Among the medical books which, upon the approach of the Goths, were carried from Rome and other cities to different monasteries for safe keeping there must have been very few that were written in Latin, and yet these were the only ones from which the monks individually could derive any benefit. Several centuries later, when all the monasteries of Italy and the East were visited by those who were searching eagerly for original manuscript copies of the Greek medical writers,—Hippocrates, Soranus, Rufus of Ephesus, Aretaeus, Dioscorides, Galen,—it was found that such copies existed in a number of these institutions, thus showing that the monks had been actuated by unselfish and far-seeing loyalty to the best interests of mankind when they rescued these particular treasures from the hands of the enemy. They themselves could make no use of them, being unable to read Greek, but they knew their priceless value to medical science.
The Latin treatises which they had also rescued, and of which they made excellent use during the succeeding centuries, were those of Celsus, Scribonius Largus, Pliny the Elder (to a slight degree only) and Caelius Aurelianus.
PART II
MEDIAEVAL MEDICINE
CHAPTER XVII
THE CONDITION OF MEDICINE AT BYZANTIUM DURING THE EARLY PART OF THE MIDDLE AGES
The Byzantine period of the history of medicine begins about the middle of the fourth century A. D. and retains some degree of importance up to or perhaps a little beyond the beginning of the eighth century. During this period of nearly four centuries there appeared on the scene five physicians whose writings form a very creditable part of the late Greek medical literature. The names of these authors are: Oribasius, Aëtius, Alexander of Tralles, Theodore Priscianus and Paulus Aegineta.
Oribasius.—The first physician named in this list, Oribasius, was born about the year 325 A. D. in Pergamum, an important city of Asia Minor and the birthplace of Galen. He received his medical training at Alexandria, settled in Constantinople (the new name given to Byzantium), and soon afterward became the personal physician of the Emperor Julian the Apostate, the nephew of Constantine the Great. Subsequently he was appointed Quaestor of Constantinople, but, upon the death of Julian (363 A. D.) and the accession of Valens and Valentinianus to power, his property was confiscated and he himself was obliged to take refuge among the Ostrogoths, who dwelt on the shores of the Black Sea. These people received him with open arms, and he soon acquired great influence among them. After a time, however, he was recalled to Constantinople and all his former privileges were once more granted to him. He died about the year 403 A. D.
Despite his duties as a practicing physician of the very highest rank—duties which he could not wholly set aside when he accepted the office of Quaestor of Constantinople—and despite the necessity of devoting considerable time to the work which this non-medical official position entailed, Oribasius, like Pliny, appears to have been a most energetic contributor to medical literature. We possess to-day, for example, a large part of the medical cyclopaedia (72 books) which he prepared at the command of the Emperor Julian, and which—even in its incomplete state—contains very full information regarding anatomy, physiology, surgery, pathology and pharmacology. Although the work is simply a compilation, its present value is great, for it contains numerous extracts from earlier and contemporary treatises, many of which have entirely disappeared,—treatises of which we should have had no knowledge whatever if Oribasius had not introduced numerous extracts from them into his cyclopaedia.
About the year 390 A. D., when Oribasius was already an old man, he published (in nine books) a “Synopsis” of the larger work, chiefly for the benefit of his son Eustathios, who was at that time studying medicine. Surgery is omitted from this work, as that branch of medicine was assumed to belong entirely to specialists. At a still later date (about 395 A. D.), Oribasius published a third work (in four books) entitled “Euporista,” which was intended chiefly for the use of laymen. The subject-matter of this treatise consists of diet, hygiene and general therapeutics. Neuburger speaks well of all three of the published works of Oribasius, and furnishes a fairly full analysis of the contents of each one.
Bussemaker and Daremberg have published, in six volumes (Paris, 1856–1876), an excellent French version of the works of Oribasius.
Priscianus.—Theodorus Priscianus lived during the latter part of the fourth and the first part of the fifth century of the present era. Very little is known about his professional career beyond the facts that he was a pupil of Vindicianus, a distinguished physician who lived during the reign of the Emperor Valentinianus I. at Constantinople (364–375 A. D.), and that subsequently he was chosen the private physician of the Emperor Gratianus (375–383 A. D.). The treatise which he composed, and which bore the title of “Euporiston,” was originally written in Greek, but was afterward translated by its author into Latin. An excellent German version of the work by Meyer-Steineg was published in Jena in 1909. As the book was intended by Priscianus to serve chiefly as a guide to practitioners of the art, it contains practically nothing about anatomy and physiology. In his pathology he follows closely the teachings of the Methodists; his first question, in the presence of a case of illness, being: “Do the symptoms point to a condition of strictum rather than to one of laxum, or vice versa?” “In his treatment,” says Meyer-Steineg, “Priscianus follows very closely the rule that every patient, no matter what may be the disease with which he is affected, should first undergo a certain amount of general treatment.” In his choice of remedies Priscianus invariably gives the preference to those agents which are of a simple character and easy to obtain. On the other hand, he does not hesitate to admit that he sometimes employs certain magical remedies, as is shown by the following quotation taken from Book IV., Chapter I., section 4:—