ADVERTISEMENT.
Although in the Preface which immediately follows, and which is reprinted with slight alterations from the former edition, I have entered, at some length, upon the subject of the following translation, I felt it necessary, in the circumstances under which my work now appears, to premise a few additional remarks.
It is now many years since I undertook and completed a translation of the whole works of Paulus Ægineta. In the year 1834 I published the first three books, with a commentary, having for its object to embody the most important opinions of the Greek, Roman, and Arabian writers, on all subjects treated of by the original author. Notwithstanding the very favorable reception which that volume obtained from many of the most eminent members of the medical profession, as well as from scholars both at home and abroad, I was under the necessity—from circumstances which I need not here detail—of deviating from my original intention of completing the publication of the work in the same form and at my own risk. After an interval of ten years the proposition was made to me by the Council of the Sydenham Society to prepare a new edition of the volume already published, and to complete the remaining two on the same general plan. This proposition was too gratifying to my feelings not to be immediately assented to; and it is with unfeigned satisfaction that I have now the honour to submit the first volume of the work to the members of so distinguished and important a Society.
In preparing this volume for the press, knowing that it will now be subjected to the criticisms of a very numerous and intelligent body of my professional brethren, I have been anxious to render it worthy of their approbation as far as lay in my power. At the request of the Council I have made considerable omissions in my commentary as formerly printed, more especially in regard to modern authorities; it being thought advisable not to bring the annotations further down than the period of the Arabian writers. I have also made not a few additions and alterations which I hope will be considered as improvements. In performing this part of my task I have greatly profited by the aid and valuable criticisms of two esteemed friends, Sir William Hamilton of Edinburgh, and Dr. Greenhill of Oxford.
I am sensible that it is to the growing conviction in the profession, of the value of the ancient authorities, that I owe the very flattering distinction which my work has now obtained; and I shall have great satisfaction in reverting to the labours of former years if they should now prove instrumental in increasing the desire of becoming acquainted with the views and practice of our forefathers. That the ancient literature of medicine has been too much neglected in this country is not disputed by any competent judge; and it would appear from the remarks of M. Hecker, in his address to the physicians of Germany, given in his admirable work on Epidemics,[1] that the profession on the Continent is not much in advance of us in this respect.
[1] Dr. Babington’s Translation; Sydenham edition, p. xv.
The time, however, it is to be hoped, is not far distant when the medical profession will everywhere be impressed with the importance of becoming properly acquainted with the views of the animal economy and of its derangements, entertained by three of the most intellectual nations of mankind; and when every newly-broached hypothesis will be tested by a comparison with doctrines of a similar nature advanced in former days, and every newly-proposed remedy will be subjected to a like ordeal. Surely every age ought to endeavour to benefit by the experiments, whether successful or otherwise, of all preceding ones; instead of every generation commencing a new series of trials, and wandering over the same ground in search of truths which had been long ago discovered; or in stumbling through the mazes of error without regarding the beacons set up by their forefathers to direct the footsteps of their descendants. If the wisdom of antiquity be entitled to high reverence in any case, it surely is so in medicine, founded as this art especially is on general observation and experience.
What renders ancient medical literature of the more importance at the present day, is the circumstance that it is almost our only source of information with regard to the diseases prevalent in several extensive countries bordering upon the Mediterranean Sea. It is well known that the inhabitants of Greece, of Asia Minor, and of the north coast of Africa have been long sunk into such a state of intellectual decrepitude as renders them incapable of making and recording original observation; consequently, for information in regard to the phenomena of disease, as manifested in these regions, we are almost entirely thrown back upon the literature of their ancestors.
I take the present opportunity of adverting to one or two circumstances which I omitted to notice in my original preface.
An objection, I am well aware, will be made by some scholars to the manner in which I have executed one part of my task. It is this:—that the references to ancient authors are often so vague, as to make it a matter of considerable difficulty to find the passages in the originals. It must be admitted that there are grounds for this objection; and if I had the work to do over again, I should most probably take pains to obviate it, in some degree, at least. But to remedy the omission, after the work was completed on its present plan, would have been a task of immense labour to me, without bringing a correspondent advantage to my readers. Moreover, I am convinced that, even as they stand, the references will, in general, be found sufficient to guide those who have an acquaintance with the originals to the places indicated; and to those who are unacquainted with them, this strict system of quotation would be of no use, further than to inspire them with a greater degree of confidence in the accuracy and pains-taking research of the Editor. It may be proper for me, then, to state that I have made it an invariable rule never to quote at second-hand, nor to make any reference to the opinions of an author whose works I have not myself carefully examined.