i S 6 MEDICAL SCIENCES. 



and, to use the technical expression of the time, filled the " office de barberie, 

 sans conteste." 



This rule applied to all France, except to the provinces of Burgundy and 

 Lorraine, in which there were the great barbers and the litt/e barbers. The 

 latter, who were mere adventurers, travelled on foot, with their small wallet 

 and light purse, from village to village, to sell their antidotes and drugs, 

 while the great barber, sworn surgeon, called upon his patients, attired in a 

 long robe trimmed with fur, and bestriding a hackney, the tinkling of whose 

 bells announced his arrival a long way off. This master surgeon, often 

 accompanied by an assistant and several servants, carried in his case five or 

 six kinds of instruments ; to wit, scissors, nippers, a sort of probe called 

 tprouvette, razors, lances, and needles. He also had five sorts of ointment, 

 which were at that time looked upon as indispensable : the basilicon, which 

 was considered a maturative remedy ; the apostles' ointment, for quickening 

 the vitality of bad flesh ; the white ointment, for consolidating the flesh; the 

 yellow ointment, for stimulating the growth of proud flesh ; and the dialtcea 

 ointment, for subduing local pain. The great barbers did even more than this, 

 and Guy de Chauliac says, " I never went out on my visits without taking 

 with me several clysters and plain remedies, and I gathered herbs in the 

 fields, so as to treat diseases in a proper manner, winning thereby honour, 

 profit, and many friends." 



Guy de Chauliac, who was appointed physician to three popes at Avignon, 

 Clement VI., Innocent VI., and Urban V., was, moreover, very particular as 

 to the conditions under which a surgeon should be allowed to practise. He 

 insisted that a surgeon should be " well educated, clever, and of good morality ; 

 bold when he saw his way clear, prudent in doubtful cases, kind to his 

 patients, gracious towards his colleagues, modest in giving an opinion, chaste, 

 sober, pitiful, and merciful ; not greedy of gain, but receiving a modest 

 remuneration, according to his labour, the means of the patient, the result of 

 the illness, and his own dignity." 



It was creditable to French surgery that such honourable sentiments 

 should have been expressed at a time when in neighbouring countries, and 

 notably in England, human credulity was being so scandalously imposed 

 upon by the most ignorant of characters. For instance, an English surgeon 

 called Goddesden had two sorts of prescriptions, one for the rich and another 

 for the poor ; he sold at a high price to the barbers a so-called panacea, which 



