Venice. But, on arriving there, he was informed that no glasses would be ground before the month of October. He was consequently obliged to remain in that city until the autumn, at which time he sent word to his master that the optician's charge for the instrument would be 50 thalers (equivalent to $250 at the present value of money). The Elector, it appears, was only too glad to pay this sum for the coveted article. The first spectacles made were equipped with only convex glasses, for the use of far-sighted persons. It was not until about two hundred years later that the art of grinding concave glasses for the relief of short-sighted individuals was discovered.
Guy de Chauliac.—After the lapse of a few years there
appeared a man who was destined to add greatly to the
fame of the Medical School of Montpellier—not in the way
in which Arnold of Villanova had accomplished this result,
but by the publication of the first systematic treatise on
surgery which was written in Western Europe during the
Middle Ages. This man was Guy de Chauliac, about whose
early life very little is known. He was born in the village
of Chauliac, in Auvergne, France, toward the end of the
thirteenth century, his parents being simple peasants; and
during early boyhood he probably attended the school
connected with the village church. His medical studies
were begun at Toulouse and completed at Montpellier.
But, at some time later than 1326, he went to Bologna and
perfected his knowledge of anatomy under the guidance
of Bertrucius, Mondino's successor. After leaving Bologna
Guy visited Paris, arriving there subsequently to the
deaths of Lanfranchi, Pitard and Henri de Mondeville.
Although he remained in that great city only a short time,
he appears to have formed a warm friendship with several
of the instructors in the medical school.
About the year 1330 he took up his residence in Lyons. His appointment to the position of Canon of Saint-Just, a church which is located in that city, doubtless made it necessary for him to adopt this course. And yet it is most improbable that he spent much of his time in Lyons, for his other duties—his attendance at the Papal Court in
