1 40 MEDICAL SCIENCES. 



fingers instead, of six ; why such and such an intestine is of one shape more 

 than of another ; why the human head is round, &c. In the meanwhile the 

 monks of Mount Lebanon and the ascetics of Mount Atlas, in obedience to 

 the rules of their order, worked incessantly at the translation and copying 

 committing many blunders, unfortunately of the early texts relating to 

 the theory of medicine, in order that the information possessed by the ancients 

 might not be lost to the Christian world. 



Amidst all these obscurities of science, a few illustrious savants formed 

 bright exceptions. Thus Aetius, of Amidu in Mesopotamia, was to the fifth 

 what Alexander of Tralles was to the middle of the sixth century. The 

 former, a Greek physician, collected, under the title of " Tetrabiblos," the 

 observations and doctrines of his predecessors, completing and elucidating 

 them with great judgment. For instance, his work contains a very plausible 

 theory upon fever, a detailed description of the principal diseases of the eye, 

 and a series, of very precise descriptions of the functional disorders caused in 

 the organism by various morbid complaints. His therapeutics in cases of 

 acute disease are based upon the principles of Hippocrates, and prove that he 

 possessed real learning, enriched by experience and refined by excellent logic. 

 Amongst pther things, Aetius advocates a regular diet and care in the selec- 

 tion of aliments ; he points out the good effects of fresh air and cold water in 

 cases of angina and in pulmonary complaints. " May the God of Abraham 

 and of Jacob," he exclaimed when preparing one of his remedies, " give to 

 this medicine the virtues which I believe it to possess ! " (Fig. 98.) 



After Aetius comes Alexander of Tralles, whose medical reputation 

 was very great in the sixth century. No Greek doctor since the days of 

 Hippocrates had equalled him with regard to practical science, professional 

 sagacity, and literary merit. He had made himself acquainted with all the 

 facts which had been observed and collated before his time ; but he did not 

 allow himself to become the slave of any scientific authority, or to be seduced 

 by any doctrine, recognising no other guide than his own experience. He 

 possessed to a supreme degree the art of diagnosis, and he laid down as a 

 principle that no decision should be arrived at, as to the treatment of a case, 

 until the specific and individual causes of the disease have been carefully 

 sought out and considered. His views upon melancholia and gout, his dislike 

 of violent aperients and the abuse of opium, his preference for laxatives in 

 cases of dysentery and for emetics in cases of intermittent fever, testify both 



