_Gilbertus Anglicus_, who was the first English medical writer to secure a certain degree of celebrity among the physicians of continental Europe, wrote a compendium of medicine that was commonly called the “_Laurea anglica_.” The book contains, along with some good original observations and the records of his own experience, not a few wearisome theoretical discussions; and at the same time it reveals the fact that the author was inclined to favor remedial measures of a superstitious nature. In the last chapter of his compendium, however, he makes the very practical suggestion that distillation may be resorted to when one desires to purify water that is contaminated. Gilbertus, after obtaining his preliminary training in England in the early part of the thirteenth century, visited some of the leading schools on the continent, among others those of Salerno and Montpellier, in which latter city he appears to have practiced medicine for a certain length of time. _John of Gaddesden_, who is also spoken of as Johannes Anglicus, was born about 1280 A. D. and died in 1361. He was therefore a contemporary of Guy de Chauliac. He is said to have been a Fellow of Merton College, Oxford, and to have held the positions of Prebendary of St. Paul’s, London, and of private physician to the royal family. He was also the author of a medical treatise which was generally known by the title, “_Rosa Anglica_” (first printed in 1492). Neuburger speaks of this book as being an imitation of Gourdon’s “_Lilium Medicinae_,” but of a somewhat inferior grade, and he quotes two or three passages which show that medicine was in a very low stage of development in England at the beginning of the fourteenth century. Gaddesden, for example, advises his confrères to adopt the rule of always securing their honorarium before they undertake the treatment of a sick person. In another part of the book he states that he treated one of the sons of Edward II. for small-pox and secured excellent results, not merely as regards the perfect restoration of his health, but also as regards the complete prevention of any pitting of his face. He attributes this success to the fact that he enveloped the patient in a red cloth and took pains to have every object in the vicinity of the bed draped in red.[71] _John Mirfeld_, who lived during the second half of the fourteenth century, completed his medical studies in Oxford, then entered the Monastery of St. Bartholomew’s in London, and devoted himself thenceforward to work in connection with the hospital belonging to that institution. Among the books which he wrote there are a few that deal with matters of interest to the physician. Such, for example, are a glossary which bears the title “_Synonyma Bartholomaei_,” a work called the “_Breviarium Bartholomaei_,” and a shorter treatise on prognosis--the “_Speculum_.” None of these, however, possesses any special importance. [Illustration: FIG. 13. THE PHYSICIAN, THE SURGEON AND THE PHARMACIST.