 CHAPTER 13 CUZANUS AND THE FIRST SUGGESTION As illustrating how, as we know more about the details of medical history, the beginnings of medical science, and medical practice are pushed back farther and farther, a discussion in the Berliner-Klinchow-Woeschenschrift a dozen years ago is of interest. Professor Ernest von Leiden, in sketching the history of the taking of the pulse as an important aid in diagnostics, said that John Fleuer was usually referred to as the man who introduced the practice of determining the pulse rate by means of the watch. His work was done about the beginning of the 18th century. Professor von Leiden suggested, however, that William Harvey, the English physiologist to whom is usually attributed the discovery of the circulation of the blood, had emphasized the value of the pulse in medical diagnosis, and also suggested the use of the watch in counting the pulse. Professor Karl Binns of the University of Von, commenting on these remarks of Professor von Leiden, called attention to the fact that more than a century before the birth of either of these men, even the earlier, to whom the careful measurement of the pulse rate is thus attributed as a discovery, a distinguished German churchman, who died shortly after the middle of the 15th century, had suggested a method of accurate estimation of the pulse that deserves a place in medical history. This suggestion is so much in accord with modern demands for greater accuracy in diagnosis that it seems not inappropriate to talk of it as the first definite attempt at laboratory methods in the Department of Medicine. The maker of the suggestion, curiously enough, was not a practicing physician, but a mathematician and scholar, Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa, who is known in history as Cusanus from the Latin name of the town Cuse on the Moselle River, some 25 miles south of Trevesse, where he was born. His family name, Nicholas Krebs, has been entirely lost sight of in the name derived from his native town, which is the only reason why most of the world knows anything about that town. Cardinal Cusanus suggested that in various forms of disease and at various times of life, as in childhood, boyhood, manhood, and old age, the pulse was very different. It would be extremely valuable to have some method of accurately estimating, measuring, and recording these differences for medical purposes. At that time, watches had not yet been invented, and it would have been very difficult to have estimated the time by the clocks, for almost the only clocks in existence were those in the towers of the cathedrals and of the public buildings. The first watches, Nuremberg eggs, as they were called, were not made by Peter Henlin until well on into the next century. The only method of measuring time with any accuracy in private houses was the Clepsidra, or water clock, which measured the time intervals by the flow of a definite amount of water. Cardinal Cusanus suggested then that the water clock should be employed for estimating the pulse frequency. His idea was that the amount of water which flowed while 100 beats of the pulse were counted should be weighed, and this weight, compared with that of the average weight of water, which flowed while 100 beats of the normal pulse of a number of individuals of the same age and constitution were being counted. This was a very single and very ingenious suggestion. We have no means of knowing now whether it was adopted to any extent or not. It may seem rather surprising that a cardinal should have been the one to make such a suggestion. Cusanus, however, was very much interested in mathematics and in the natural sciences, and we have many wonderful suggestions from his pen. He was the first, for instance, to suggest, more than a century before Copernicus, that the earth was not the center of the universe, and that it would not be absolutely at rest, or, as he said, devoid of all motion. His words are, quote, He described very clearly how the earth moved round its own axis, and then he added, What cannot fail to be a surprising declaration for those in the modern times, who think such an idea of much later origin, that he considered that the earth itself cannot be fixed, but moves as do the other stars in the universe. The expression is so astonishing at that time, in the world's history, that it seems worth the while to give it in its original form, so that it may be seen clearly that it is not any subsequent far-fetched interpretation of his opinion, but the actual words themselves, that convey his idea. He said, How clearly Cusanus anticipated another phase of our modern views may be judged from what he has to say in De Doctor Ignorantia, with regard to the Constitution of the Sun. It is all the more surprising that he should, by some form of interpretation, be considered the most important of all, It is all the more surprising that he should, by some form of intuition, reach such a conclusion, for the ordinary sources of information with regard to the Sun would not suggest such an expression except to a genius, whose intuition outran by far the knowledge of his time. The Cardinal said, Since it contains, as it were, an earth for its central mass, with a circumferential envelope of light and heat, and between the two an atmosphere of water and clouds and of ambient air. End quote. After reading that bit of precious astronomical science announced nearly five centuries ago, it is easy to understand how could have anticipated other phases of our knowledge, as he did in his declarations, that the figure of the earth is not a sphere, but is somewhat irregular, and that the orbit of the earth is not circular. Cusanus was an extremely practical man, and was constantly looking for and devising methods of applying practical principles of science to ordinary life. As we shall see, in discussing his suggestion for the estimation of the pulse rate later on, he made many other similar suggestions for diagnostic purposes in medicine, and set forth other applications of mathematics and mechanics to his generation. Many of Cusanus books have curiously modern names. He wrote, for instance, a series of mathematical treatises in Latin, of course, on geometric transmutations, on arithmetical compliments, on mathematical compliments, on mathematical perfection, and on the correction of the calendar. In his time, the calendar was in error by more than nine days, and Cusanus was one of those who aroused sufficient interest in the subject so that in the next century, the correction was actually made by the great Jesuit mathematician, Father Clavius. Perhaps the work of Cusanus that is best known is that unlearned ignorance, deducta ignorantia, in which the cardinal points out how many things that educated people think they know are entirely wrong. It reminds one very much of Josh Billings' remark that it is not so much the ignorance of mankind that makes them ridiculous as the knowing so many things that ain't so. It is from this work that the astronomical quotations which we have made are taken. The book that is of special interest to physicians is Cusanus' dialogue on static experiments, which he wrote in 1450, and which contains the following passages. Quote, Since the weight of the blood and the urine of a healthy and of a diseased man, of a young man and an old man, of a German and an African, is different for each individual, why would it not be a great benefit to the physician to have all of these various differences classified? For I think that a physician would make a truer judgment from the weight of the urine viewed in connection with its color than he could make from its color alone, which might be fallacious. So, also, weight must be used as a means of identifying the roots, the stems, the leaves, the fruits, the seeds, and the juice of plants if the various weights of all the plants were properly noted, together with their variety, according to locality. In this way, the physician would appreciate their nature better by means of their weight than if he judged them by their taste alone. He might know, then, from a comparison of the weights of the plants and their various parts when compared with the weight of the blood and the urine, how to make an application and a dosage of drugs from the concordances and differences of the medicaments, and even might be able to make an excellent prognosis in the same way. Thus, from static experiments, he would approach by a more precise knowledge to every kind of information. Do you not think if you would permit the water from the narrow opening of a clepsidra, or water clock, to flow into a basin for as long as was necessary to count the pulse a hundred times in a healthy young man, and then to do the same thing for an ailing young man, that there would be a noticeable difference between the weights of the water that would flow during the period? From the weight of the water, therefore, one would arrive at a better knowledge of the differences in the pulse of the young and the old, the healthy and the unhealthy, and so, also, as to information with regard to various diseases, since there would be one weight, and, therefore, one pulse in one disease, and another weight and another pulse in another disease. In this way, a better judgment of the differences in the pulse could be obtained than from the touch of the vein, just as more can be known from the urine about its weight than from its color alone. Just in the same way, would it not be possible to make a more accurate judgment with regard to the breathing if the inspirations and expirations were studied according to the weight of the water that passed during a