Joubert (1529-1583) was Chancellor in the University of Montpellier and physician to King Henri III. He wrote a treatise on Popular Errors, which had an unheard-of success. In less than six months there were sold nearly five thousand copies, which, considering the times, constituted a prodigious edition. For one thing, it was written in the common tongue, and so placed within the reach of all. It was also diversified with anecdotes and jokes, some of which were not of the most delicate character; in fact, the author endeavored to atone for some of its salacity by dedicating it to Queen Marguerite. He really proposed for his main purpose a serious and useful one,—namely, that of combating prejudices which were both injurious and ridiculous. Although we may make light of Joubert's treatise, it certainly achieved a useful end by dissipating a multitude of errors, giving information to those who could scarcely get it as well from any other source. That it was full of defects is simply another form of saying that it was published in the middle of the sixteenth century.
It was during this period of which we have written that the separation of the priesthood from medicine was completed. From the sixteenth century celibacy was not obligatory on physicians in the Kingdom of France, and they no longer enjoyed ecclesiastical benefices. At this time, too, surgery, which had naturally been separated from medicine, began to approach it, the combination thus gradually brought about inuring to the benefit of all concerned. From now on, the professors of St. Come were on the same level as the professors of the university, and enjoyed equal privileges. Institutions for instruction in medicine increased, and those which already existed were developed. Amphitheaters for dissection were open in every city in Europe. Hospitals and dispensaries were established alongside the schools, and by the various governments more attention was paid to the protection of the public from imposition, and to the amelioration of every evil affecting either public or private health.
CHAPTER VI.
Age of Renovation (continued).—Student-life During the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries. Ceremonials Previous to Dissection.—Reform Period: The Seventeenth, Eighteenth, and Nineteenth Centuries. Modern Realism in Medicine and Science. Introduction of the Cell-doctrine. Discovery of the Circulation. William Harvey, 1578-1637. Malpighi, 1628-1694. Leuwenhoek, 1632-1723. Correct Doctrine of Respiration. Discovery of the Lymphatic Circulation. The Nervous System. Discovery of Cinchona. Development in Obstetric Art, in Medical Jurisprudence, in Oral Clinical Teaching. Van Helmont, 1578-1644.—The Iatrochemical System: Le Bôe, 1614-1672. Thomas Willis, 1622-1675.
For a long time the Italian universities held the first rank; next came the French; and last the German, although all were well attended. The most famous were the medical faculties of Bologna, Pisa, Padua; then Paris, Montpellier, and, finally, Basel.
A little of what concerned the student-life of this period may not be amiss. The students chose the rector and officers of the universities, sometimes even the teachers, and assisted in determining the curriculum of study, the execution of which they watched. In some of the Scotch universities even now the students choose the rector.
The students were divided, usually according to country, into bodies denominated "nations" (some having special seals), which were the parents of the present stu-dent-corps in German universities. Certain representatives, known as vice-rectors, were chosen from each of these corps and constituted a so-called college of rectors which negotiated with the officials of the State, and possessed a power that was preserved until the end of the sixteenth century.
The poorer class of students passed from one school to another, supporting themselves by singing, begging, or stealing, and were sometimes guilty of great barbarities. The younger scholars, called "Schutzen," were compelled to perform most menial duties for their older comrades, the "Bacchanten,"—much like the system of fagging still in vogue in English grammar-schools; and when the bacchantes were admitted to the university proper they were required to pass through an initiation, or hazing, which eclipsed anything known in these days; indeed, the antiquity of fagging may be traced back even to the philosophic schools of Athens. The habits of the traveling scholars led many of them into dissolute and vicious ways, though some attained respectable positions,—possibly even eminence. The students who were better situated financially; for the most part entered the Italian universities.