636 ANNUAL REPOET SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1917. 



showed this nifluence of humanism more than medicine and natural 

 science, and it is no exaggeration when the philosopher Windelband ^ 

 says in his history of philosophy : 



Natural science is the daughter of humanism. 



The history of medicine in the thirteenth and first part of the four- 

 teenth century covers that period which has been called the Arabic 

 era ; a period which gave a new impetus to the scientific evolution in 

 medicine and enriched medical science in many fields. But while the 

 Arabic influence is not to be underrated, it became evident upon the 

 revival of learning and under the growing influence of classical 

 studies, especially of Greek, that the Arabic medical writers, includ- 

 ing Avicenna, had never had access to the originals of the great 

 medical w^riters of antiquity and therefore had either misinterpreted 

 or misunderstood their doctrines. It was felt necessary to go back 

 to the original source of information, to study the great writers in 

 their original language, to examine critically their writings, to com- 

 pare the different texts, and to annotate them for better understand- 

 ing. This was the origin of that tendency in medicine during the 

 latter part of the fifteenth and the first part of the sixteenth century 

 which stimulated the scientific endeavors of many medical writers, 

 who formed what Haeser ^ so appropriately terms " The philological 

 medical school." 



II. 



The most prominent of these writers, equally distinguished for his 

 learning both in philology and in medicine, and aiso as one of the 

 founders of scientific botany, is Leonhard Fuchs, whose name is 

 commemorated by the genus Fuchsia named in his honor. 'Wliile in 

 the histories of botany Fuchs is treated with that thoroughness which 

 he deserves, the historiographers of medicine have paid less attention 

 to him with the exception of Kurt Sprengel.^ Haeser, in the short 

 chapter devoted to the philological medical school, mentions him 

 among the other writers who belong to this circle. The character 

 of Pagel-Sudhoff's introduction to the history of medicine * precludes 

 a detailed sketch of his life and work. 



Leonhard Fuchs, born in 1501, at Wemding, Bavaria, w^as the son 

 of Johann Fuchs, a councilor of the same town, and of Anna Denton, 

 whose father was also a councilor. Since his father died when he was 



1 windelband, W. Geschichte der neueren rhllosophie, 5 Aufl. 2 Bde. Leipzig, Breit- 

 kopf & Hiirtel, 1911. 



2 Haeser, Helnrlch. Lehrbuch der Geschichte der Medizln. ?,. Bearbeitung. 3 Bde. 

 Jena, H. Dufft, 1875-82. 



3 Sprengel, Kurt P. J. Versuch einer pragmatischen Geschichte der Arzneikunde. 

 3 Aufl. 5 Bde. Halle, J. J. Gebauer, 1821-28. 



" Pagel, J. L. Elnfiihrung In die Geschichte der Medizln. 2. Aufl. Durchgeschon vou 

 Karl Sudhoff. Berlin, S. Karger, 1915. 



