 50) and certain Greek writers who are otherwise very imperfectly known. The work is thus one of great historical value but of no originality. The next name which requires to be mentioned is that of Aetius (A.D. 550), a compiler who closely followed Oribasius, but with inferior powers, and whose work also has an historical but no original value. A higher rank among medical writers is assigned to Alexander of Tralles (525–605), whose doctrine was that of an eclectic. His practical and therapeutical rules are evidently the fruit of his own experience, though it would be difficult to attribute to him any decided advance in medical knowledge. But the most prominent figure in Byzantine medicine is that of Paul of Aegina (Paulus Aegineta), who lived probably in the early part of the 7th century. His skill, especially in surgery, must have been considerable, and his Ἰατρικά gives a very complete picture of the achievements of the Greeks in this department. Another work, on obstetrics, now lost, was equally famous, and procured for him, among the Arabs, the name of “the Obstetrician.” His reputation lasted through the middle ages, and was not less in the Arabian schools than in the West. In this respect Paulus is a most important influence in the development of medicine. His great work on surgery was early translated into Arabic, and became the foundation of the surgery of Abulcasis, which in turn (to anticipate) was one of the chief sources of surgical knowledge to Europe in the middle ages. The succeeding period of Byzantine history was so little favourable to science that no name worthy of note occurs again (though many medical works of this period are still extant) till the 13th century, when we meet with a group of writers: Demetrius Pepagomenus, Nicolaus Myrepsus and Johannes, called Actuarius, who flourished under the protection of the Palaeologi. The work of the last has some independent merit; but all are interesting as showing a fusion of Greek and Arabian medicine, the latter having begun to exercise even in the 11th century a reflex influence on the schools of Byzantium. Something was borrowed even from the school of Salerno, and thus the close of Byzantine medicine is brought into connexion with the dawn of science in modern Europe.
In the West the period after Galen affords little evidence of anything but a gradual though unvarying decline in Roman medicine. Caelius Aurelianus, already referred to as the follower of Soranus, must be mentioned as showing the persistence of the methodic school. An abridgment of one of his writings, with the title of Aurelius, became the most popular of all Latin medical works. As a writer he was worthy of a better period of medical literature. Little else was produced in these times but compilations, of the most meagre kind, chiefly of the nature of herbals, or domestic receipt-books; among the authors of which it may be sufficient to name Serenus Sammonicus (3rd century), Gargilius Martialis (3rd century) and Marcellus Empiricus (5th century). Certain compilations still extant bear the falsely-assumed names of eminent writers, such as Pliny and Hippocrates. A writer with the (perhaps assumed) name of Apuleius Platonicus produced a herbal which held its ground till the 15th century at least, and was in the 9th translated into Anglo-Saxon. These poor compilations, together with Latin translations of certain works of Galen and Hippocrates, formed a medical literature, meagre and unprogressive indeed, but of which a great part survived through the middle ages till the discovery of printing and revival of learning. It is important to remember that this obscure stream of tradition flowed on, only partially affected by the influx of Arabian, or even the early revival of purer classical learning.
Arabian Medicine.—The rise of the Mahommedan Empire, which influenced Europe so deeply both politically and intellectually, made its mark also in the history of medicine. As in the parallel case of the Roman conquest of Greece, the superior culture of the conquered race asserted its supremacy over their Arab conquerors. After the Mahommedan conquests became consolidated, and learning began to flourish, schools of medicine, often connected with hospitals and schools of pharmacy, arose in all the chief seats of Moslem power. At Damascus Greek medicine was zealously cultivated with the aid of Jewish and Christian teachers. In Bagdad, under the rule of Hārūn el Rashīd and his successors, a still more flourishing school arose, where numerous translations of Greek medical works were made. The names of Mesua, or Yaḥyā ibn Māsawaih (d. A.D. 857–858), celebrated for his knowledge of drugs, and Ḥonein ibn Isḥaq el ʽIbādī (d. 873) or Joannitius, the translator and commentator of Hippocrates and Galen, belong to this period. Certain writings of Joannitius, translated into Latin, were popular in the middle ages in Europe, and were printed in the 16th century. At the same time the Arabs became acquainted with Indian medicine, and Indian physicians lived at the court of Bagdad. The Islamite rulers in Spain were not long behind those of the East in encouraging learning and medical science, and developed culture to a still higher degree of perfection. In that country much was due to the Jews, who had already established schools in places which were afterwards the seats of Moslem dominion. From the 10th to the 13th century was the brilliant period of Arabian medicine in Spain.[1]
The classical period of Arabian medicine begins with Rhazes (Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakarīyā el-Rāzī, A.D. 925–926), a native of Rai in the province of Dailam (Persia), who practised with distinction at Bagdad; he followed the doctrines of Galen, but learnt much from Hippocrates. He was the first of the Arabs to treat medicine in a comprehensive and encyclopaedic manner, surpassing probably in voluminousness Galen himself, though but a small proportion of his works are extant. Rhazes is deservedly remembered as having first described small-pox and measles in an accurate manner. Hali, i.e. ʽAli ibn el-ʽAbbās, a Persian, wrote a medical textbook, known as the “Royal Book,” which was the standard authority among the Arabs up to the time of Avicenna (A.D. 980–1037) and was more than once translated into Latin and printed. Other
- ↑ See Dozy, Cat. Cod. Or. Lug. Bat. ii. 296.
