,6 4 



MEDICAL SCIENCES. 



of the Holy Empire, and promise them rich rewards if they would come to his 

 court. Hans Dockenburg, an Alsatian barber, restored him to health (1468) ; 

 but there is nothing to show that this accidental cure, effected no doubt by 

 empirical means, in any way increased the reputation of the German barber- 

 surgeons (Fig. 114). * 



There was an equal scarcity of able practitioners and learned professors 

 in England, where the surgeons were merely manufacturers and vendors of 

 plasters and ointments. When Henry V. invaded France in 1415, the only 



Fig. 113. An Operator. Designed and engraved in the Sixteenth Century by J. Amman. 



surgeon he had in his camp was Thomas Morstede, who was with difficulty 

 induced to accompany the army, bringing with him twelve assistants. In a 

 second expedition, undertaken by the same prince, the corporation of London 

 surgeons could not supply as many even as twelve volunteers, and the King 

 was compelled to authorise Thomas Morstede to press into his service as many 

 surgeons as the army required, and as many artisans as would be necessary 

 for making and repairing surgical instruments. The best operators were to 

 be found in France, and the celebrated Balescone of Florence professed and 

 practised surgery at the school of Montpellier. 