certain interval? If while water was flowing from a clepsidra, one were to count a hundred expirations in a boy, and then in an old man, of course, there would not be the same amount of water at the end of the enumeration. Then this same thing might be done for other ages and states of the body. As a consequence, when the physician once knew what the weight of water that represented the number of expirations of a healthy boy or youth, and then of an individual of the same age ill of some infirmity or other, there is no doubt that, by this observation, he will come to a knowledge of the health or illness and something about the case, and perhaps, also with more certainty, would be able to choose the remedy and the dose required. If he found in a healthy young man apparently the same weight as in an old and decrepit individual, he might readily be brought to the conclusion that the young man would surely die, and in this way, have some evidence for his prognosis in the case. Besides, if in fevers, in the same way, careful studies were made of the differences in the weight of water for pulse and respiration in the warm and the cold paroxysms, would it not be possible thus to know the disease better, and perhaps, also get a more efficacious remedy? As will be seen from this passage, Cusanus had many more ideas than merely the accurate estimation of the pulse frequency when he suggested the use of the water clock. Evidently, the thought had come to him that the specific gravity of the substances, that is, their weight in comparison to the weight of water, might be valuable information. Before his time, physicians had depended only on the color and the taste of the urine for diagnostic purposes. He proposed that they should weigh it, and even suggested that they should weigh, also, the blood. I suppose in case of venisection, for comparison's sake. He also thought that the comparative weight of various roots, stems, leaves, juices of plants might give hints for the therapeutic uses of these substances. This is the sort of idea that we are apt to think of as typically modern. Specific gravities and atomic weights have been more than once supposed to represent laws in therapeutics, which so far, however, we have not succeeded in finding. But it is interesting to realize that it is nearly 500 years since the first thought in this line was clearly expressed by a distinguished thinker and scientific writer. There are many interesting expressions in Cusiness writings, which contradict most of the impressions commonly entertained with regard to the scholars of the Middle Ages. It is usually assumed that they did not think seriously, but speculatively, that they feared to think for themselves, neglected the study of nature around them, considered authority the important source of knowledge, and were as far as possible from the standpoint of modern scientific students and investigators. Here is a passage from Nicholas on knowing and thinking that might well have been written by a great intellectual man at any time in the world's history, and that could only emanate from a profound scholar at any time. Quote, To know and to think, to see the truth with the eye of the mind is always a joy. The older a man grows, the greater is the pleasure which it affords him, and the more he devotes himself to the search after truth, the stronger grows his desire of possessing it. As love is the life of the mind, so is the endeavor after knowledge and truth the life of the mind. In the midst of the movements of time, of the daily work of life, of its perplexities and contradictions, we should lift our gaze fearlessly to the clear vault of heaven, and seek ever to obtain a firmer grasp of, and a keener insight into, the origin of all goodness and beauty, the capacities and minds, the intellectual fruits of mankind throughout the centuries, and the wondrous works of nature around us. At the same time remembering always that in humility alone lies true greatness, and that knowledge and wisdom are alone profitable insofar as our lives are governed by them. End quote. The career of Nicholas of Cusa is interesting because it sums up so many elements, and above all, educational currents in the fifteenth century. He was born in the first year of the century, and lived to be sixty-four. He was the son of a wine grower, and attracted the attention of his teachers because of his intellectual qualities. In spite of comparatively straightened circumstances, then, he was afforded the best opportunities of the time for education. He went first to the school of the brethren of the common life at Deventer, the intellectual cradle of so many of the scholars of this century. Such men as Erasmus, Conrad Mutianus, Johann Synthheim, Hermann von Dembusche, whom Strauss calls, quote, the missionary of human wisdom, end quote, and the teacher of most of these, Alexander Heiges, who has been termed the schoolmaster of Germany, with Nicholas of Cusa, and Rudolf Agricola and others, who might readily be mentioned, are the fruits of the teaching of these schools of the brethren of the common life, in one of which, Thomas A. Kempis, the author of The Imitation of Christ, was for seventy years out of his long life of ninety, a teacher. Cusanus succeeded so well at school that he was later sent to the University of Heidelberg and subsequently to Padua, where he took up the study of Roman law, receiving his doctorate at the age of twenty-three. This series of educational opportunities will be surprising only to those who do not know educational realities at the beginning of the fifteenth century. There has never been a time when a serious seeker after knowledge could find more inspiration. On his return to Germany, Father Krebs became a canon of the cathedral in Koblenz. This gave him a modest income and leisure for intellectual work which was eagerly employed. He was scarcely more than thirty, when he was chosen as a delegate to the Council at Basel. After this, he was made Archdeacon of the Cathedral of Leutich, and from this time, his rise in ecclesiastical preferment was rapid. He had attracted so much attention at the Council of Basel, that he was chosen as a Legit of the Pope for the bringing about certain reforms in Germany. Subsequently, he was sent on ecclesiastical missions to the Netherlands and even to Constantinople. At the early age of forty, he was made a cardinal. After this, he was always considered as one of the most important consultants of the papacy in all matters relating to Germany. During the last twenty-five years of his life, in all the relations of the Holy See to Germany, appeal was constantly made to the wisdom, the experience, and the thoroughly conservative, yet foreseeing, judgment of this son of the people, whose education had lifted him up to be one of the leaders of men in Europe. It was during this time that he wrote most of his books on mathematics, which have earned for him a prominent place in Kantor's history of mathematics, about a score of pages being devoted to his work. Much of his thinking was done while riding on horseback or in the rude vehicles of the day on the missions to which he was sent as papal legend. He is said to have worked out the formula for the cycloid curve while watching the path described by flies that had lighted on the wheels of his carriage and were carried forward and around by them. His scientific books, though they included such startling anticipations of Copernicus' doctrines as we have already quoted, Copernicus did not publish the first sketch of his theory for more than a quarter of a century after Cusanus' death. Far from disturbing his ecclesiastical advancement or injuring his career as a churchman seemed actually to have been considered as additional reasons for considering him worthy of confidence in consultation. As the result of his careful studies of conditions in Germany he realized very clearly how much of unfortunate influence the political status of the German people with their many petty rulers and the hampering of development consequent upon the trivial rivalries the constant bickering and the inordinate jealousies of these numerous princelings had upon his native country. Accordingly towards the end of his life he sketched what he thought would be the ideal political status for the German people. As in everything that he wrote he went straight to the heart of a matter and without mincing words stated just exactly what he thought ought to be done. Considering that this scheme of Cusanus for the prosperity and right government of the German people was not accomplished more than four centuries after his death it is interesting indeed to realize how this clergyman of the middle of the 15th century should have come to any such thought. Nothing, however, makes it clearer than this that it is not time that fosters thinking but that great men at any time come to great thoughts. Cusanus wrote quote the law in the kingdom should be placed under the protection of a single ruler or authority. The small separate governments of princes and counts consume a disproportionately large amount of revenue without furnishing any real security. For this reason we must have a single government and for its support we must have a definite amount of the income from taxes and revenues yearly set aside by a representative parliament and before this parliament Reichstag must be given every year a definite account of the money that was spent during the preceding year. End quote. Cusanus life and work stand then as a type of the accomplishment the opportunities the power of thought the practical scholarship the mathematical accuracy the fine scientific foresight of