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The Renaissance, of the 14th and 15th centuries, as is generally 
known, marks the transition between the Middle Ages and modern 
history. Its beginning and duration (from about the Fall of 
Constantinople in 1452, to the Sack of Rome, in 1527) vary more 
or less with art, philosophy, science, and other branches of culture 
and learning. It was characterized by the ‘Revival of Learning,” 
the rediscovery of the Greek and Latin classics, and the develop- 
ment of “Humanism.” 
Pharmacy and medicine, originally practiced by the same per- 
sons, became well recognized during the Renaissance as separate 
professions, and were looked upon with increasing respect, one 
reason being that they were in demand because of the prevalence of 
epidemic diseases at this time. Leprosy, ergotism (caused by eat- 
ing rye bread in which the rye had been infected with the ergot 
fungus), and black death or oriental plague were common. It is 
recorded that there were 200 lazar houses (pesthouses) in Great 
3ritain and over 2000 in France. The black death was responsible 
for the loss of 25% of the human race in the 13th and 14th cen- 
turies—an estimated total of 60 million people. 
The works of Chaucer (1340-1400), in which he takes several 
“cracks” at the physician and apothecary, reflect an intimate ac- 
quaintance with their callings. In his Canterbury Tales he says of 
the physician, ‘His studie was but litel on the Bible,” and, 

“He kepte that he wan in pestilence, 
For gold in physik is a cordia 
Therfore he lovede gold in ecu 4 
During the 14th and 15th centuries the search for the philoso- 
pher’s stone and the elixir of life went on fast and furiously, as 
the lives of Alain of Lisle, Ferarius, Flamel, Peter Bono, Basil 
Valentine, Bernard Trevisan, and others emphatically attest. 
An innovation of tremendous importance, profoundly affecting 
every branch of learning, dates from about 1450, namely, the in- 
vention of printing by the use of movable type. By means of this 
invention, knowledge could be far more easily disseminated, for it 
must be remembered that up to that time all books had to be 
written by hand. 
The discovery of America by Columbus, in 1492, is related in a 
rather direct way to medicine, for many drugs and spices were ex- 
