468 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



an incision is made in the groin and the pelvis incised and explored. 

 He did a ligation operation for hemorrhoids, wrote in detail on the use 

 of the catheter, and considered the suprapubic opening of the bladder 

 for stone a simple procedure if we can believe him. 



The Jewish physicians are important figures in this period of the 

 history of medicine. Many of their scholars attained distinction as sur- 

 geons and writers; the best known of these, Maimonides, or Moses 

 iEgyptius, was surgeon to Saladin and lived in the twelfth century. 

 Spain, the rich Eoman province which had produced Lucan, the Se- 

 necas, Martial and Quintillian, did not entirely lose its traditions of cul- 

 ture after the barbarians from the north fell upon it, and the Moors, 

 hungry for knowledge, came to a feast of which they were soon the 

 masters. 



The most distinguished Arabian surgical writer of the ninth cen- 

 tury was Rhazes, a Persian by birth, who was a singer until he was 

 thirty. He was a follower of Aristotle and Galen and wrote some 200 

 works, including a complete system of medicine and surgery. He 

 treated fractures with intelligence and discussed the treatment of 

 wounds of the intestine. Vesalius thought so well of his principal work 

 that he translated it, but later destroyed the translation. Ali Abbas, 

 who succeeded Ehazes in prestige, wrote a book, the Liber Eegis, dedi- 

 cated to his patron the Sultan. This was the leading Arabian text- 

 book until the Canons of Avicenna appeared. A method of ligating the 

 median basilic vein in troublesome hemorrhage after venessection is de- 

 scribed, as well as the technique of tapping the peritoneal cavity in 

 ascites. This work was translated by Constantine, and printed in Venice 

 in 1492. 



Albucasis, a Spanish Moor, born, like Maimonides, near Cordova, was 

 probably the greatest of the Arabian surgeons. He lived in the second 

 half of the tenth century, and is reputed to have attained the age of 101. 

 While his writings cover the entire field of medical knowledge, his three 

 volumes on surgery are most original, and are the first illustrated surg- 

 ical writings that have come down to us. Fabricius, Harvey's teacher, 

 declared that he owed most of his knowledge to three writers, Celsus, 

 Paul of zEgina and Albucasis. Albucasis emphasized the importance to 

 the surgeon of a knowledge of anatomy. In discussing the treatment 

 of hemorrhage he advises the use of the cautery, complete division of 

 the partially severed artery, hemostatic applications and bandaging. He 

 classifies nasal polyps, advises the snare for their removal, has ingenious 

 methods for removing foreign bodies from the ear, makes some advances 

 in genito-urinary surgery, and differentiates between epitheliomata and 

 condylomata. He talks of the extirpation of varicose veins, but wisely 

 says this operation should not be resorted to unless absolutely necessary. 

 He diagnoses fracture of the pubic arch, and when it occurs in the fe- 



