“Ful redy hadde he his apotecaries
To sende him dragges, and his letuaries,
For eche of hem made othur for to wynne.
Here frendschipe was not newe to begynne.”
It would seem that even in Chaucer’s time the advertising druggist was as pushing as at present.
“Wel knew he the olde Esculapius,
And Deiscorides, and eeke Rufus,
Old Ypocras, Haly and Galien;
Serapyon, Razis and Avycen;
Averrois, Damascen and Constantyn,
Bernard and Gatisden, and Gilbertyn.”
Our friend’s library was tolerably complete, for here we have a list of the medical “scriptures,” Greek, Roman, and Arabian, an acquaintance with which was the whole duty of a physician, and which to doubt was heresy. The last two names on the list refer to John of Gaddesden and Gilbert, both English writers, of whom I shall have a few words to say presently.
“Of his diete mesurable was he,
For it was of no superfluité,
But of gret norisching and digestible.”
Doubtless there were many things then which took the place of pancreatic emulsion and extract of malt.
“His studie was but litel on the Bible.”
This line is frequently quoted to show that the scepticism with which doctors are often charged is of no modern growth. The point of the line is, however, to be found in the fact that Chaucer’s doctor was certainly a priest, as were all the physicians of his time, and that the practice of medicine had drawn him away, somewhat unduly perhaps, from the clerical profession, to which he also belonged.
“In sangwyn and in pers he clad was al,
Lyned with taffata and with sendal.”
A robe of scarlet and sky-blue, lined with silk. Equally gorgeous doctors may be seen at the present time by those who attend at Burlington Gardens on “Presentation Day.”