160 MEDICAL SCIENCES. 



too, the use of mineral waters again became general, and the doctors 

 'recommended to the sick, and especially to those just recovering from an 

 illness, the ancient sources of Neris, Vichy, Plombieres, Aix-la-Chapelle, 

 &c., which would have had still more visitors if the roads had heen better, 

 and a residence at these thermal stations more secure. Many localities, 

 formerly celebrated for the cure of chronic diseases, became places of 

 pilgrimage ; and though these pilgrimages retained their religious character, 

 they were approved of and encouraged by the doctors. 



It is mortifying to find that in the principal towns of France, Germany, 

 and .Italy the authorities made no effort to arrest the superstitious ideas 

 which prevailed. From time to time the Jews, the lepers, the insane, and 

 the imbecile were accused of poisoning the fountains, the wells, the rivers, 

 and. even the air, and they were seized and cast into prison, and often put 

 to death. Sometimes, it is true, these iniquitous acts were attributable to 

 the blind fury of the populace, determined to take what they believed to be 

 justice into their own hands ; but in some cases the urban administration 

 took part in the massacre, and became responsible for it, as when the council 

 of the city of Metz ordered the punishment of several lepers, "who were 

 executed -for their un worthiness." Moreover, in times of epidemic, the 

 population invariably demanded the extermination of the lepers and the 

 Jews. 



In the meanwhile the rivalry was going on at Paris between the surgeons 

 and the barbers. The former, having exhausted in vain all their efforts to 

 put down the pretensions of the barbers, addressed, in 1390, the following 

 petition to the University : " "We, your humble scholars and disciples, 

 appeal to your venerable authority, to the masters of the Faculty of Medi- 

 cine" (Fig. 112). The physicians, appeased by this indirect act of submis- 

 sion, promised the surgeons to lend them their support so far as they 

 remained "true scholars." But whether because the doctors of the faculty 

 changed their minds, or because the Crown interfered in the interests of the 

 public, even at the expense of a privileged body, Charles V. did not take 

 part with the surgeons, and by his silence confirmed the professional inde- 

 pendence of the master barbers. The surgeons thereupon adopted a better 

 and more dignified way of asserting their superiority. " Henceforth," they 

 declared in their new statutes, " every apprentice shall be able to speak and 

 write good Latin ; moreover, he shall be of comely appearance and free 



