NEW YORK
FORDHAM UNIVERSITY PRESS
1911
Copyright 1911
JAMES J. WALSH
THE QUINN & GODEN CO. PRESS
RAHWAY, N. J.
TO
REVEREND DANIEL J. QUINN, S.J.
The historical material here presented was gathered for my classes atFordham University School of Medicine during your term as president ofthe University. It seems only fitting then, that when put into morepermanent form it should appear under the patronage of your name andtell of my cordial appreciation of more than a quarter of a century ofvalued friendship.
"When we have thoroughly mastered contemporary science it is time toturn to past science; nothing fortifies the judgment more than thiscomparative study; impartiality of mind is developed thereby, theuncertainties of any system become manifest. The authority of facts isthere confirmed, and we discover in the whole picture a philosophicteaching which is in itself a lesson; in other words, we learn to know,to understand, and to judge."—Littré: Œuvresd'Hippocrate, T. I, p. 477.
"There is not a single development, even the most advanced ofcontemporary medicine, which is not to be found in embryo in themedicine of the olden time."—Littré: Introduction to the Worksof Hippocrates.
"How true it is that in reading this history one finds moderndiscoveries that are anything but discoveries, unless one supposes thatthey have been made twice."—Dujardin: Histoire de laChirurgie, Paris, 1774 (quoted by Gurlt on the post title-page of hisGeschichte der Chirurgie, Berlin, 1898).
The material for this book was gathered partly for lectures on thehistory of medicine at Fordham University School of Medicine, and partlyfor articles on a number of subjects in the Catholic Encyclopedia. Someof it was developed for a series of addresses at commencements ofmedical schools and before medical societies, on the general topic howold the new is in surgery, medicine, dentistry, and pharmacy. Theinformation thus presented aroused so much interest, the accomplishmentsof the physicians and surgeons of a period that is usually thought quitesterile in medical science proved, indeed, so astonishing, that I wastempted to connect the details for a volume in the Fordham UniversityPress series. There is no pretence to any original investigation in thehistory of medicine, nor to any extended consultation of originaldocuments. I have had most of the great books that are mentioned in thecourse of this volume in my hands, and have given as much time to thestudy of them as could be afforded in the midst of a rather busy life,but I owe my information mainly to the distinguished German and Fr