a scholar of the 15th century for us in medicine it is interesting indeed to realize that it is from a man of this kind that a great new departure in medicine with regard to the employment of exact methods of diagnosis had its first suggestion in modern times the origin of that suggestion is typical it is practically always been true that it was not the man who had exhausted or thought that he had done so all previous medical knowledge who made advances in medicine for us it is nearly always been a young man early in his career and at a time when as yet his mind was not overloaded with the medical theories of his own time Cusanus was probably not more than 30 when he made the suggestion which represents the first practical hint for the use of laboratory methods in modern medicine it came out of his thoughtful consideration of medical problems rather than from a store of garnered information as to what others thought it is a lesson in the precious value of breath of education and serious training of mind for real progress at all times end of chapter 13 chapter 14 of old time makers of medicine this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Adam Marsatich September 2009 Alexandria Virginia old time makers of medicine by James Joseph chapter 14 basal valentine last of the alchemists first of the chemists part one of two Fieri nm-potest ut operator eret et via regia deflicat said ut eret natura quando requite tracatur fieri non potest for it is quite possible that the physician should err and be turned aside from the straight royal road but that nature when she is rightly treated should air is quite impossible this is one of the preliminary maxims of a treatise on medicine written by a physician born not later than the first half of the 15th century and who may have lived even somewhat earlier we are so prone to think of the man of that time as utterly dependent on authority not daring to follow their own observation suspecting nature and almost sure to be convinced that only by going counter to her could success in the treatment of disease be obtained that it is a surprise to most people to find out how completely the attitude of mind that is supposed to be so typically modern in this regard was anticipated full four centuries ago there are other expressions of the same great physician and medical writer based on Valentine which served to show how faithfully he strove with the lights that he had to work out the treatment of patients just as we do now by trying to find out nature's way so as to imitate her beneficial processes and purposes it is quite clear that he is but one of many faithful patient observers and experimenters true scientists in the best sense of the word who lived in all the centuries in the Middle Ages speculations and experiments with regard to the elixir of life the philosophers stone and the transmutation of metals are presumed to have filled up all the serious interests of the alchemist supposed to be almost the only scientists of those days as a matter of fact however men were making original observations of profound significance and these were considered so valuable by their contemporaries that though printing had not yet been invented even the immense labor involved in the manifold copying of large folio volumes by the slow hand process did not suffice to deter them from multiplying the writings of these men so numerously that they were preserved in many copies for future generations until the printing press came to perpetuate them of this there is abundant evidence in the preceding pages as regards medicine and above all surgery while a summary of accomplishments of workers in other departments will be found in appendix to science at the medieval universities at the beginning of the 20th century with some of the supposed foundations of modern chemistry crumbling to pieces under the influence of the peculiarly active light thrown upon our 19th century chemical theories by the discovery of radium and our observations on radioactive elements generally there is a rewakening of interest in some of the old-time chemical observers whose work used to be laughed at as so unscientific or at most but a caricature of real science and those whose theory of the transmutation of elements into one another was considered so absurd it is interesting in the light of this to recall that the idea that the elementary substances were essentially distinct from each other and that it would be impossible under any circumstances to convert one element into another belongs entirely to the 19th century even so deeply scientific a mind as that of Newton in the preceding century could not bring itself to acknowledge the tradition that came to be accepted subsequent to his time of the absurdity of metallic transformation on the contrary he believed quite formally in transmutation as a basic chemical principle and declared that it might be expected to occur at any time he had seen specimens of gold ores in connection with metallic copper and concluded that this was a manifestation of the natural transformation of one of these yellow metals into the other with the discovery that radium transforms itself into helium and that indeed all the so-called radioactive of the heavy metals are probably due to a natural transmutation process constantly at work the ideas of the older chemists cease entirely to be a subject for amusement the physical chemists of the present day are very ready to admit that the old teaching of the absolute independence of something over 70 elements is no longer tenable except as a working hypothesis the doctrine of matter and form taught for so many centuries by the scholastic philosophers which proclaimed that all matter is composed of two principles an underlying material substratum and a dynamic or informing principle has now more acknowledged versimilitude or lies at least closer to the generally accepted ideas of the most progressive scientists than it has at any time for the last two or three centuries not only the great physicists but also the great chemists are speculating along lines that suggest the existence of but one form of matter modified according to the energies that it possesses under a varying physical and chemical environment this is after all only a restatement in modern times of the teaching of Saint Thomas of Aquinn in the 13th century it is not surprising then that there should be a reawakening of interest in the lives of some of the men who dominated by some of the earlier scholastic ideas by the tradition of the possibility of finding the philosopher's stone which would transmute the baser metals into the precious metals devoted themselves with quite as much zeal as any modern chemist to the observation of chemical phenomena one of the most interesting of these indeed he might well be said to be the greatest of the alchemists is the man whose only name that we know is that which appears on a series of manuscripts written in the high German dialect at the end of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th century that name is Basil Valentine and the writer according to the best historical traditions was a Benedictine monk the name Basil Valentine may only have been a pseudonym for it has been impossible to trace it among the records of the monasteries of the time that the writer was a monk however there seems to be no room for doubt for his writings give abundant evidence of it and besides in printed form they began to have their vogue at a time when there was little likelihood of there being attributed to a monastic source unless an indubitable tradition connected them with some monastery this Basil Valentine to accept the only name we have did so much for the science of the composition of substances that he eminently deserves the designation that has been given him of the last of the alchemists and the first of the chemists there is practically a universal recognition of the fact now that he deserves also the title of the founder of pharmaceutical chemistry not only because of the value of the observations contained in his writings but also because of the fact that they proved so suggestive to certain scientific geniuses during the century succeeding Valentine's life almost more than to have added to the precious heritage for mankind it is a boon for a scientific observer to have awakened the spirit of observation in others and to be the founder of a new school of thought this Basil Valentine undoubtedly did and in the renaissance the incentive from his writings for such men as Paracelsus is easy to appreciate besides his work furnishes evidence that the investigating spirit was a broad just when it is usually supposed not to have been for the Thuringian monk surely did not do all his investigation alone but must have owed as well as given many a suggestion to his contemporaries some ten years ago when Sir Michael Foster Professor of Physiology in the University of Cambridge England was invited to deliver the lame lectures at the Cooper Medicals College in San Francisco he took for his subject the history of physiology in the course of his lecture on the rise of chemical physiology he began with the name of Basil Valentine who first attracted men's attention to the many chemical substances around them that might be used in the treatment of disease instead of him he was one of the alchemists but in addition to his inquiries of metals and his search for the philosopher's stone he busied himself with the nature of drugs vegetable and mineral and with their action as remedies for disease he was no anatomist no physiologist but rather what nowadays we should call a pharmacologist he did not care for