A HISTORY OF SCIENCE 



able men whose ideas are centuries ahead of their time. 

 This was particularly true of Paul in regard to surgery, 

 and his attitude towards the supernatural in the causa- 

 tion and treatment of diseases. He was essentially a 

 surgeon, being particularly familiar with military sur- 

 gery, and some of his descriptions of complicated and 

 difficult operations have been little improved upon 

 even in modern times. In his books he describes such 

 operations as the removal of foreign bodies from the nose, 

 ear, and esophagus ; and he recognizes foreign growths 

 such as polypi in the air-passages, and gives the method 

 of their removal. Such operations as tracheotomy, ton- 

 sellotomy, bronchotomy, staphylotomy, etc., were per- 

 formed by him, and he even advocated and described 

 puncture of the abdominal cavity, giving careful direc- 

 tions as to the location in which such punctures should 

 be made. He advocated amputation of the breast for 

 the cure of cancer, and described extirpation of the 

 uterus. Just how successful this last operation may 

 have been as performed by him does not appear ; but he 

 would hardly have recommended it if it had not been 

 sometimes, at least, successful. That he mentions it 

 at all, however, is significant, as this difficult operation 

 is considered one of the great triumphs of modern 

 surgery. 



But Paul of ^gina is a striking exception to the 

 rule among Byzantine surgeons, and as he was their 

 greatest, so he was also their last important surgeon. 

 The energies of all Byzantium were so expended 

 in religious controversies that medicine, like the 

 other sciences, was soon relegated to a place among 

 the other superstitions, and the influence of the 



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