390 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 



ingly set about the study of the original writings of Hippocrates 

 and Galen. Early in the sixteenth century, the Greek physic 

 was diligently studied ; and in the course of that century much 

 pains was bestowed in illustrating the Greek writings, particu- 

 larly at Paris. A Hippocratic school, as Haller properly enough 

 calls it, was established by Jacobus Sylvius, Fernelius, Hol- 

 lerius, Duretus, Ballonius, and others. In studying these Greek 

 writings, they imagined that the doctrines had been often cor- 

 rupted by the Arabians, and therefore they decried these Ara- 

 bians, and would admit of no knowledge but what was imme- 

 diately derived from the Greeks. Such, however, is the attach- 

 ment of mankind to what they have been accustomed to, that 

 some schools, as they had been long in the habit of taking their 

 knowledge from the Arabians, retained some respect for their first 

 masters, and even maintained that in many cases they had im- 

 proved upon the Greeks. Some physicians, therefore, strictly 

 adhered to the Arabians, upon whose doctrines they had been 

 formed ; whilst others were for restoring the practice of the 

 Greeks. Such was the occasion of the famous controversy 

 about blood-letting in pleurisy, in the beginning of the six- 

 teenth century. The Arabians had been accustomed to 

 bleed on the side opposite to the part affected, but it was found 

 that the Greeks bled on the same side. Brissot and several others 

 proposed to follow the Greek physicians, as the higher authority ; 

 but many even of considerable rank in those days, defended and 

 followed the practice of the Arabians. The controversy rose so 

 high that the authority of Charles V. was necessary to compose it. 

 This, with other such disputes, contributed to promote the study 

 of the practice, and to make some considerable changes in it. 



The Arabians continued to have many followers for a long 

 time after ; and even in the middle of the seventeenth century, 

 Rolfinck, a professor of Jena, prelected upon Rhazes, and Plem- 

 pius of Leyden published and commented upon a work of Avi- 

 cenna : yet, during the course of the sixteenth century, the 

 party of the Greeks prevailed more and more, and the Arabians 

 came to be entirely neglected. . 



However, whether physicians pretended to follow the Greeks 

 or the Arabians, the system was fundamentally the same, to 

 wit, that of Galen. Fernelius attempted improvements both in 



