MEDICINE. 



MEERSCHAUM. 



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repute (and theirs is but small) are Sextus Empiricus, Oribasius, 

 Alexander Trallianus, and Paulus of jEgina ; and after the death of 

 the last of these, no medical work of the least merit was published in 

 the Greek language. 



From the 7th to the 12th century the only nation in which medicine 

 made any progress, or was even prevented from retrograding, was the 

 Arabian. It appears that on the conquest of Alexandria some books 

 were saved from the burning of its magnificent library, and that among 

 them were the writings of Hippocrates and Galen. The latter were 

 soon translated into Arabic and diligently studied ; and all the earliest 

 Arabian works on medicine, as those of Ahrun in the 8th, and Serapion 

 in the 9th century, are little more than transcripts of those of Galen. 

 One of the most illustrious of the Arabian school was Rhazes [RHAZES, 

 in BIOG. Drv.], who was born in the 9th century/and whose works 

 contain many original observations, of which the most remarkable 

 relate to some important diseases, unknown to, or at least not described 

 by former writers, as smallpox and measles. In those parts of his 

 writings which relate to pharmacy lihazes describes some of the earliest 

 of what are called chemical remedies, which are doubtless suggested by 

 the recent origin of the systematic practice of chemistry among his 

 countrymen. After Rhazes was Ali- Abbas, and after him Avicenna 

 [AVICE.NSA, in Bioo. Div.], who attained the highest repute of all. 

 He was born in 980, and has left voluminous writings, which however 

 appear to show that his fame is deserved only when he is placed in 

 comparison with his contemporaries. Neither Avicenna nor the later 

 writers, Mesue and Albucasis, contributed anything of importance to 

 the progress of medicine. Avenzoar and Averroes were disciples of 

 the Arabian school, and, though natives of Spain, wrote in the Arabic 

 language. The former was the preceptor of the Litter, and lived in 

 the llth century, and his works are among the few that exhibit even 

 slight departures from the doctrines of Galen. The circumstances 

 which chiefly mark the period of the Arabian school of medicine are, 

 the more correct description of several diseases, the first records of 

 some new and imrartant ones, and the introduction of several valuable 

 remedies, both from the vegetable productions of the tropical and 

 oriental countries, and from the chemical processes which were then 

 first brought into general use. But the physicians adhered too care- 

 fully to the doctrines of Galen to make much progress in their science ; 

 and anatomy, physiology, and pathology appear to have been almost 

 entirely neglected. 



From the decline of the Arabian school in the 12th century to the 

 beginning of the 15th, the history of medicine presents few circum- 

 stances of interest The dissection of the human body was first pub- 

 licly practised by Mondini at Bologna, about the year 1315 ; and at 

 about the same time lived Gilbert, the first English writer on medicine 

 who acquired any repute. Between the 12th and 15th centuries 

 several of the most important universities were founded, with a school 

 of medicine attached to each : that of Salerno was established in the 

 12th century, that of Montpelier in the 13th, those of Bologna, Vienna, 

 and Paris in the 14th, and in the 15th those of Rome, Padua, Pavia, 

 and several other cities in Italy. By means of these, and by the im- 

 petus which, with all other sciences, it received from the invention of 

 printing, medicine again commenced a forward course. In this country 

 it derived the greatest advantages from Linacre [LINACRE, in BIOG. 

 Div.] and the establishment of the College of Physicians, to whose 

 members, in succeeding years, several of the most brilliant discoveries 

 are due. 



In the 15th century the sect of chemical physicians arose, and their 

 doctrines, under the bold advocacy of Paracelsus, who publicly burnt 

 the writings of Galen, obtained considerable credit and numerous sup- 

 porters. Then* main assertion was that the operations of the living 

 body are entirely governed by the same chemical laws as obtain in 

 inorganic matter ; and the works of all the writers of the 15th century 

 are filled with arguments in support either of this doctrine or of the 

 more ancient tenets of Galen. The Galenists were of course the more 

 learned party, who were well versed in the ancient books ; while the 

 chemists were chiefly those who were mono practically skilled in the 

 arts of that newly discovered science. Neither party can be said to 

 bave much advanced the knowledge of medicine ; but in the middle 

 of the 16th century the most important improvement commenced in 

 the diligent and accurate study of anatomy by Vesalius [VESALIUS, in 

 BIOG. Div.], who, disregarding the general obloquy which he incurred, 

 carefully studied the structure of the most important parts of the 

 human body. 



.From the time of Vesalius, the study of anatomy was diligently 

 pursued, and in the early part of the 1 7th century was rewarded by 

 several of the most interesting and important discoveries ; as that of 

 the circulation by Harvey [HARVEY, in Bioo. Div.], of the absorbents 

 by Asellius, of the process of respiration by Malpighi [MALFIOHI, in 

 Bioo. Div.], and numerous others. Among the most celebrated men 

 of the 17th century, may be enumerated Glisson, Bartholin, lludbeck, 

 Fabricius, Hooke, Sylvius, Willis, Riolanus, Fallopius, and Bellini. 

