The growth of medicine from the earliest times to about 1800Buck, Albert H. (Albert Henry)
History
The growth of medicine from the earliest times to about 1800
Buck, Albert H. (Albert Henry)
Medicine -- History
later, the University of Montpellier acquired the same privilege. In
1391 John I. of Spain was equally generous in his treatment of the
Medical School at Lerida. After the opening of the fifteenth century
no further difficulties of a serious nature were experienced by the
teachers of anatomy in procuring at least some material for dissecting
purposes, and with each succeeding year such facilities steadily
increased. Unfortunately, however, there did not follow a corresponding
increase in the knowledge of human anatomy. As a matter of fact, it
was not until during the sixteenth century that any really valuable
work was accomplished in this branch of medicine. Guy de Chauliac,
in the first chapter of his treatise (“_La Grande Chirurgie_”),
gives the following description of the manner in which Bertrucius
taught anatomy in Bologna at the beginning of the fourteenth century,
and from this account it is easy to understand why the additions to
our stock of information in this department of medicine were so few
and so unimportant during this long period. The so-called dissecting,
it clearly appears, was in reality a not very profitable combination
of purely anatomical work of a primitive character and a search
for evidences of pathological changes. The clinical history of the
individual whose body was undergoing examination does not seem to have
played any part in the investigation. Here is De Chauliac’s account:--
After placing the dead body on a bench, my master proceeded with
his instructions, devoting thereto four separate sittings. At
the first of these he passed in review those parts or organs
which are concerned in nutrition; his reason for considering
them first being that they are the earliest to undergo
decomposition. At the second sitting he devoted himself to the
spiritual organs of the body; at the third, to the animal parts;
and at the fourth, to the extremities. Following the example
furnished by Galen in his commentary on the book entitled “The
Sects,” he maintained that there were nine things which should
be taken into consideration when one examines the different
parts of the body, to wit: their situation; their nature,
color, bulk, number, and shape; their connections or relations;
their actions and their utility; and the diseases which may
affect them. Conducted in this manner the study of anatomy, he
maintained, may prove helpful to the physician in recognizing
diseases, in making prognoses, and in selecting a suitable plan
for treatment.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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