MEDI/EVAL SCIENCE IN THE WEST 



even in modern times. In one of these opera- 

 tions he successfully removed a portion of a man's 

 brain. 



Surgery was undoubtedly stimulated greatly at this 

 period by the constant wars. Lay physicians, as a 

 class, had been looked down upon during the Dark 

 Ages'; but with the beginning of the return to ration- 

 alism the services of surgeons on the battle-field, to 

 remove missiles from wounds, and to care for wounds 

 and apply dressings, came to be more fully appreciated^ 

 In return for his labors the surgeon was thus afforde 

 better opportunities for observing wounds and diseases, 

 which led naturally to a gradual improvement in sur- 

 gical methods. 



FIFTEENTH-CENTURY MEDICINE 



The thirteenth and fourteenth centuries had seen 

 some slight advancement in the science of medicine; 

 at least, certain surgeons and physicians, if not the gen- 

 erality, had made advances; but it was not unti. 

 fifteenth century that the general revival of medical 

 learning became assured. In this movement, natural- 

 ly, the printing-press played an all-important part. 

 Medical books, hitherto practically inaccessible to the 

 great mass of physicians, now became common, and 

 this output of reprints of Greek and Arabic treatises 

 revealed the fact that many of the supposed true 

 copies were spurious. These discoveries very natural- 

 ly aroused all manner of doubt and criticism, which 

 in turn helped in the development of independent 

 thought. 



39 