the problem of the body all he sought to understand was how the constituents of the soil and of plants would be treated so as to be available for healing the sick and how they produced their effects we apparently owe to him the introduction of many chemical substances for instance of hydrochloric acid which he prepared from the oil and vitriol of salt and of many vegetable drugs and he was apparently the author of certain conceptions which, as we shall see played an important part in the development of chemistry and of physiology to him, it seems we owe the idea of the three elements as they were and have been called replacing the old idea of the ancients of the four elements earth, air, fire, and water it must be remembered, however that both in the ancient and the new idea the word element was not intended to mean that which now a fundamental unit of matter but a general quality or property of matter the three elements of valentine were one, sulfur or that which is combustible which is changed or destroyed or which at all events disappears during burning or combustion two, mercury that which temporarily disappears during burning or combustion which is dissociated in the burning of the body burned but which may be recovered that is to say that which is volatile and three, sulf that which is fixed the residue or ash which remains after burning end quote it is a little bit hard in our time for most people to understand just how such a development of thoroughly scientific chemical notions with investigations for their practical application to the end of the Middle Ages this difficulty of understanding however, we are coming to realize in recent years is entirely due to our ignorance of the period we have known little or nothing about the science of the Middle Ages because it was hidden away in rare old books in rather difficult Latin not easy to get at and still less easy to understand always and we have been prone to conclude that since we knew nothing about it there must have been nothing just in as much as we have learned something definite about medieval scholars our admiration has increased Professor Clifford Albut the Regius Professor of Medicine at the University of Cambridge in his Harvellian oration delivered before the Royal College of Physicians in 1900 on Science and Medieval Thought London 1901 declared that quote in digging for treasure cultivated the field of knowledge even for Galileo and Harvey for Newton and Darwin he might have added that they had laid foundations in all our modern sciences in chemistry quite as well as in astronomy, physiology and the medical sciences in mathematics and botany in chemistry what sciences made during the 13th 14th and 15th centuries were, perhaps even more noteworthy than those in any other department of science Albertus Magnus who taught at Paris wrote no less than 16 treatises on chemical subjects and, notwithstanding the fact that he was a theologian as well as a scientist and that his printed works fill some 15 folio volumes and he somehow found the time to make many observations for himself and perform numberless experiments in order to clear up doubts the larger histories of chemistry accord him his proper place and hail him as a great founder in chemistry and a pioneer in original investigation even St. Thomas of Aquinn much as he was occupied with theology and philosophy found some time to devote to questions after all, this is only what might have been expected for the favorite pupil of Albertus Magnus three treatises on chemical subjects from Aquinas Penn have been preserved for us and it is to him that we are said to owe the use in the western world at least of the word amalgam which he first employed in describing various chemical methods of metallic combination that were discovered in the search for the genuine transmutation of metals Albertus Magnus other great scientific pupil, Roger Bacon the English Franciscan friar followed more closely in the scientific ways of his great master devoting himself almost entirely to the physical sciences altogether he wrote some 18 treatises on chemical subjects for a long time that he was the inventor of gunpowder though this is now known to have been introduced into Europe by the Arabs Roger Bacon studied gunpowder and various other explosive combinations in considerable detail and it is for this reason that he obtained the undeserved reputation of being an original discoverer in this line how well he realized how much might be accomplished how much energy stored up in explosives can, perhaps be best appreciated from the fact that he suggested that boats would go along the rivers and across seas without either sails or oars and that carriages would go along the streets without horse or manpower he considered that man would eventually invent a method of harnessing these explosive mixtures and of utilizing their energies for his purposes without danger it is curiously interesting to find as we begin the 20th century and gasoline is so commonly used for the driving of automobiles and motorboats and is being introduced even into heavier transportation as the most available source of energy for suburban traffic at least, that this generation should only be fulfilling the idea of the old Franciscan friar of the 13th century who prophesies that in explosives there was the secret of eventually manageable energy for transportation purposes succeeding centuries were not as fruitful and great scientists as the 13th and yet in the second half of the 13th there was a Pope John 21 who had been a physician and professor of medicine before his election to the papacy three of whose scientific treatises one on the transmutation of metals which he considers an impossibility at least as far as the manufacture of gold and silver was concerned a treatise on diseases of the eyes to which good authorities have not hesitated to give lavish praise for its practical value considering the conditions in which it was written and finally his treatise on the preservation of the health written when he was himself over 80 years of age are all considered by good authorities as worthy of the best scientific spirit of the time during the 14th century Arnold of Villanova the inventor of nitric acid and the two holanduses kept up the tradition of original investigation in chemistry altogether there are some dozen treatises from these three men on chemical subjects the holanduses practically did their work in a spirit of thoroughly frank original investigation they were more interested in minerals than in any other class of substances but did not waste much time on the question of transmutation of metals professor Thompson the professor of chemistry at Edinburgh said in his history of chemistry many years ago that the holanduses gave very clear descriptions of their processes of treating minerals in investigating their composition and these served to show that their knowledge was by no means entirely theoretical or acquired only from books it is not surprising then to have a great investigating pharmacologist come along some time about the beginning of the 15th century when according to the best authorities Basil Valentine was born from traditions he seems to have had a rather long life and his years run nearly parallel with his century his career is a typical example of the personally obscure and intellectually brilliant lives which the old monks lived probably in nothing have recent generations been more deceived in historical matters than in their estimation of the intellectual attainments and accomplishments of the old monks the more that we know of them not from secondhand authorities but from their own books and from what they accomplished in art and architecture in agriculture in science of all kinds the more do we realize what busy men they were and appreciate what genius they often brought to the solution of great problems we have had much negative pseudo information brought together with the definite purpose of discrediting monasticism and now that positive information is gradually being accumulated it is almost a shock to find out how different are the realities of the story of the intellectual life during the middle ages from what many writers had pictured them to those who may be surprised that a man who did great things in medicine should have lived during the 15th century it may be well to recall the names and a little of the accomplishment of the men of this period who were Basil Valentine's contemporaries at least in the sense that some portion of their lives and influence was co-evil with his before the end of this century Columbus had discovered America and by no happy accident for many men of his generation did correspondingly great work Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa had developed mathematics and applied mathematical ideas to the heavens so that he could announce the conclusion that the earth was a star like the other stars and moved in the heavens as they do contemporary with Cusiness was Reggio Montanus who has been proclaimed the father of modern astronomy and a distinguished mathematician Toscanelli the foreign teen astronomer whose years run almost parallel with those of the 15th century did find scholarly work which deeply influenced Columbus and the great navigators of the time the universities in Italy were attracting students from all over Europe and such men as Lenacker and Dr. Kias went down there from England Raphael was but a young man at the end of the century and he had done some noteworthy painting before it closed Leonardo da Vinci was born just about the middle of the century and did some marvelous work before the end of that century