An Epitome of the History of MedicinePark, Roswell
History
An Epitome of the History of Medicine
Park, Roswell
Medicine -- History
Guy de Chauliac, born in Gévaudan about 1300. was the most famous
physician and surgeon in Christendom during the Arabic period. He
studied at the cathedral college of Mende, which at that time was
quite celebrated, and was taught medicine at Montpellier under the best
masters of his day. It is probable, also, that he studied in Paris, and
certain that later, in Bologna, he saw dissections made. Dissatisfaction
with the writings of the ancients and the knowledge which he obtained at
the schools stimulated his own powers of observation, and he became,
in every respect, an original student and acquired a degree{094}
of erudition far more extended than that possessed by any of his
contemporaries. He practiced in various places, longest at Lyons; and
finally entered the service of Pope Clement VI, at Avignon, and probably
enjoyed the same honor under Innocent V and Urban V; when the latter was
made pope, in 1362, de Chauliac became his chaplain, or chapel-reader.
In 1363 he published a work on surgery called _The Inventory_, upon
which his fame chiefly rests, though several other volumes emanated from
his pen. None knew better than he how to unite respect for the ancients
with justice toward contemporaries, and he cited a large number of
Greek, Arabian, and Latin authors, some of whom are now utterly unknown.
The sciences, he declared, are "created by successive additions; the
same man cannot lay the foundation and perfect the superstructure. We
are as children carried on the neck of a giant; aided by the labors of
our predecessors we see all that they have seen, and something beside."
In tracing the character of a surgeon he recommends that he be "learned,
expert, ingenious, bold where he is sure, timid when in doubt, avoiding
bad cures and practices, being gracious to the sick, generous and
compassionate, wise in prediction, chaste, sober, pitiful, and merciful;
not covetous nor extortionate, but receiving moderate fees according to
the circumstances of his patients, the character of the case, and his
own dignity."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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