Old-Time Makers of Medicine: The Story of The Students And Teachers of the Sciences Related to Medicine During the Middle AgesWalsh, James J. (James Joseph)
History
Old-Time Makers of Medicine: The Story of The Students And Teachers of the Sciences Related to Medicine During the Middle Ages
Walsh, James J. (James Joseph)
Medicine, Medieval; Physicians
Constantine did much more than merely bring out his translations of
Arabian works. He gave a zest to the study of the old masters, issued
editions of certain, at least, of the works of Hippocrates ("Aphorisms")
and Galen ("Microtechnics"), and, in general, called attention to the
precious treasure of medical lore that must be used to advantage if men
were to teach the rising generation out of the accumulated knowledge of
the past. Pagel, in Puschmann's "Handbook," does not hesitate to say
that "a farther merit of Constantine must be recognized, inasmuch as
that not long after his career the second epoch of the school of Salerno
begins, marked not only by a wealth of writers and writings on medicine,
but, above all, because from this time on the study of Greek medicine
received renewed encouragement through the Latin versions of the Arabian
literature. We may think as we will of the worth of these works, but
this much is sure, that in many ways they brought about a broadening and
an improvement of Greek knowledge, especially from the pharmacopeia
standpoint."
Probably the best evidence that we have for Constantine's influence on
his generation is to be found in what was accomplished by men who
acknowledged with pride that he was their master, and who thought it a
mark of distinction to be reckoned as his disciples.
Among these especially noteworthy is Johannes Afflacius, or Saracenus
(whose surname of the Saracen probably means that he, too, came from
Africa, as his master did). He was the author of two treatises on
"Fevers and Urines," and the so-called "Cures of Afflacius." Some of
these cures he directly attributed to Constantine. Then there is a
Bartholomew who wrote a "Practica," or "Manual of the Practice of
Medicine," with the sub-title, "Introductions to and Experiments in the
Medical Practice of Hippocrates, Constantine, and the Greek Physicians."
Bartholomew represents himself as a disciple of Constantine. This
"Practica" of Bartholomew was one of the most commonly used books of the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries throughout Europe. There are manuscript
commentaries and translations, and abstracts from it not only in the
Latin tongues, but especially in the Teutonic languages. Pagel refers to
manuscripts in High and Low Dutch, and even in Danish. The Middle High
Dutch manuscripts of this "Practica" of Bartholomew come mainly from the
thirteenth century, and have not only a special interest because of
their value in the history of philology, but because they are the main
sources of all the later books on drugs which appeared in very large
numbers in German. They have a very great historico-literary interest,
especially for pharmacology.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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