NATURE 
Marcu 3, 1923] 
281 

all these problems there hovers at the present time | 
a mysterious obscurity. In spite of the enormous 
empirical and theoretical material which lies before 
us, the flame of thought which shall illumine the 
obscurity is still wanting. Let us hope that the day 
is not far distant when the mighty labours of our 
generation will be brought to a successful conclusion.” 
H. S. ALLEN. 

History of Medicine. 
(1) The School of Salernum: Regimen Sanitatis 
Salernitanum. The English Version, by Sir John 
Harington. History of the School of Salernum, by 
Dr. Francis R. Packard, and a Note on the Pre- 
history of the Regimen Sanitatis, by Dr. Fielding 
H.Garrison. Pp.216. (London : Oxford University 
Press, 1922.) 14s. net. : 
(2) Life and Times of Ambroise Paré (1510-1590) : 
With a New Translation of his Apology and an 
Account of his Journeys in Divers Places. By Dr. 
F. R. Packard. Pp. xii+297. (London: Oxford 
University Press, 1922.) 28s. net. 
(3) The Gold-Headed Cane. By Dr. W. Macmichael. 
New edition. Pp. xxvii+261. (London: Oxford 
University Press, n.d.) 16s. net. 
HE growing interest in the study of the history 
of medicine to which the recent congress held in 
London testified (see NATURE, August 26, 1922, p. 296), 
is further exemplified by the publication of these three 
fine volumes from the Oxford University Press under 
the editorship of Dr. Francis S. Packard, editor of 
“The Annals of Medical History.” All the works 
in question are classics, and perusal of them forms an 
attractive introduction to the study of medical history, 
illustrating as they do the development of medicine 
at different periods. 
(x) The “ Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum” is a 
_ handbook of domestic medicine written in verse for 
the benefit of laymen and particularly for Robert, 
Duke of Normandy, the eldest son of William the 
Conqueror, who on his way to the Holy Land passed 
a winter at Salerno in 1096. He visited it again on 
his return from the Crusades in rog9, to seek relief, 
it is said, for a poisoned wound of the arm which he 
had received in the war. As Dr. Garrison points out 
in an introductory note, in the r4th and 15th centuries 
there was a veritable flood of hygienic rules addressed 
to great lords and ladies for their use in travel, cam- 
paigns, or pregnancy, all dealing with dietetics, oral 
hygiene, care of the hair, sleep, etc. The author- 
ship of the “Regimen” is doubtful. Although 
Daremberg, who published the most complete modern 
edition in 1830, regarded it as the work of several hands, 
NO. 2783, VOL. 111] 
it is generally attributed to John of Milan, who was 
head of the School of Salerno at the end of the rrth 
century. The text of the various copies in existence 
differs considerably in length. Thus the text annotated 
by Arnold of Villa Nova (1235-1311), which is used in 
the present edition, contains 363 lines, whereas some 
manuscript editions contain less; and others more 
than a thousand lines. The translation in this edition 
is that published in 1607 by Sir John Harington, a 
well-known scholar and courtier of the time of Queen 
Elizabeth, under the title of ‘“‘ The Englishmans Doctor 
or The Schoole of Salerne or Physicall Observations 
for the perfect Preserving of the Body of Man in 
Continuall Health.’”’ The English text is accompanied 
by notes and embellished by curious illustrations taken 
from old editions of the “ Regimen.” A list of the 
more readily accessible works dealing with the School 
of Salerno is appended. 
(2) The volume dealing with Ambroise Paré will by 
many readers be found to be the most attractive of 
the three books under notice. It contains not only a 
translation in which the spirit of the original is well 
preserved, of one of Paré’s most remarkable writings, 
but also an admirable sketch of the period in which he 
lived, including an account of the Faculté de Médecine, 
the Confrérie de Saint Come, and the community of 
barber surgeons, as well as a chronological description 
of Paré’s works. The “ Apologie et traite contenant 
les voyages faits en divers lieux,” of which Dr. Packard 
offers a new and complete translation, was written in 
answer to a book published in 1580 by Etienne 
Gourmelen, dean of the Faculté de Médecine, who 
attacked Paré for his treatment of wounds and his 
use of the ligature. After showing that he had been 
preceded in the use of the ligature by a host of great 
authorities, including Hippocrates, Galen, Avicenna, 
Guy de Chauliac, Vesalius, Jean de Vigo, and others, 
Paré relates the histories of cases in which he had 
applied the method with success. The rest of the 
work consists of a description of the campaigns in 
Italy, France, Germany, and Flanders in which Paré 
took part, and of those whom “he dressed and God 
cured.”’ The book is copiously illustrated, there being 
27 full page plates, 22 text illustrations, and two folded 
maps of Paris of the 16th and 17th centuries. 
(3) A cane in previous centuries was the appanage 
of every physician, and was usually crowned with a 
hollow knob of gold, silver, or ivory containing aromatic 
substances to keep off contagion. The gold-headed cane 
which has given its name to this volume had a crutch- 
shaped handle. The book consists of the supposed 
narration of a gold-headed cane which originally 
belonged to Radcliffe; and passed successively into 
the hands of Mead, Askew, Pitcairn, and Baillie, whose 
iy 
