Surgical Instruments in Greek and Roman TimesMilne, John Stewart
History
Surgical Instruments in Greek and Roman Times
Milne, John Stewart
Surgery -- History; Surgical instruments and apparatus
Scribonius Largus (45 A. D.). The edition I have examined is named
'Scribonii Largi Compositiones' and is edited by Helmreich, Leipzig, 1887.
The work of Scribonius Largus is entirely pharmaceutical, but he gives
many references to appliances by which medicaments were prepared in the
surgery.
Marcellus Empiricus (300 A. D.) wrote a work on pharmacy, of large size
but little value, and in a poor style. There are a few passages bearing on
implements of minor surgery. A good deal is copied from Largus. Aldus
published the text by Cornarius at Venice in his collection of Medici
Antiqui (1547), republished by Stephanus (_Medicae Artis Principes_),
1567. The edition I have used is that of Helmreich (Leipzig, 1889).
Theodorus Priscianus, alias Octavius Horatianus, lived in the fourth
century and has left a work, in three books, called _Euporiston_. It is a
compilation in African Latin of extracts from Galen, Oribasius, &c. The
style of the Latin is so barbarous that it really must be seen to be
believed. There is a little information to be gathered about minor
instruments. The edition I have used is that of Rose, Leipzig, 1894. To
this edition are tacked on the medical remains of Vindicianus Afer, mere
fragments without anything to interest us.
The works of Alexander Trallianus (526-605 A. D.) contain practically no
surgery at all, although I have managed to extract a few references of
minor interest.
The last of the eminent Greek writers is Paulus Aegineta, a writer who
probably lived in the sixth and seventh centuries. This is getting rather
late in the day, it is true, but to omit the works of Paulus, or Paul, as
he is affectionately called by his admirers, would be to omit some of the
most valuable knowledge of ancient medicine we possess. Paul, like most of
his time, was a compiler, but he was a skilful one, and while he entirely
depends on Galen, Archigenes, Soranus, &c. for his information, he has
gathered up the best of the medical knowledge of his time in a little
encyclopaedia whose artistic completeness and orderly arrangement are not
surpassed by any work of a corresponding nature at the present day. The
work is divided into seven books, the sixth of which deals with surgery
and teems with information about instruments. Aldus published the entire
Greek text at Venice in 1527. A fine English translation, with a most
valuable commentary, was published by Adams of Banchory for the Sydenham
Society in 1846. No one who reads it can wonder that Adams had a worldwide
reputation for his knowledge of medical history. The important sixth book
was published along with a translation in French by Briau at Paris in
1855.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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