Archimathaeus wrote and published three treatises: one on “Urines,” another on practical medicine (“Practica”), and the third on “The Demeanor which a Physician should Observe when he Visits a Sick Person” (“De Aventu Medici”). The latter treatise, says Neuburger, is “a mixture of piety, artlessness, and slyness; but it furnishes a capital picture of the carefully regulated behavior of the mediaeval physician at the patient’s bedside, of the manner in which he conducted his examination of the case, and of his intercourse with the household as well as with the sick person.”
In addition to the treatises referred to above,—treatises which are known to have been written by the authors to whom I have credited them,—the Collectio Salernitana contains several of which the authorship is not known. One of these, which bears the title “De Aegritudinum Curatione,” is reputed to furnish a better account of the special pathology and therapeutics taught at the Medical School of Salerno during the height of its celebrity than is to be found in any of the other treatises. In one part of the book—that, namely, in which local affections are discussed—the anonymous author gives in succession the opinions held by the seven leading teachers of the school (Platearius II., Cophon II., Petronius, Afflacius, Bartholomaeus, Ferrarius and Trotula) with regard to each one of a certain number of local diseases; thus enabling the reader to obtain a very fair idea of what was the condition of medical science at Salerno during the twelfth century of the present era.
The famous didactic poem known as the “School of Salerno” (Schola Salernitana) and also as the “Code of Health of the School of Salerno” (Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum), was composed originally about 1100 A. D. It was clearly intended in the first instance for the guidance of laymen in matters relating to diet, the conservation of health and the prevention of disease; but from time to time, as the years rolled on, there were added to it several sections which changed materially the character of the poem. From a mere code of health it became eventually a fairly complete cyclopaedia of medicine in versified form; the number of the verses having increased fully tenfold during this long period. The poem, in its latest state, is arranged in ten principal sections, as follows: Hygiene (8 chapters); materia medica (4 chapters); anatomy (4 chapters); physiology (9 chapters); etiology (3 chapters); significance of different signs (24 chapters); pathology (8 chapters); therapeutics (22 chapters); nosology (20 chapters); and the practice of medicine as actually experienced (5 chapters).
The work has been translated into nearly every modern language, and, according to an estimate which was made in 1857, there are in existence no fewer than 240 different editions. The most recent of these is the French translation made by Meaux Saint-Marc and published by him (2d edition) in Paris in 1880. There are two English versions—that by A. Croke (Oxford, 1830), and the more recent one by John Ordronaux (Philadelphia, 1871).
Some authorities make the statement that the poem was written originally for the guidance of Robert, the son of William the Conqueror; but Neuburger says that the dedication of the work to this prince is lacking in many of the original manuscript copies and that in some instances the word “Francorum” is to be found in the place of “Anglorum”; for which reason he believes that the introduction of a dedication was made long after the poem had been written. It will probably appear strange to most readers that the author of the “Regimen Sanitatis” (or “Flos Medicinae,” as it was sometimes called) should have written his text in the form of verse rather than in that of prose. He himself states briefly, at the end of the poem,[55] some of the reasons why he preferred to adopt this course. Rhythm, he maintains, makes it easy to say a great deal in a few words; besides which, it facilitates by its novelty the memorizing of new facts, and also enables one quickly to recall to mind those which have been learned at some previous time. His judgment seems to have been entirely correct, for the book proved to be immensely popular, and retained its popularity throughout an extraordinarily long period of time. Furthermore, as already stated, it accomplished a great deal toward enhancing the reputation of the Salerno School of Medicine. When we consider how difficult it must have been in those days for students of medicine to memorize facts which were stored in books that were very costly and oftentimes not obtainable at any price, we cease to wonder at the great popularity of this miniature cyclopaedia in leonine verse.[56] Here were to be found, at one-fourth or one-tenth the price of any similar book written in prose, all the essentials (anatomy, physiology, pathology, etc.) required by the candidate for medical honors; and if, perchance, he possessed a good memory, he might, without a very great mental effort, transfer the entire poem to his own private storehouse of facts.
A few extracts from this remarkable piece of medical literature are given below, in the belief that many of our readers will find them of interest.
| ORIGINAL TEXT | DR. JOHN ORDRONAUX’S TRANSLATION |
| Si vis incolumen, si vis te vivere sanum, | If thou to health and vigor wouldst attain, |
| Curas tolle graves, irasci crede profanum, | Shun weighty cares—all anger deem profane, |
| Parce mero, coenato parum; non tibi vanum | From heavy suppers and much sit wine abstain. |
| Surgere post epulas; somnum fuge meridianum; | Nor trivial count it, after pompous fare, |
| Ne mictum retine, ne comprime fortiter anum. | To rise from table and to take the air. |
| Haec bene si serves, tu longo tempore vives. | Shun idle, noonday slumber, nor delay |
| The urgent calls of Nature to obey. | |
| Conditiones Necessariae Medico. | Demeanor Necessary For the Physician. |
| Clemens accedat medicus cum vesta polita; | Let doctors call in clothing fine arrayed, |
| Luceat in digitis splendida gemma suis. | With sparkling jewels on their hands displayed; |
| Si fieri valeat, quadrupes sibi sit pretiosus; | And, if their means allow, let there be had, |
| Ejus et ornatus splendidus atque decens. | To ride, a showy, rich-attired pad. |
| Ornatu nitido conabere carior esse, | For when well dressed and looking over-nice, |
| Splendidus ornatus plurima dona dabit | You may presume to charge a higher price, |
| Viliter inductus munus sibi vile parabit, | Since patients always pay those doctors best, |
| Nam pauper medicus vilia dona capit. | Who make their calls in finest clothing dressed, |
| While such as go about in simple frieze, | |
| Must put up with the meanest grade of fees; | |
| For thus it is, poor doctors everywhere | |
| Get but the smallest pittance for their share. |
At Salerno the anatomical demonstration made, apparently only once a year, for the benefit of the students, consisted in exposing to view the abdominal viscera of the pig and commenting upon the features which distinguish them from the same organs in the human body. In the “Regimen Sanitatis” only eight lines of text are devoted to anatomy.
In section IV., which relates to physiology, the text is more instructive and entertaining, but still—as compared with the splendid work accomplished by Galen—extremely incomplete and superficial.
In the early part of the twelfth century, Nicolaus Praepositus[57] composed, at the request of his colleagues in the school of Salerno, an “Antidotarium”—that is, a collection of formulae for combining together, in a single pharmaceutical preparation, various drugs, both those commonly employed in that part of Europe and others which were then known only to the Arabian physicians. This book of formulae, containing as it did descriptions of the effects which might be expected from the different preparations, and furnishing instructions with regard to the proper mode of employing them, served its purpose admirably, not only in Salerno but throughout Europe, at least during the Middle Ages. All the pharmacopoeias of a later date were based upon his “Antidotarium,” and indirectly upon the still earlier celebrated treatises written by Matthew Platearius and bearing the titles “Glossae” and “Circa instans” (also that of “De simplici medicina”). The most remarkable item, however, which is to be found in the Antidotarium is that in which mention is made of the use of soporific sponges (“spongia soporifera”), for anaesthetizing purposes by means of inhalations, in certain surgical procedures. (Neuburger.) They were made by impregnating the sponges thoroughly with the juices of narcotic plants (opium, hyoscyamus, mandragora, lactuca, cicuta, etc.), drying them, and putting them aside until they were actually needed. Then the sponge was saturated for about an hour with hot water or steamed, after which it was applied over the patient’s nostrils and held there until the inhalation of the fumes had induced sleep.