REGIMEN SANITATIS SALERNITANUM. 181 



The burlesque French paraphrase of Martin is worthy of preserva- 

 tion. This treatise is dated 1649. 



Trois medicins, non d' Arable 

 'Ny de Grece, ny d' Italie, 

 Te pourrent ayder au besoin, 

 Sans les aller chercher fort loin, 

 lis sont meilleur que 1' on ne pense, 

 Et ne font au cun depence. 



Le premier c' est la gaiete, 



C est le fine fleur de Saute, 



C est de notre vie la sosse 



Sans qui vaux mieux estre en la fosse. 

 La second, Repos modere 



De corps, et d' esprit, assure, 



Fenne, tranquille, invariable. 



Le troisieme, c' est Courte Tabic, 



Antrement la Sobriete, 



C est la Grand-mere de sante, 



Si nostre Grand-pere Hippocrate 



D' un faux oracle ne nous iiatte. 



Dr. Philemon Holland thus construes it : 



When phisicke needs, let these thy doctors be, 

 Good diet, quiet thoughts, heart mirthful, free. 



William Withie (1575,) renders it after this fashion : 



When phisicke hard is to be hadd, 

 Three things may be in steede. 

 The mind in noewise must be sadde, 

 Meane reste, and diette muste thee feede. 



The anonymous translator of the "Englishman's Doctor" is the 

 happiest : 



Use three physitians still, first Doctor Quiet, 

 Next Doctor Merry-man, and Doctor Dyct. 



This translation is cited by Burton (Anat. Melanch) who speaks 

 highly of these " three Salernitan doctors, " 



There is a deep wisdom in this humble couplet, and it seems lit- 

 tle wonder that such extended commentaries should have written upon 

 it. We first generally forget that disease is never a permanent state of 

 the system. It is a dis-order, which tends either to a perfect restora- 

 tion to health, a restoration with loss of parts or alteration of structure, 

 or death. Most cases of sickness will end in a spontaneous restoration 

 to health or the normal order. AU that medicine does is to diminish 

 the number of fatal cases, prevent accidents, relieve suffering, shorten 

 the duration of disease, or, in incurable cases, to prolong life. To as- 

 cribe the fact of recovery, in every case, entirely to the medicine used, 

 is a blind empirical error, out of which quacks have generally made 

 their capital. Post hoc^ ergo propter hoc, is a logic that will not hold 



