J 90 IJIVI BOTANICI. 



lice of' Physic ; by Paul of iEgina* in his Book of Simples ; by 

 Actuariust in his System of Prescriptions ; by Messue,^ Avicen- 



Tuscany ; but, whether he finished his days in Italy or in the land of his 

 forefathers, is a circumstance unnoted in biography : even the date of his 

 decease is unknown. 



• Pauli yEginetse de Re Medico, libri septem, grace, curante Hieronymo Ge- 

 musceo, M.D. folio, Venetiis, 1528. Pavli /Egineta? Medici Opera, interprcte 

 Joanne Guinterio, M.D. 8vo, Lugduni, 1589, p. 723, 804. — Paulus acquired 

 the surname yEgineta from his birth-place JEgina, an island in the yEgean 

 sea. The epoch of his career remains undetermined ; from varying eviden- 

 ces, it has been referred to the fourth, and to the fifth, and to the eighth cen- 

 tury. He spent several years of his youth in studying philosophy and 

 physic, in Greece, Egypt, and other countries ; and, on retiring to his native 

 isle, he devoted his cares to the cure of sickness and his leisure to the culture 

 of medical literature. His fame as a " Healer of Diseases" was widely ex- 

 tended : in history, he stands as the patriarch of the tribe of male midwives : 

 his chirurgical precepts intercept the value of some applauded modern disco- 

 veries. 



■f Actuarii de Compositione Medkamentorum tiber, Joanne Ruellio interprete; 

 12mo, Parisiis, 1539. Actuarii Jonnnis Jilii Zachnrice Opera ; 8vo, 2 tomis, 



P<msm,1556 John the son of Zachariah occupies an honourable position in 



modern medical literature as " Aetuarius" the actuary, a designation in pe- 

 culiar use at the imperial court of Constantinople, where the title had an 

 import similar to that of physician to the sovereign and his family. Much 

 ingenious conjecture has been exercised in attempts by successive biologists 

 to fix the age when he flourished. From adduced reasons, it is thus variously 

 concluded that John the " actuarius" lived in the twelfth, or in the thir- 

 teenth, or in the fourteenth century: but, passing these respectable specula- 

 tions, he is usually regarded as the last of the Greek physicians. The inci- 

 dents of this philosopher's life have escaped from the records of human 

 action, but most of his writings are preserved : they abound with testimonies 

 to the extent and value of ancient science, of which he is a harmonious and 

 systematic expositor. 



J Johannis Mesve Opera, cum complemento et additionihus clarissimi doctoris 

 Francisi dc Pedemontio ; jolio, Venetiis, 1478. Opera Omnia, cum nnnotntioni- 

 bus variis, ah Andrea Marino, M.D. casligata ; folio, Venetiis, 1562 — Jahiah 

 ebn Masouiah, known in the European tongues as John Messue\ was born at 

 Khouz near the site of ancient Nineveh, towards the close of the eighth cen- 

 tury. He was educated at Bagdad ; and, in after life, he enjoyed the friend- 

 ship of three successive Caliphs and was their physician : these were Haroun 

 al Raschid, Al jVlamoun and Motawakkel, the former being the munificent 

 prince whose splendours are displayed in the " Tales of the One Thousand 

 and One Nights." Masouiah excelled the cotemporary philosophers in his 

 profound acquaintance with literature and the sciences : in philology, he was 

 so eminent that the caliphs entrusted to his charge the translation of instruc- 

 tive writings from the Greek, Persian and Syriac languages. Among his 

 physiological and botanical principles, some were original, some approached 

 (hose of Linmeus nearly, and many will be respected by posterity. He died 



