"Since the students cannot be expected to learn medical science unless
they have previously been grounded in logic, we further decree that no one
be permitted to take up the study of medical science without beforehand
having devoted at least three full years to the study of logic.[19] After
three years devoted to these studies he (the student) may, if he will,
proceed to the study of medicine, provided always that during the
prescribed time he devotes himself also to surgery, which is a part of
medicine. After this, and not before, will he be given the licence to
practise, provided he has passed an examination, in legal form, as well as
obtained a certificate from his teacher as to his studies in the preceding
time. After having spent five years in study he shall not practise
medicine until he has during a full year devoted himself to medical
practice with advice and under the direction of an experienced physician.
In the medical schools the professors shall during these five years devote
themselves to the recognized books, both those of Hippocrates as well as
those of Galen, and shall teach not only theoretic but also practical
medicine.
"We also decree as a measure intended for the furtherance of public health
that no surgeon shall be allowed to practise, unless he has a written
certificate, which he must present to the professor in the medical
faculty, stating that he has spent at least a year at that part of
medicine which is necessary as a guide to the practice of surgery, and
that, above all, he has learned the anatomy of the human body at the
medical school, and is fully equipped in this department of medicine,
without which neither operations of any kind can be undertaken with
success nor fractures be properly treated.
"In every province of our kingdom which is under our legal authority, we
decree that two prudent and trustworthy men, whose names must be sent to
our court, shall be appointed and bound by formal oath, under whose
inspection electuaries and syrups and other medicines be prepared
according to law and be sold only after such inspection. In Salerno in
particular we decree that this inspectorship shall be limited to those who
have taken their degree as masters in physic.
"We also decree by the present law that no one in the kingdom except in
Salerno or in Naples [in which were the two universities of the kingdom]
shall undertake to give lectures on medicine or surgery, or presume to
assume the name of teacher, unless he shall have been very thoroughly
examined in the presence of a government official and of a professor in
the art of medicine. [No setting up of medical schools without the proper
authority.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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