Michelangelo was only 25 at the close of the century but he too did find work even at this early age among the other great Italian painters of this century are Fra Angelico Perugino Raphael's master Pintrucio Signorelli Vasari almost as distinguished Botticelli Titian and very many others who would have been famous leaders in art in any other but this supremely great period End of Part 1 of 2 Chapter 14 of Old Time Makers of Medicine This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Adam Marcetic September 2009 Alexandria, Virginia Old Time Makers of Medicine by James Joseph Chapter 14 Part 2 of 2 It was not only in Italy however that there was a wonderful outburst of genius at this time for Germany also saw the rise of a number of great men during this period. Jacob Wimpling the school master of Germany as he has been called whose educational work did much to determine the character of German education for 2 centuries was born in 1450 Rudolf Agricola who influenced the intellectual Europe of his time deeply was born in 1443 Erasmus one of the greatest of scholars of teachers and of controversialists was born in 1467 Johann Ruchlin the great linguist who next to Erasmus is the most important character in the German Renaissance was born in 1455 then there was Sebastian Brandt the author of The Ship of Fools and Alexander Hagius both of this same period the most influential of them all Thomas A. Kempis who died in 1471 and whose little book The Following of Christ has influenced every generation deeply ever since was probably a close contemporary of Basil Valentine when one knows of what European and especially German scholars were accomplishing at this time no room is left for surprise Basil Valentine should have lived and done work in medicine at this period that was to influence deeply the after history of medicine most of what Basil Valentine did was accomplished in the first half of the 15th century coming as he did before the invention of printing when the spirit of tradition was more rife and dominating than it has been since it is almost needless to say that there are many curious legends associated with his name two centuries before his time Roger Bacon doing his work in England had succeeded in attracting so much attention even from the common people because of his wonderful scientific discoveries that his name became a byword and many strange magical feats were attributed to him Friar Bacon was the great wizard even in the plays of the Elizabethan period a number of the same sort of myths attached themselves to the Benedictine monk of the 15th century he was proclaimed in popular story to have been a wonderful magician even his manuscript it was said had not been published directly but had been hidden in a pillar in the church attached to his monastery and had been discovered there after the splitting open of the pillar by a bolt of lightning from heaven it is the extension of this tradition that has sometimes led to the assumption that Valentine lived in an earlier century some even going so far as to say that he too, like Roger Bacon was the product of the 13th century it seems reasonably possible however to separate the traditional from what is actual in his existence and thus to obtain some idea of his work if not of the details of his life the internal evidence from his works enables the historian of science to place his writing within a half century of the discovery of America one of the myths that have gathered around the name of Basil Valentine because it has become a common place in philology has probably made him more generally known than any of his actual discoveries one of the most popular of the old fashion textbooks of chemistry in use about half a century ago in the chapter on antimony there was a story that students if I may judge from my own experience never forgot it was said that Basil Valentine a monk of the middle ages was the discoverer of this substance after having experimented with it a number of ways he threw some of it out of his laboratory when the swine of the monastery finding it proceeded to gobble it up together with some other refuse just when they were finishing it the monk discovered what they were doing he feared the worst from it but took the occasion to observe the effect upon the swine very carefully he found that after a preliminary period of digestive disturbance these swine developed an enormous appetite and became fatter than any of the others this seemed a rather desirable result and Basil Valentine ever on the search for the practical thought that he might use the remedy to good purpose on the members of the community some of the monks of the monastery were of rather frail health and delicate constitution and most of them were rather thin and he thought that the putting on of a little fat provided it could be accomplished without infringement of the rule might be a good thing for them accordingly he administered surrepetitiously some of the salts of antimony with which he was experimenting in the food served to these monks the result however was not so favorable as in the case of the hogs indeed according to one though less authentic version of the story some of the poor monks the unconscious subjects of the experiment perished as the result of the ingestion of the antimonial compounds according to the better version they suffered only the usual unpleasant consequences of taking antimony which are however quite enough for a fitting climax to the story Basil Valentine called the new substance which he had discovered antimony that is opposed to monks it might be good for hogs but it was a form of monks bane as it were unfortunately for most of the good stories of history modern criticism has nearly always failed to find any authentic basis for them and they have had to go the way of the legends of washington's hatchet and tells apple we are sorry to say that that seems to be true also of this particular story antimony the word is probably derived from certain dialectic forms of the greek word for the metal and the name is no more derived from anti and monacas than it is from anti and monos opposed to single existence another fictitious derivation that has been suggested and one whose etymological value is supposed to consist in the fact that antimony is practically never found alone in nature not withstanding the apparent cloud of unfounded traditions that are associated with his name there can be no doubt at all of the fact that valentinas to give him the latin name by which he is commonly designated in foreign literatures was one of the great geniuses who working in obscurity make precious steps into the unknown that enable humanity after them to see things more clearly than ever before there are definite historical grounds for placing basal valentine as the first of the series of careful observers who differentiated chemistry from the old alchemy and applied its precious treasures of information to the uses of medicine it is said to have been because of the study of basal valentine's work that paracelsus broke away from the galenic traditions so supreme in medicine up to his time and began our modern pharmaceutics following paracelsus came von helmont the father of modern medical chemistry and these three did more than any others to enlarge the scope of medication and to make observation rather than authority the most important criterion of truth in medicine indeed the work of this trio of men of the 15th and 16th centuries the renaissance in medicine as in art dominated medical treatment or at least the department of pharmaceutics down almost to our own day and their influence is still felt in drug giving while we do not know the absolute data of either the birth or the death of basal valentine and are not sure of the exact period even in which he lived and did his work we are sure that a great original observer about the time of the invention of printing studied mercury and sulfur and various salts of the metals and above all introduced antimony to the notice of the scientific world and especially to the favor of practitioners of medicine his book the triumphal chariot of antimony is full of conclusions not quite justified by his premises nor by his observations there is no doubt however that the observational method which he employed furnished an immense amount of knowledge informed the basis of the method of investigation by which the chemical side of medicine was to develop during the next two or three centuries great harm was done by the abuse of antimony but then great harm is done by the abuse of anything no matter how good it may be for a time it came to be the most important drug in medicine and was only replaced by venisection the fact of the matter is that doctors were looking for effects from their drugs and antimony is above all things effective patients too wish to see the effect of the medicines they took so even yet and when antimony was administered there was no doubt about its working the most interesting of basal valentine's books and the one which has had the most enduring influence is undoubtedly the triumphal chariot of antimony it has been translated and has had a wide vogue in every language of modern europe its recommendation of antimony had such an effect upon medical practice that it continued to be the most important drug in the pharmacopia down almost to the middle of the 19th century if any proof were needed that basal valentine or that the author of the books that go under the name was a monk it would be found in the introduction to this volume which not only states that fact very clearly but also in doing so makes use of language that shows the writer to have