253 



SALERNITANA SCHOLA. 



SALES, DE, FRANCIS, SAINT. 



254 



centuries. Ordericus Vitalis speaks of a woman unequalled in medi- 

 cine in 1059 : "Rodulfus cognomento Mala Corona, Physicae scientiam 

 tarn copiose habuit, ut in urbe Psalernitana, ubi maximro mcdicorum 

 scholso ab antiquo teuipore habentur, neminem in rnedicinali arte, 

 praetor quandam sapientem matrouam, sibi parem inveniret " (' Hist. 

 Eccl.,' lib. iii., ad an. 1509, p. 477). Abella wrote a poem in two books, 

 ' De Atrabile et de Natura Senoinis Humani.' Mercuralis composed 

 books ' De Crisibus,' ' De Febre Pestilenti,' ' De Curatione Vulnerum," 

 ' De Unguentis.' Rebecca, a work ' De Febribus, de Urinis, et de 

 Embryone.' Trotta or Trottula's book 'De Mulierum Passionibus 

 ante, in, et post Partum ' is allowed to be a forgery. Sentia Guerna 

 lectured on medicine, and Constantia Calenda received the honour of 

 the doctorate. 



It would be tedious to mention all the learned men who studied 

 physic at Salerno after the 12th century, of whom Mazza has given a 

 long catalogue. From these we may however except John de Procida, 

 a nobleman arid physician of Salerno, the friend and physician of 

 Manfred, king of Sicily, and the adviser of the Sicilian Vespers. 



When the ' Regimen Sanitatis ' was written, the professors contented 

 themselves with the humble title of the School of Salerno. By the 

 privileges of subsequent sovereigns, it was gradually constituted a 

 regular university. Ruggiero, king of Sicily, about the year 1137, 

 enacted a law that all who designed to practise medicine should be 

 examined and approved by his officials and judges, under the penalty 

 of the confiscation of all their goods. By ' officials ' it is supposed 

 that the physicians of Salerno were understood, as he had recently 

 given great privileges to that city. The Emperor Frederic II., having 

 established likewise a university at Naples, published edicts for its 

 government, which were finally promulgated in 1231. The study of 

 physic and lectures in that art were restrained to those two univer- 

 sities. Students were to apply themselves to logic for three years 

 before they commenced the study of medicine, which they were to 

 pursue for five years; nor were they then admitted till they had 

 practised for one year under an expert physician. After a public 

 examination, the University of Salerno had full power to grant a licence 

 to practise : that of Naples could only certify the sufficiency of the 

 candidate to the king or his chancellor, who granted the licence. The 

 names of 'doctor' and master were not then known as specific titles of 

 honour, but were used in their original significations for teachers or 

 persons skilled in-their art. 



The licensed practitioners took an oath to observe the regulations 

 respecting medicines, to inform the court if apothecaries did not pre- 

 pare their drugs properly, and to give advice to the poor gratis. Every 

 physician was to visit his patient at least twice a day, and once in the 

 night if necessary, and was not to receive for his attendance more than 

 half a golden tarena (a gold coin which weighed twenty grains, and 

 would now be worth four shillings and twopence) daily; or if called 

 out of the city, three tarense and his expenses, or four tarense to pro- 

 vide himself. He was not to undertake to cure a disorder for a specific 

 sum, or to keep an apothecary's shop, or to be in partnership with an 

 apothecary. Surgeons were to study for one year, and to be perfect 

 in anatomy before they were admitted to practise. Apothecaries 

 were to take an oath to compound their medicines according to the 

 forms prescribed, and for a fixed price, which for simple drugs was 

 three tarenae an ounce. Such were the regulations of the emperor 

 Frederic. The three professions appear to have been kept distinct as 

 early as the time of Avenzoar, who was born at Seville in the llth 

 century, and even in the time of Celsus. (Freind, ' Historia Medi- 

 cinse,' ed. Paris, 4to, 1735, p. 253 ; Le Clerc, 'Hist, de laMed.,' p. 334.) 

 These constitutions, and the privileges of the university of Salerno, 

 were confirmed and extended by other princes, and were in force in 

 modern times. They are the most ancient medical statutes in Europe, 

 and show the state of the medical professions in those early times. 

 When fully established, the university consisted of ten doctors, of 

 whom the eldest had the title of prior. Their common seal bore the 

 image of St. Matthew, their patron saint, whose body had been given 

 to them by Robert Guiscard, and the inscription of ' Civitas Hippo- 

 cratis.' Students were admitted to the doctorate by the solemn form 

 of having a book put into their hands, a ring_on their fingers, a crown 

 of laurel on their heads, and a kiss on their cheeks. (Mazza, cap. ix. ; 

 Freind, 'Hist. Med.') 



The medical science of the Arabians, thus introduced into Salerno, 

 was in substance that of the Greeks, from whom it was derived. In 

 the theory and cure of diseases they followed the opinions of Hippo- 

 crates and Galen ; not indeed in their native simplicity, but often 

 corrupted by their own vain and fanciful inventions, by the super- 

 stitions of astrology, and the follies of alchemy. (Freind, p. 479 ; 

 Gian., vol. ii., p. 119, sec. 3.) Yet it is admitted that the modern 

 science of medicine owes much to their improvements. They greatly 

 extended the Materia Medica by the introduction of many efficacious 

 remedies. They added to the list of medical plants. The first but 

 very gradual introduction of chemistry into medicine is wholly theirs 

 (as all the chemistry that is to be found in Greek writers relates to 

 the fusion or transmutation of metals), and many of their formula? of 

 compound medicines still retain a place in modern dispensatories. In 

 many points of practice they ventured to differ from their masters, 

 as in less copious bleedings, in milder purgatives, in substituting 

 sugar for honey in their syrups ; and they first gratified the eyes and 



the taste of their patients by clothing their prescriptions in gold and 

 silver leaf a luxury which continued till within the last few years. 



