Notwithstanding the additions which have been made of late years to the history of medical literature, it must still be admitted that there is not, in the English language, any work which contains a full and accurate account of the theoretical and practical knowledge possessed by the Greeks, Romans, and Arabians, on matters connected with medicine and surgery. Nor, as far as I can learn, is the case very different with the continental languages. For, although the German and French have lately acquired several histories of medicine distinguished for their ability and research, the object of these works would appear to be confined to a general exposition of the leading discoveries and revolutions in doctrine which marked each particular age or epoch in the profession; and I will venture to affirm that no person will be able to acquire from a perusal of them anything like a competent acquaintance with the minute details of ancient practice. The design of the present publication is to supply the deficiency, now adverted to, by giving a complete Manual of the Surgery and Medicine of the Ancients, with a brief but comprehensive outline of the sciences intimately connected with them, especially Physiology, the Materia Medica, and Pharmacy. At first it was my intention to accomplish this purpose in the form of an original work, but, being perplexed what plan to choose in arranging the multifarious matters which I had to treat of, I at last resolved upon taking for my text-book the celebrated synopsis of PAULUS ÆGINETA, whereby I was at once supplied with a convenient arrangement of my subject, and at the same time, by giving a close translation of it into English, I saw that I would be enabled to enrich our medical literature with one of the most valuable relics of ancient science. By following this correct and faithful guide, by supplying his omissions and enlarging his plan, when necessary, from the more copious works of his predecessors, and by adding, in all cases, the improvements of subsequent ages, down to the latest date of ancient literature, I am in hopes that I have been able to present the reader with a work from which he may, at one view, become acquainted with the prevailing opinions upon all the most important matters connected with medical practice during a period of more than fifteen centuries. Impressed with a sense of the arduous nature of the task which I had undertaken, and sensible that its value consists entirely in its completeness on all points, I have endeavoured to discharge this duty faithfully and to the best of my ability. I trust then it will be found that not only have I overlooked no treatise connected with the medical art which has come down to us from antiquity, but that I have turned to good account my acquaintance with the learned labours of modern commentators, especially in the department of the Materia Medica, in order to adopt the nomenclature of the ancients on these subjects to the