been deeply imbued with the old monastic spirit i quote the first paragraph of this introduction because it emphasizes this the quotation is taken from the english translation of the work as published in london in 1678 curiously enough seeing the obscurity surrounding valentine himself we do not know for sure who made the translation the translator apologizes somewhat for the deeply religious spirit of the book but considers that he was not justified in eliminating any of this the paragraph is left in the quaint old fashioned form so eminently suited to the thoughts of the old master and the spelling and use of capitals is not changed quote basal valentine is triumphant chariot of antimony since i basal valentine by religious vows imbound to live according to the order of saint benedic and that requires another manner of spirit of holiness then the common state of mortals exercised in the profane business of this world i thought of my duty before all things in the beginning of this little book to declare what is necessary to be known by the pious spagyrist old time for medical chemist inflamed with an ardent desire of this art as what he ought to do and where onto to direct his striving that he may lay such foundations of the whole matter as may be stable lest his building shaken with the winds happen to fall and the whole edifice be involved in shameful ruin which otherwise being founded on more firm and solid principles might have continued for a long series of time which admonition i judged was and is always will be necessary part of my religious office especially since we must all die and no one of us which are now whether high or low shall long be seen among the number of men for it concerns me to recommend these meditations of mortality to posterity bringing them behind me not only that honor may be given to the divine majesty but also that men may obey him sincerely in all things in this my meditation i found that there were five principle heads chiefly to be considered by the wise and prudent spectators of our wisdom and art the first of which is invocation of god the second contemplation of nature preparation the fourth the way of using the fifth utility and fruit for he who regards not these shall never obtain place among true chemists or fill up the number of perfect spagyrists therefore touching these five heads we shall hear following treat and so far declare them as that the general work may be brought to light and perfected by an intent and studious operator end quote this book though the title might seem to indicate it is not devoted entirely to the study of antimony but contains many important additions to the chemistry of the time for instance basal valentine explains in this work how what he calls the spirit of salt might be obtained he succeeded in manufacturing this material by treating common salt with oil of vitriol and heat from the description of the uses to which he put the end product of his chemical manipulation it is evident that under the name of spirit of salt he is describing what we now know as hydrochloric acid this is said to be the first definite mention of it in the history of science and the method suggested for its preparation is not very difficult from that employed even at the present time he also suggests in his volume how alcohol may be obtained in high strengths he distilled the spirit obtained from wine over carbonate of potassium and thus succeeded in depriving it of a great proportion of its water we have said that he was deeply interested in the philosopher's stone naturally this turned his attention to the study of metals and so it is not surprising to find that he succeeded in formulating a method by which metallocopper could be obtained the material used for this purpose was copper pyrites which was changed to an impure sulfate of copper by the action of oil of vitriol and moist air the sulfate of copper occurred in solution and the copper could be precipitated from it by plunging an iron bar into it basal valentine recognized the presence of this peculiar yellow metal and studied some of its qualities he does not seem to have been quite sure however whether the phenomenon that he witnessed was not really a transmutation at least of some of the iron into copper as a consequence of the other chemicals present there are some observations on chemical physiology and especially with regard to respiration in the book on antimony which show their author to have anticipated the true explanation of the theory of respiration he states that animals breathe because air is needed to support their life and that all the animals exhibit the phenomenon of respiration he even insists that the fishes though living in water breathe air and he uses in support of this idea the fact that whenever a river is entirely frozen the fishes die the reason for this being according to this old time physiological chemist not that the fishes are frozen to death but that they are not able to obtain air in the ice as they did in the water and consequently perish there are many testimonials of the character of all his knowledge and his desire to apply it for the benefit of humanity the old monk could not repress the expression of his impatience with physicians who gave to patients for diseases of which they knew little remedies of which they knew less for him it was an unpardonable sin for a physician not to have faithfully studied the various mixtures that he prescribed for his patients and not to know not only their appearance and taste and effect but also the limits of their application considering that at the present time it is a frequent source of complaint that physicians often prescribe remedies with even those physical appearance they are not familiar in whose composition is often quite unknown to them this complaint of the old-time chemist Alchemist will be all the more interesting for the modern physician it is evident that when Basil Valentine allows his ire to get the better of him it is because of his indignation over the quacks who are abusing medicine and patients in his time as they have ever since there is a curious bit of aspersion on mere book learning in the passage that has a modern ring and one feels the truth of Russell Lowell's expression that to read a classic no matter how antique is like reading a commentary on the morning paper so up to date does genius ever remain quote and when so ever I shall have occasion to contend in the school with such a doctor who knows not himself how to prepare his own medicines but commits that business to another I am sure I shall obtain the palm from him for indeed that good man knows not what medicines he prescribes to the sick whether the color of them be white black, gray, or blue he cannot tell nor doth this wretched man know whether the medicine he gives be dry or hot cold or humid but he only knows that he found it so written in his books and then pretends to acknowledge or as it were possession by prescription of a very long time yet he desires to further information here again let it be lawful to exclaim good God to what a state is the matter brought what goodness of mind is in these men what care do they take of the sick whoa whoa to them in the day of judgment they will find the fruit of their ignorance then they will see him who they pierced when they neglected their neighbor sought after money and nothing else whereas were they cordial in their profession they would spend nights and days in labor that they might become more learned in their art whence more certain health would accrue to the sick with their estimation and greater glory to themselves but since labor is tedious to them they commit the matter to chance and being secure of their honor and content with their fame they like brawlers defend themselves with a certain garrulity without any respect had to confidence or truth end quote perhaps one of the reasons why valentine's book has been of such enduring interest is that it is written in an imminently human vein and out of a lively imagination it is full of figures relating to many other things besides chemistry which serve to show how deeply this investigating observer was attentive to all the problems of life around him for instance, when he wants to describe the affinity that exists between many substances in chemistry and which makes it possible for them not to be attracted to one another he takes a figure from the attractions that he sees exist among men and women it is curious to find affinities discussed in our modern sense so long ago there are some paragraphs with regard to the influence of the passion of love that one might think rather a quotation from an old time sermon than from a great groundbreaking book in the science of chemistry quote love leaves nothing in tire or sound in man he cannot rest either day or night it takes off his appetite that he have no disposition either to meet or drink by reason of the continual torments of his heart and mind it deprives him of all providence hence he neglects his affairs vocation and business he minds neither study labor nor prayer casts away all thoughts of anything but the body beloved this is his study this his most vain occupation if two lovers the success be not answerable to their wish or so soon and prosperously as they desire how many melancholys henceforth arise with griefs and sadness with which they pine away and whack so lean as they have scarcely any flesh cleaving to the bones yay at last they lose the life itself as may be proved by many examples for such men which is a horrible thing to think of cite and neglect all perils and detriments both of the body and life and of the soul and eternal