Under the title Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum,' we possess a 

 collection of dietetical precepts, written chiefly in Latin rhyming 

 hexameters. The poem ia dedicated, by the Medical School at Salerno, 

 to Robert, son of William the Conqueror, who is styled king of 

 England, and was probably composed by a physician of Salerno, at 

 the beginning of the llth century. Johannes de Mediolano is gene- 

 rally supposed to bo the author of it, which opinion was first started, 

 in 1649, by Zacharias Sylvius, on account of som5 manuscripts (one of 

 them as old as 1418) which had his name in the inscription ; how- 

 ever neither the earliest commentators and editors, nor the oldest 

 manuscripts make any mention of his name. The number of the 

 verses varies much in different manuscripts, as the poem in the middle 

 ages received by degrees many spurious additions. The oldest 

 editions, with the commentary of Arnaldus de Villanova, have only 

 three hundred and sixty-four verses, which may therefore be con- 

 sidered as the only genuine ones, since Arnaldus, who lived in the 

 14th century, and passed some time at Salerno, bad certainly an 

 opportunity of examining the most accurate copy of the poem. The 

 whole work was much esteemed, not only in the middle ages, but also 

 as late as the 17th century, and it is at the present time an important 

 source of information respecting the state of medicine in that age. A s 

 it was not designed for physicians, but for an unlearned sovereign, and 

 for general use, its object was rather the preservation of health than 

 the cure of diseases. The means prescribed for this purpose consist 

 in the due observation of the six non-naturals (strangely so called 

 because they are external, and not parts of the natural body), air, 

 food, exercise, sleep, the excretions, and the passions. To these heads 

 may be reduced the various rules of living in a salubrious air and 

 observing the changeful seasons; the minute detail of all kinds of 

 meat and drink, and the qualities of herbs, which constitute the great 

 bulk of the poem ; frequent exercise and ablutions, avoiding sleep at 

 improper times, not neglecting the calls of nature, and avoiding cares 

 and all other violent agitations of the mind. The number of editions 

 that have been published of this work is immense. A complete list 

 of them is prefixed to Ackermann's edition, 8vo, Stendal, 1790; Sir 

 Alexander Croke's, crown 8vo, Oxford, 1830; and in Choulant's 

 ' Haudbuch der Bucherkunde fur die Aeltere Medecin,' 8vo, Leipz., 

 1828 (from which two last works the preceding account has been 

 principally abridged). The best commentary is that by Arnaldus de 

 Villa Nova, which has been very frequently reprinted, and which has 

 formed the basis of most of the editions since published. It was first 

 published at Montpelier, 4to, 1480. Two of the most useful and 

 valuable editions (though without the Commentary of Arnaldus) are 

 Ackcrmann's and Croke's mentioned above. The work has also been 

 translated into German, French, English, Italian, Dutch, &c. ; and 

 upon the whole no medical work appears ever to have enjoyed greater 

 popularity. 



SALES, DE, FRANCIS, SAINT, was born at the castle of Sales, 

 near Annecy, in Savoy, on the 21st of August 1567. His parents, the 

 Count and Countess de Sales, are described as havirg adorned a noble 

 birth and elevated station by a life of the strictest piety. The early 

 years of Francis, their eldest son, were spent in acquiring the rudi- 

 ments of learning at the colleges of La Roche and Annecy. The 

 more effectually to pursue his studies, he was, in 1578, sent to Paris, 

 and placed under the care of the Jesuits. He soon became a proficient 

 in rhetoric and philosophy, and at the same time he did not neglect 

 those arts which are calculated to adorn an intercourse with society, 

 though in doing so he appears rather to have obeyed the wishes of his 

 father than to have followed his natural inclination. He remained in 

 Paris till 1584, when he was sent to Padua to study civil law under 

 Guy Panciroli. At Padua he formed an acquaintance, which after- 

 wards increased into friendship, with the Jesuit Antonio Possevino, 

 under whose spiritual direction he placed himself. His success at 

 Padua exceeded the expectations of his friends, and, at the age of 

 twenty-four, he left that university with a high reputation for learning 

 and piety. He afterwards spent some time in Italy, and made a pil- 

 grimage to Notre Dame of Loretto. On his return to his native 

 country he found that his father had obtained for him from the Duke 

 of Savoy the appointment of counsellor in the senate of Chambery, 

 and was desirous of uniting him with a rich heiress, whose fortune 

 would enable him to support the title which he was to inherit. The 

 mind of Francis, for a long time directed towards theological pursuits, 

 had however gradually acquired a disposition which could only be 

 satisfied by an entire devotion to them, and ho was anxious to enter 

 the Church ; but accustomed from childhood to yield obedience to his 

 father's wishes, he feared to make him acquainted with his desire. In 

 this difficulty he consulted a relation, Louis de Sales, who was canon 

 of the Church of Geneva, and through his mediation the Count de 

 Sales was induced to abandon his favourite project, and allowed his 

 son to devote himself to the ministry of the Church. After receiving 

 the first orders he was permitted by the bishop to preach. The 

 greatest success attended his first efforts in pulpit oratory. He pos- 

 sessed indeed all the qualities calculated to gain the attention of his 

 hearers : a voice powerful and pleasing, an animated and persuasive 

 action, an earnestness which gave evidence that he was himself deeply 

 convinced of the truths he was advocating, were heightened in their 



