THE HISTORY OF INTERNAL MEDICINE 225 



and they produced a large number of writers and authorities on this 

 subject. These were mainly translators, compilers and commentators of 

 the Greek medical writings, so that their chief service to medicine was 

 the preservation and transmission to succeeding ages of Greek medical 

 lore; although they did make some material contributions in the 

 differentiation of eruptive fevers and the introduction of certain drugs. 

 The Arabians adhered quite closely to the authority of Galen. Of the 

 large number of known Arabian medical writers three stand preeminent, 

 Ehazes (850-932) and Avicenna (980-1037) of Bagdad, and Averroes 

 (1126-1198) of Cordova. 



Medieval Medicine. — During the four or five centuries following 

 the fall of Borne (476), known in history as the Dark Ages, medicine 

 in Europe shared in the general intellectual torpor of the period. No 

 eminent medical writer or practitioner appears in the annals of Chris- 

 tendom during this time. It is probable that the traditions and practise 

 of Greek medicine gradually declined and the practitioners of the art 

 became greatly degraded from their former standing. Ultimately 

 medical and surgical practise came largely into the hands of members 

 of religious orders (monastic medicine). 



The revival of medical science in medieval Europe dates from the 

 development of the famous secular medical school and university of 

 Salerno in Italy, the first of the great European universities. Salerno 

 was a salubrious town and health resort located on the seacoast a short 

 distance southeast of Naples. The origin of the medical school at 

 Salerno is obscure ; it may have been founded by Charlemagne, and it is 

 also supposed to have had early relations with the famous Benedictine 

 monastery of Monte Cassino, north of Naples, which was itself a seat 

 of a hospital and monastic medical school. The propinquity of Salerno 

 to Sicily, which for a time was under Saracen dominion, made the 

 Arabian influence accessible. The school of Salerno was in operation 

 by the middle of the ninth century (846), Greek (Hippocratic) medi- 

 cine being cultivated. The most famous and influential of its earlier 

 teachers was Constantinus Africanus (1018-1087) of Carthage, who 

 had traveled and studied extensively, and is credited with having intro- 

 duced Arabian learning into Europe ; he later became a monk at Monte 

 Cassino. The school at Salerno was at the height of its fame and influ- 

 ence, which extended all over Europe, during the eleventh and twelfth 

 centuries, but after the establishment of the great European universities 

 in the thirteenth century it lost its preeminence and rapidly declined, 

 though it continued in nominal existence until the nineteenth century. 



The second European medical school was that of Montpellier, near 

 the Mediterranean coast of France. The date of its establishment is 

 unknown, but it was in operation in 1137; it attained the highest repute 

 as a medical school, and has ever since continued in a flourishing and 



VOL. LXXIX. — 16. 