salvation end quote it is evident that human nature is not different in our sophisticated 20th century from that which this observant old monk saw around him in the 15th he continues quote how many testimonies of this violence which is in love are daily found for it not only inflames the younger sort but it so far exaggerates some persons far gone in years as though the burning heat thereof they are almost mad natural diseases are for the most part governed by the complexion of man and therefore invade some more fiercely others more gently but love without distinction of poor or rich young or old seizeth all and having seized so blinds them as forgetting all rules of reason they neither see nor hear any snare end quote but then the old monk thinks that he has said enough about this rather foreign subject and apologizes for his digression in another paragraph that should remove any lingering doubt there might be with regard to the geniuses of his monastic character at the end of the passage he makes the application in a very few words the personal element in his confession is so naive and so simply straightforward that instead of seeming to be the result of conceit which would surely have repelled the reader it rather the text and enhances his kindly feeling for its author the paragraph would remind one in certain ways of that personal element that was to become more popular in literature after montane in the next century made it rather the fashion quote but of these enough for it becomes not a religious man to insist too long upon these cogitations or to give such a flame in his heart hitherto while boasting I speak it I have throughout the whole course of my life kept myself safe and free from it and I pray and invoke God to vouchsafe me his grace that I may keep holy and invile it the faith which I have sworn and live contented with my spiritual spouse the holy catholic church for no other reason have I alleged these then I might express the love with which all tinctures ought to be moved towards metals if ever they be admitted by them into true friendship and by love which permeates the innermost parts be converted into a better state end quote the application of the figure at the end of his long digression is characteristic of the period in which he wrote as also a considerable extent of the German literary methods of the time in this volume on the use of antimony there are in most of the additions certain biographical notes which have sometimes been accepted as authentic but often are rejected according to these basal Valentine was born in Alsace on the southern bank of the Rhine as a consequence of this there are several towns that have laid claim to being his birthplace Mr. Jean Rinaud the distinguished French philosophical writer of the first half of the 19th century once said that basal Valentine like Aussian and Homer had many towns claim him years after his death he also suggested that like those old poets it was possible that the writings sometimes attributed to this Valentine were really the work not of one man but of several individuals there are however many objections to this theory the most forcible of which is the internal evidence derived from the books themselves showing similarities of style and method of treating subjects too great for us to admit non-identity in the writers Mr. Rinaud lived at a it was all the fashion to suggest that old works that had come down to us like the Iliad and the Odyssey and even such national epics as the Sid and the Arthur legends and the Nibelungen lead were to be attributed to several writers then to one we have passed that period of criticism however and have reverted to the idea of single authorship for these works and the same conclusion has been generally come to with regard to the writings attributed to Basil Valentine other biographic details contained in the triumphal chariot of antimony were undoubtedly more correct according to them, Basil Valentine traveled in England and Holland on missions for his order and went through France and Spain on a pilgrimage to St. James of Compostella besides this work there is a number of other books of Basil Valentine's printed during the first half of the 16th century that are well known and copies of which may be found in most of the important libraries the United States Surgeon Generals Library at Washington contains not a few of the works on medical subjects and the New York Academy of Medicine Library has some valuable editions of his works some of his other well known books each of which is a good sized octavo volume bear the following descriptive titles I give them in English though as they are usually found they are in Latin 16th century translations of the original German the world in miniature or the mystery of the world and of human medical science published at Mayberg 1609 the chemical apocalypse or the manifestation of artificial chemical compounds published in Erfurt in 1624 a chemical philosophic treatise concerning things natural and preternatural especially relating to the metals and the minerals published at Frankfurt in 1676 Haleography or the science of salts a treatise on the preparation use and chemical properties of all of the mineral animal and vegetable salts published at Bologna in 1644 the twelve keys of philosophy Leipzig 1630 these are of interest to the chemist and physicist rather than to the physician and it is as a maker of medicine that we are concerned with valentine here the great attention aroused in basal valentine's work at the renaissance period can be best realized from the number of manuscript copies and their wide distribution his books were not all printed at one place but on the contrary in different portions of Europe the original edition of the triumphal chariot of antimony published in Leipzig at the early part of the 16th century the first editions of the other books however appeared at places so distant from Leipzig as Amsterdam and Bologna while various cities of Germany as Erfurt and Frankfurt claim the original editions of still other works many of the manuscript copies still exist in various libraries in Europe and while there is no doubt that some unimportant editions to the supposed works of basal valentine have come from the attribution to him of scientific treatises of other German writers the style and the method of the principal works mentioned is entirely too similar not to have been the fruit of a single mind and that possessed of a distinct investigating genius setting it far above any of its contemporaries in scientific translation and observation the most interesting feature of all of basal valentine's writings that are extant is a distinctive tendency to make his observations of special practical utility his studies in antimony were made mainly with the idea of showing how that substance might be used in medicine he did not neglect to point out other possible uses however and knew the secret of the employment of antimony in order to give sharpness and definition to the impression produced by metal types it would seem as though he was the first scientist to discuss this subject and there is even some question of whether printers and typefounders did not derive their ideas in this matter from our chemist interested though he was in the transmutation of metals he never failed to try to find and suggest some medicinal use for all of the substances that he investigated his was no greedy search for gold and no culmination of investigations with the idea of benefitting only himself mankind was always in his mind and perhaps there is no better demonstration of his fulfillment of the character of the monk than this constant solicitude to benefit others than the little bit of investigation that he carried out for him with medieval nobleness of spirit quote the first part of every work must be the invocation of god and the last though no less important than the first must be the utility and fruit for mankind that can be derived from it end quote the career of the last of the makers of all ages may be summed up briefly in a few sentences that show how thoroughly this old benedicting was possessed of the spirit of modern science he believed in observation as the most important source of medical knowledge he valued clinical experience far above book information he insisted on personal acquaintance on the part of the physician with the drugs he used and thought nothing more unworthy of a practitioner of medicine indeed he sets it down as almost criminal then to give remedies of whose composition he was not well aware and whose effect he did not thoroughly understand he thought that nature was the most important aid to the physician much more important than drugs though he was the first to realize a significance of chemical affinities and he seems to have understood rather well how individual often worthy effects obtained from drugs he was a patient student a faithful observer a writer who did not begrudge time and care to the composition of large books on medicine yet with all he was no dry as dust scholar but eminently human in his sympathies with ailing humanity and a strenuous upholder of the dignity of the profession to which he belonged scarcely more can be said of anyone in the history of medicine at least so far as good intentions go though many accomplish more none deserve more honor than the thuringian monk who we know as basal valentine there are many other of these old time makers of medicine of whom nearly the same thing can be said basal valentine is only one of a number of men who worked faithfully and did much both for medical science and professional life during thousand years from the fall