Toward the end of the twelfth century (1180 A. D.) there was published at Salerno a work on surgery--the oldest treatise on this subject that is known to have been written in Italy during the Middle Ages. It is now called “Roger’s Practice of Surgery,” but originally it was spoken of (in accordance with a custom quite common in those days) as “_Post mundi fabricam_,” which are the first three words of the text. This book is of a very practical character and is written in a simple, straightforward style. While it contains the usual amount of traditional knowledge about surgical matters, it gives at the same time the results of the personal experience of Roger, of his teachers, and of his associates. As published in the “_Collectio Salernitana_” the work represents, not the treatise as it was originally written, but a revision made by Rolando of Parma. It is divided into four parts or books, the topics treated in which comprise most of those usually discussed in works on surgery. Under the heading “Wounds of the Intestine,” in Book III., there occurs this most remarkable piece of advice, viz., “to insert into the intestinal canal a small tubular piece of elder and then to stitch the raw edges of the bowel together over it.” Another treatise on surgery, entitled “_Chirurgia Jamati_,” was published at Salerno before the end of the twelfth century. Its authorship is attributed to Jamerius, and in many respects it resembles closely the treatise of Roger. The “_Regimen Sanitatis_” was not, it appears, the only treatise on medicine which was published at that period in the form of a poem. Gilles de Corbeil (Petrus Aegidius Corboliensis), who had received his professional training at the school of Salerno and was afterward appointed the personal physician of King Philip Augustus in Paris (1180–1223 A. D.), wrote versified treatises on these two groups of topics--“The pulse, the urine, and the beneficial characteristics of composite remedies,” and “The signs and symptoms of the different maladies.” Both of these treatises were received everywhere throughout Europe with great favor and they maintained their popularity for a period of over four centuries. A French translation (by C. Vieillard) of the treatise on urology was published in Paris in 1903. An edition of the “_De signis et symptomatibus aegritudinum_” was printed in Leipzig in 1907. The following five lines are quoted by Neuburger; and they certainly display the remarkable gift possessed by Aegidius for condensing a large amount of information into a very small space:-- DE CONDITIONIBUS URINAE _Quale, quid, aut quid in hoc, quantum, quotiens, ubi, quando,_ _Aetas, natura, sexus, labor, ira, diaeta,_ _Cura, fames, motus, lavacrum, cibus, unctio, potus,_ _Debent artifici certa ratione notari,_ _Si cupit urinae judex consultus haberi._