During the lifetime of Abulcasis his writings, and especially his work on surgery, were not very highly appreciated in Spain. This was largely due to the fact that the Mohammedan inhabitants of that country did not look upon surgery with any degree of favor. The Arabs of the East held Abulcasis in much greater honor. Guy de Chauliac, the famous French surgeon of the fourteenth century, in his treatise on surgery, quotes Abulcasis no less than two hundred times. Le Clerc, in the course of his remarks upon the value of the surgical treatise written by Abulcasis, says: “This book will always be considered, in the history of medicine, to represent the first formal and distinct scientific treatise on surgery.” At the same time, the prevailing testimony makes it appear that the book contains only a small portion of original matter, a large part of its substance having been borrowed from the work of the Greek author, Paulus Aegineta. Its chief merit consists in the orderly and very clear manner in which the facts are presented, and doubtless the popularity of the book was materially increased by the fact that many of the instruments required for the different operations were illustrated pictorially. Lucien Le Clerc has published (Paris, 1861) a French translation of Abulcasis’ Treatise on Surgery, and on page 71 of this version the following statement will be found:-- ... you may also introduce into the cannula a specially adapted piston in copper, or a stylet the end of which is armed with cotton. Then fill the cannula with oil or some other suitable fluid, introduce into one end the stylet armed with cotton, and push it onward until the liquid enters the ear. Edouard Nicaise, commenting on these words in his version of Guy de Chauliac’s _La Grande Chirurgie_ (page 690), says that they constitute the first reference, thus far discovered in medical literature, to the use of the instrument known as a syringe. _Avenzoar._--Avenzoar was born in Seville, in the southern part of Spain, during the latter part of the eleventh century. The exact date is not known. His father was a physician of some distinction, and his son also attained considerable eminence in the same profession. According to Neuburger, Avenzoar died, at an advanced age, in 1162 A. D., and was buried in Seville.