690 



NATURE 



[July 28, 192 1 



Congress on the History of Medicine. 



' I ''HE Second International Congress on the 

 -'- History of Medicine has just been held in 

 Paris. The meetings were well attended, and 

 the papers were of a high level of interest, and 

 provoked some stimulating and fruitful discussions. 



The members of the congress, who numbered 

 several hundreds, were welcomed by the Chief 

 Officer for the Organisation of Advanced Studies 

 in France, representing the Minister of Public In- 

 struction, who was at the last moment prevented 

 from attending and delivering the inaugural address 

 owing to an important Cabinet meeting. The 

 Chief Officer emphasised the growing recognition 

 of the importance of the study of the history of 

 science, and especially of the history of biological 

 science and medicine, as a method of enlarging 

 the horizon both of the scientific worker and of 

 the specialised scholar. The membership of the 

 congress, which included the deans of all the great 

 French medical schools, bore eloquent witness to 

 this growing interest, and it was impressive to 

 see not only that almost every country (except 

 •our own) has established university chairs in the 

 subject, but also that excellent work is being done 

 throughout Europe. 



In Paris, as in Vienna, an extensive museum 

 illustrating the history of medicine has been at- 

 tached to the universUy. The interesting museum 

 in Paris was formally opened at the medical 

 faculty on the opening day of the congress. 



It is possible to mention only a few of the 

 papers that occupied a week's crowded programme. 

 Both France and Belgium were strongly repre- 

 sented. Dr. Singer took the chair at the first 

 session, when Prof. Jeanselme gave an account 

 of diets in Byzantine hospitals and convents, de.- 

 duced with great skill and ingenuity from con- 

 temporary non-medical documents. Prof. Jean- 

 selme also gave an interesting paper drawing bio- 

 logical deductions from the records of medieval 

 astrological lore. Prof. M6netrier spoke of 

 Eutrapel and sixteenth-century medicine. 



M. Polain, of the Biblioth^que Nationale, 

 pleaded for international co-operation in the 

 "bibliography of ancient medicine. In this matter 

 substantial British contributions are available. 

 The publication is eagerly awaited of the very 

 complete and trustworthy " Bibliography of 

 Medical Incunabula " up to the year i48.t;, com- 

 piled by the late Sir William Osier ; while Mrs. 

 Singer's "Catalogue of Early Scientific Manu- 

 scripts in the British Isles " provides a guide, 

 available to students, though not vet all published, 

 to the manuscript material of this countrv. Dr. 

 Wickersheimer, the scholarly librarian of Stras- 

 l)ourg University, contributed two most illumin- 

 ating papers on fourteenth-century medicine. 



Dr. Tricot Royer, the president of the first con- 

 gress, which met last year in Antwerp, gave an 

 account of the hospitals of Antwerp from the year 

 1000 tQ the present day. The publication of his 

 volume on this subject is eagerly awaited by 

 NO. 2700, VOL. 107] 



scholars. Switzerland was represented by Prof. 

 Cumston, of Geneva, and by Dr. Sigerist, the 

 newly appointed lecturer in the history of medicine 

 at Zurich, who gave a scholarly account of Conrad 

 Heingarter and the astrological medicine of the 

 fifteenth century. The professor of the history 

 of medicine from the Jugo-Slav University of 

 Prague spoke on Czech medicine in the fourteenth 

 century, while another member from Prague gave 

 an account of the rich store of material for medical 

 history provided by the surviving graduation 

 theses of the ancient university, extending over a 

 period of many centuries. 



From this country came an interesting paper on 

 Harvey by Sir D'Arcy Power, and an account of 

 pomanders by Mr. Thompson, of the Wellcome 

 Museum. Dr. J. D. Rolleston joined in the dis- 

 cussions. Dr. Singer contributed a fourteenth- 

 century text of the lost work of Guy de Chauliac 

 on astrology, and Mrs. Singer gave an account of 

 medieval plague tractates, and produced a Catalan 

 hymn to St. Sebastian for preservation against the 

 plague which she and Dr. Singer had discovered 

 still in use in the Pyrenean village of Plants. 



Lack of space prevents an account of the valu- 

 able papers from Armenian members of the 

 congress, from Venice, Madrid, Lisbon, Copen- 

 hagen, Gorinchem and The Hague, Rio de 

 Janeiro, and many other places. 



Nor was the programme confined to papers and 

 discussions. The courteous and indefatigable 

 secretaries, Dr. Laignel-Lavastine and Dr. 

 Fosseyeux, had organised a series of entertain- 

 ments. The congress visited the Biblioth^que 

 Nationale, St. Germain, the Louvre, and other 

 museums, besides a number of the more ancient 

 hospitals, and in each case the visitors had the 

 privilege of an address from the heads of the in- 

 stitutions, who showed them the chief treasures. 

 Baron Henri de Rothschild invited them to a per- 

 formance of "Caducee," the remarkable medical 

 play now enjoying great popularity in Paris, and 

 the week was further enlivened by an admirable 

 concert by an orchestra of medical men at the 

 Cercle Volney, and by a reception given by the 

 Municipality of Paris. 



All members of the congress were struck by 

 the number and high level of the papers con- 

 tributed to the congress from both France and 

 Belgium. It is indeed remarkable that these 

 countries, the greatest sufferers from the war, 

 have led the way in the establishment of the Con- 

 gress on the History of Medicine, and hav 

 made so conspicuous a success of the first two 

 meetings. 



Dr. Singer gave a cordial invitation for the 

 congress to meet next year at the Royal Society 

 of Medicine in London, and the proposal was 

 accepted with enthusiasm. 



Will next year's congress see the establishmeni 

 of a chair in this subject, and the opening of a 

 museum attached to the University? 



