March 20, 19 13] 



NATURE 



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this passage, as Avicenna lay near me, I 

 looked up this subject therein ; I did not find there 

 this paragraph as a whole, it is true, but I found 

 every or almost every sentence of it in Avicenna 

 (Lib. iii., Fen 14, Tr. 4), sentences condensed 

 either by John himself or by someone whom 

 John copied. And thus, with a little trouble, 

 I suspect we might run to earth most 

 or all of John of Gaddesden's clinical equipment. 

 I turned to Avicenna remembering that Razes 

 diagnosed ascites by fluctuation and percussion. 



It is not quite easy to account for the sterility 

 of Great Britain in medicine, as in much other 

 knowledge, during the fourteenth and early 

 fifteenth centuries. Gaddesden's book must have 

 been written before the Black Death. Edward the 

 Third was an accomplished sovereign, and Eng- 

 land was not more harried by wars than France, 

 yet we have nothing distinguished to show before 

 the time when began the great procession of 

 Gilbert, Clowes the elder, Harvey, Glisson, 

 Wharton, Willis, Lower, Wiseman, Mayow, to 

 prove that Englishmen were capable of carrying 

 the banner of medicine as high as their neigh- 

 bours. Before the revival it is true that England 

 was somewhat isolated from the main streams 

 of European learning. Anyhow, the history of 

 medicine in England before the accession of the 

 Tudors is a dreary studv. 



We know how well equipped in the fourteenth 

 century Merton was, or ought to have been, in 

 this field ; and Gaddesden was of Merton. Per- 

 haps no faculty has been so robbed of its endow- 

 ments as medicine ; witness also the Linacre trusts 

 and the Gresham College ; moreover, of the three 

 "philosophies," the natural branch was gradually 

 eliminated. It is interesting to learn, however, 

 from Dr. Cholmeley that John was a graduate in 

 medicine. I am not sure if Dr. Cholmeley has 

 any higher authority for this title than Wood, to 

 whom he refers. In Cambridge we have little 

 record, if any, of actual M.D. 's before the six- 

 teenth century ; and the early statutes, which may 

 be cited as evidence of study for the degree, are 

 (as in Peacock) of uncertain date. Of course, it is 

 probable that in both universities physicians then 

 graduated as M.D. ; but are the graduations on 

 record? The "clerks" who studied medicine, at 

 any rate if in orders, seem not to have taken 

 the title of M.D. I ask this as Dr. Cholmeley 

 has added to this book a very interesting narra- 

 tive of medical education in Oxford. With a true 

 intelligence he has done what was possible to trace 

 the titles of books on medicine then in the Uni- 

 versity ; for in the Middle Ages books were as 

 much the cause of a university as teachers. The 

 author says that Montpellier at that time out- 

 NO. 2264, VOL. 91] 



shone Oxford as a medical school ; the reason, 

 or one reason, is that the libraries of Montpellier 

 were fed from Cordova. Tims also Frederick the 

 Second wisely commended his foundation at 

 Xaples by purchasing books for large sums from 

 the Grand Trunk. 



Dr. Cholmeley has another interesting chapter 

 on the medieval physician, and others on kindred 

 subjects, for which we thank him cordially. We 

 wish Dr. Cholmeley health and leisure to extend 

 his gifts to us of like scholarly volumes on other 

 chapters of the history of medicine. 



Clifford Allbutt. 



THE STRUCTURE AND BIOLOGY OF THE 

 BACTERIA. 



(1) Die Zcllc der Bakterien. Fur Botaniker, 

 Zoologen und Bakteriologen. By Prof. Arthur 

 Meyer. Pp. vi + 285 + plates. (Jena : Gustav 

 Fischer, 1912.) Price 12 marks. 



(2) Bau und Leben der Bakterien. By Prof. W. 

 Benecke. Pp. xii + 650. (Leipzig and Berlin: 

 B. G. Teubner, 1912.) Price 15 marks. 



THESE two works are evidence, if any be 

 needed, of the increasing interest which is 

 being evinced in the study of the bacteria by 

 biologists. The literature concerning them has 

 now become so extensive that summaries such as 

 are contained in these two volumes are very 

 welcome. 



(1) The first book treats almost exclusively of 

 the structure and elements of the cells of the 

 micro-organisms classed by Migula under the 

 Eubacteria. The cells of most of these organisms 

 are so minute that it is only by the employment 

 of the most refined methods of research that their 

 intimate structure and the nature of their cell- 

 contents can be elucidated. The introductory 

 portion deals with the classification of these 

 organisms and with their affinities with other uni- 

 cellular vegetable forms and with the Protozoa. 

 The author considers that the Eubacteria are 

 closely related to the Hemiascomycetes and 

 Euascomycetes of the fungi. Successive sections 

 deal with the structure and elements of bacterial 

 cells — nucleus, plasmodia, cytoplasm, flagella, 

 membrane, vacuoli, and reserve material. In 

 each section the work of various investigators on 

 the subject is summarised and criticised with 

 commendable completeness. In a final section the 

 question of the chromophyllous nature of the 

 colouring matter of the "purple" bacteria is 

 discussed. 



For the specialist who requires a general sum- 

 mary of what is known respecting bacterial struc- 

 ture, no better book could be found. It is pro- 



