The names of John and Matthew Platearius are of frequent occurrence in the records of this school, and have given rise to considerable confusion; the former is supposed to have been the husband of Trotula, a female physician, of whom I shall have more to say later.
Bernard the Provincial, who seems to have escaped the notice of most historians, wrote about 1155, and his commentary offers much interesting information concerning the therapeutics of the day; he formulated a large number of recipes to enable the sick to escape the omnipotence of the apothecaries, and recommended wine for the delicate stomachs of the more exalted of the clergy, and, inasmuch as these stomachs did not bear medicine well, he directed, in accordance with the practice of Archbishop Æfanus, that emetics should be prescribed after meals, when their action is less injurious and more agreeable; he advised young men and women tormented with love which they could not gratify to tie their hands behind their backs and drink water from a vessel in which a red-hot iron had been cooled. Indeed, his work is full of curious information and advice, and is not without therapeutic interest.
A name which figures largely in the history of this school is that of Magister Salernus, about which there is great uncertainty; it is not positively known whether this refers to a particular person or is a generic name covering various individuals. The name has been mentioned as that of one of the four reputed founders of the school; it is positive that there are certain treatises which bear this name, which give an appearance of authenticity to it as an individual title.
In the latter half of the twelfth century lived John of St. Paul, one of the teachers of Gilbert the Englishman; also Musandinus, who left a curious treatise on dietetics; and Urso, who wrote on the pulse and on the urine. Here in 1190 resided and studied a certain Alcadinus, from Syracuse, whose knowledge of philosophy and medicine was such that he acquired great reputation, and was made a professor; he even composed Latin medical poems.
Just at the close of this century flourished Ægidius, who studied at Salernum, and also at Montpellier, where a school of medicine had been founded in 1180; he was physician to Philip Augustus, of France, and became professor in the University of Paris. Three treatises, all in Latin hexameter, are ascribed to him. A contemporary was Johanes Rogerus, of Palermo, a graduate of Salernum and author of several works.
Early in the thirteenth century flourished Roger of Parma, one of the most distinguished of the alumni of this school and the earliest pioneer in modern surgery; his work on this topic, familiarly known as Rogeriana, enjoyed the greatest reputation in its day, and was for a long time the surgical text-book of Italy; his predilection for poultices and moist dressings in the treatment of wounds, abscesses, and ulcers became, in the hands of his successors, the distinguishing feature of the surgery of Salernum in opposition to the school at Bologna, where Hugo Di Lucca and Theo-doric (his great rival) contended for the superiority of the dry treatment. Roger was also the first to use the term seton, and to give practical demonstration to this means of derivation.
Roland of Parma, a pupil of Roger, and a surgeon of great distinction, became professor at Bologna, and wrote a treatise on surgery, which was, for the most part, a commentary on the works of his master. The treatise of Roger and that of Roland furnished the basis for a work entitled The Treatise of the Four Masters, supposed to have been written about 1270, and manuscripts of which have been long known in various European libraries. It is divided into four books, displays no little surgical ability, and from its title would appear to have been the joint composition of four teachers; indeed, it was long attributed to Archimatheus, Platearius, Petro Cellus, and Affiacius, though it is now pretty generally understood to be the product of but a single pen and its author most likely a Frenchman. The ascription of authorship to four masters was probably for the purpose of increasing its weight and authority, and it constituted a reliable exposition of the surgery of Salernum in its day. It is quoted quite freely by Guy de Chauliac, who was the restorer of French surgery in the fourteenth century, and occasionally by later writers.
Another of the distinguished Salernian physicians of the thirteenth century, one highly esteemed by Frederick II, was John of Procida, who also was active in producing—if not the real author of—the massacre of the Sicilian Vespers, A.D. 1282. In a dispute concerning the question of the two Sicilies he embraced the cause of Prince Manfred, for which he was banished by Charles of Anjou, and took refuge at the court of Peter III, of Arragon, by whom he was created a baron; and he was influential in persuading the latter to assert his claim to the throne of Sicily. By various intrigues at different courts he succeeded in organizing an alliance, which betrayed its existence in this massacre, and finally resulted in the overthrow of the French in Sicily and the transfer of the island to the crown of Spain. He was author of at least two treatises devoted to medicine and philosophy.
Other writers of the School of Salernum were: a learned Jew of Agrigentum known as "Farragus," Matthew Sylvaticus, Graphæus, and Cappola. About the middle of the fifteenth century flourished Saladino, famous as an authority on materia medica.
It is of no small interest that now, for the first time in history, women began to figure somewhat prominently as writers, practitioners, and even teachers of medicine. About the middle of the eleventh century appeared a work, entitled De Midierium Passionibus, attributed to the before-mentioned Trotula, wife of John Platearius, which has descended even to these days. There is nothing in the work to indicate the name or sex of the author, who is invariably spoken of in the third person; consequently Trotula's connection therewith has often been disputed.