 All of them were employed in the diligent pursuit of anatomical and 

 logical knowledge ; and, somewhat later, Sydenham [SYDENHAM, 

 in Bioo. Div.] again introduced a truly Hippocratic mode of obser- 

 vation of the phenomena of disease in its symptoms, causes, and 

 effects, and in the influence of remedies upon it. By the combined 

 efforts of the anatomists and the practical physicians, medicine in this 



century made the most remarkable progress, although, it was in some 

 measure checked by the attempted application of the laws of mechanics 

 (then, from the discoveries of Newton and others, the dominant science) 

 to the explanation of all the phenomena of the living body. The iatro- 

 mathematicians, as those who supportvl this theory were called, were 

 long engaged with the chemists, who had already conquered the 

 Galenists ; and to these rival sects was then added that of the Vitalists, 

 founded by Van Helmont [HELMONT, VAN, in BIOG. Div.], which at 

 last obtained complete ascendancy over both. The Vitalists held that 

 there is in the living body a principle (upon which different members 

 of the sect conferred different hypothetical appellations) which presides 

 over and directs all the processes of the living body, and is directly 

 opposed to the influence of chemical and mechanical agents. Stahl, 

 Hoffmann, and Boerhaave were of this school, though each considerably 

 modified the opinions of its founder. 



Among the pupils of Boerhaave were Van Swieten and Haller. 

 [HALLER, in BIOG. Div.] The former adopted the hypothetical spirit 

 of the school too closely to add much of real value to medical science ; 

 but the latter may be fairly considered to have done more for it than 

 any other single individual. Before the time of Haller, the cases of 

 Harvey, Glisson, Malpighi, and others who devoted themselves to the 

 simple observation of facts and the evident deductions from them, were 

 exceptional ; but since his time, the exceptions have rather been those 

 who, with a comparative neglect of observation, have endeavoured only 

 to find or support some theory by which all the phenomena they met 

 with might seem explained. Haller's contemporary Culleu [CULLEN, 

 in Bioo. Drv.], though he yielded much more to theory, was of 

 eminent service in the study of practical medicine ; and his opponent 

 Brown is acknowledged to have introduced many useful lessons in 

 the same branch of the study. 



With the gradual oblivion of the hypotheses of both Cullen and 

 Brown, the theoretical study of medicine may be considered to have 

 entirely ceased, and in the present day we may certainly be said to be 

 without any general medical theory. From the time of Haller, 

 medicine has acquired more and more nearly the character of a science 

 of simple observation and the patient investigation of facts. Its 

 history would therefore consist of little more than a recital of succes- 

 sive discoveries, each perhaps small when compared 'with the vast 

 amount of knowledge still unexplored, yet altogether so numerous that 

 even a sketch of them could not be here introduced. The reader must 

 therefore be referred to the several articles on the different branches of 

 medicine and its collateral sciences, and to the lives [Bioo. Div.] of 

 those who have been most conspicuous for their discoveries. 



MEDITATIO FUGAE WARRANT, in the law of Scotland, is a 

 writ by which a debtor, supposed to be about to make his escape from 

 the country, is arrested and kept in custody until he pay the debt, or 

 find security to pay it if he shall be judicially found liable to do so. 

 It may be granted by any judge having jurisdiction in questions of 

 debtor and creditor, as by a sheriff, or the magistrates of a burgh. 

 "When granted by a sheriff, it has the advantage that it may bo 

 executed in any part of Scotland, whether without or within the 

 jurisdiction of the sheriff who grants it. 



MEDULLIN. A name given by John to the pith of the elder, 

 ' after it has been treated with water and with alcohol. It is insoluble 

 ' in water, alcohol, ether, oils, or dilute alkaline solutions ; concen- 

 trated sulphuric acid carbonises it ; nitric acid converts it into oxalic 

 acid. 



It is a modification of cellulose. [CELLULOSE.] 

 MEERSCHAUM means in German sea foam ; and the equivalent 

 French name of cumc de incr is applied to the same substance. It is a 

 silicated magnesian mineral, found in Greece, Turkey, and a few other 

 countries. It is used by the Tartars for washing linen, somewhat in 

 the same manner as pearl ash or fullers' earth. The mineral is 

 principally used however as a material for tobacco pipes, which, when 

 made, are soaked in melted tallow, then in white wax, and finally 

 polished with shave-grass. If genuine, a meerschaum pipe acquires a 

 beautiful brown colour after being smoked for some time, the oil of 

 the tobacco being absorbed by the clay ; and this is a point to which 

 connoisseurs in s"moking attach much importance. 



Dr. E. D. Clarke gives some interesting details on this subject. In 

 the Crimea the meerschaum clay is called keff-kil, and forms a stratum 

 about two feet thick, beneath a much thicker stratum of marl. " The 

 first rude form is given to the pipes upon the spot where the mineral 

 is found ; here they are pressed within a mould, and laid in the sun to 

 harden ; afterwards they are baked in an oven, boiled in milk, and 

 rubbed with soft leather. In this state they go to Constantinople, 

 where there is a peculiar bazaar or khan for the sale of them ; they are 

 then bought up by merchants, and sent by caravans to Pesth in 

 Hungary. Still the form of the pipe is large and rude. At Pesth a 

 manufacturer begins to fit them for the German markets. They are 

 there soaked for twenty-four hours in water, and then turned in a 

 lathe. In this process many of them, proving porous, are rejected. 

 Sometimes only two or three out of ten are deemed worthy of f urther 

 labour. From Pesth they are conveyed to Vienna, and frequently 

 mounted in silver. After this they are earned to the fairs of Leipsic, 

 Frankfort, Mannheim, and other towns upon the Rhine, where the best 

 sell from three to five and even seven pounds sterling. When the oil of 

 tobacco, after long smoking, has given them a fine porcelain yellow, or 