of Rome to the fall of Constantinople when according to what used to be commonly accepted opinion men were not animated by the spirit of research and a fine incentive to do good to men that we are so likely to think of as belonging exclusively to more modern times a man whom he greatly influenced paracelsus took up the tradition of scientific investigation where basal valentine had left it his work though more successfully revolutionary was not done in such a fine spirit of sympathy with humanity nor with that simplicity of life and purity of intention that characterized the old monks work in the year of the discovery of America places him among the makers of the foundations of our modern medicine and he will be treated in a volume on the forefathers in medicine end of part 2 of 2 end of chapter 14 appendix 1 of old time makers of medicine this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Adam Marsatich September 2009 Alexandria, Virginia old time makers of medicine by James Joseph appendix 1 Saint Luke the Physician part 1 of 2 in the midst of what has been called the higher criticism of the Bible in recent times one of the long accepted traditions that has been most strenuously assailed and indeed in the minds of many scholars seemed for a time at least quite discredited was that Saint Luke the Evangelist the author of the third gospel and the Acts of the Apostles was a physician distinguished authorities in early Christian apologetics have declared that the pillars of primitive Christian history are the genuine epistles of Saint Paul the writings of Saint Luke and the history of Eusebius it is quite easy to understand then that the attack upon the authenticity of the writings usually assigned to Saint Luke which in many minds seemed successful has been considered of great importance in the very recent time there has been a decided reaction in this matter this has come not so much from Roman Catholics who have always clung to the traditional view and whose great biblical students have been foremost in the support of the previously accepted opinion but from some of the most strenuous of the German higher critics who now appreciate that destructive so called higher criticism went too far and that the traditional view not only can be maintained but is the only opinion that will adequately respond to all the new facts that have been found and all the recently gathered information with regard to the relations of events in the olden time by far the most important contribution to the discussion in recent years came not long since from the pen of professor Adolf Harnack the professor of church history in the University of Berlin professor Harnack's name clearly cited as that of one of the most destructive of the higher critics his recent book however Luke the physician is an entire submission to the old fashion viewpoint that the writer of the third gospel and of the Acts of the Apostles was a Greek fellow worker of Saint Paul who had been in company for years with Mark and Philip and James and who had previously been a physician well versed in all the medical lore of that time Harnack does not merely concede the old position as might be expected his re-discussion of the subject clinches the arguments for the traditional view and makes it impossible ever to call it in question again it is easy to understand how important are such admissions when we recall how much this traditional view has been assailed and how those who have held it have been accused of old phogism and lack of scholarship and unwarranted clinging to antiquated notions just because they thought they were of faith and how lacking in true scholarship seriously hampering genuine investigation such conservatism has been declared to be the question of Luke's having been a physician is an extremely valuable one in our time is better fitted by early training and long years of study to elucidate it than Professor Harnack he began his excursions into historical writing years ago as a historian of early Christian medicine some of his works on medical conditions just before and after Christ are quoted confidently by the distinguished German medical historians from this department he graduated into the field of the higher criticism he is eminently in a position therefore to state the case with regard to St. Luke fully and to indicate absolutely the conclusions that should be drawn from the premises of fact writings and traditions that we have he does so in a very striking way perhaps no better example of his thoroughly lucid and eminently logical mode of is to be found than the paragraph in which he states the question it might be well recommended as an example of terse forcefulness and logical sequence that deserves the emulation of all those who want to write on medical subjects if we had more of these characteristic qualities of Harnack style our medical literature so-called would not need to occupy so many pages of print as it does would say more here it is St. Luke according to St. Paul was a physician when a physician writes a historical work it does not necessarily follow that his profession shows itself in his writing yet it is only natural for one to look for traces of the author's medical profession in such a work these traces may be of different kinds one the whole character may be determined by points of view, aims, and ideals which are more or less medical, disease, and its treatment two, market preference may be shown for stories concerning the healing of diseases which stories may be given in great number and detail three, the language may be colored by the language of physicians medical technical terms metaphors of medical character etcetera all these three groups of characteristic signs are found as we shall see in the historical work which bears the name of St. Luke here however it may be objected that the subject matter itself is responsible for these traits so that their evidence is not decisive for the medical calling of the author Jesus appeared as a great physician and healer all the evangelists say this of him hence it is not surprising that one of them has set this phase of his ministry in the foreground and has regarded it as the most important our evangelists need not therefore have been a physician especially if he were a Greek seeing that in those days Greeks with religious interests were disposed to regard religion mainly under the category of healing and salvation this is true yet such a combination of characteristic signs will compel us to believe that the author was a physician if for the description of the particular cases of disease shows distinct traces of medical diagnosis and scientific knowledge five if the language even where questions of medicine or of healing are not touched upon it is referred by medical phrase eology and six if in those passages where the author speaks as an eyewitness medical traits are especially and prominently apparent these three kinds of tokens are also found in the historical work of our author it is accordingly proved that it proceeds from the pen of a physician end quote the importance of the concession that saint as a physician should be properly appreciated his whole gospel is written from that standpoint for him the savior was the healer the good physician who went about curing the ills of the body while ministering to people's souls he has more accounts of miracles of healing than any of the other evangelists he has taken certain of the stories of the other evangelists who were eyewitnesses who were told in naive and popular language that obscured the real condition that was present he has retold the story from the physician's standpoint and thus the miracle becomes clearer than ever in one case where mark has a slur on physicians luke eliminates it in a number of cases the correction of mark's popular language in the description of ailments is made in terms that is reversed except by one thoroughly versed in the greek medical terminology of the times as a matter of fact there seems to be no doubt now that luke had been before he became an evangelist a practicing physician in malta of considerable experience his testimony then to the miracles is particularly valuable as almost a medical eyewitness in medical science saint luke's time was by no means barren of knowledge the alexandrian school of medicine had done some fine work in its time it was the first university medical school in the world's history and there dissection was first practiced regularly and publicly for the sake of anatomy and even the vivisection of criminals who were supplied by the toll may for human physiology was a part of the school curriculum a number of important discoveries in brain anatomy are attributed to heropolis after whom the torcular herofili within the skull is named and who invented the term calamus scriptorius for certain appearances in the fourth ventricle his colleague erasistratus the co-founder of this school at alexandria did work in pathological anatomy and laid the foundation for serious study there for three centuries there is some good worker at or in connection with alexandria whose name is preserved for us in the history of medicine other greek schools of medicine in the east as for instance that of pergamos also did excellent work medicine is the great representative of this school and he came in the century after saint luke a physician educated in greek medicine at that time would be an excellent position to judge critically of the miracles of healing of the christ and it would seem to have been providential that luke was called for this purpose the evidence for his membership of our profession will doubtless be interesting to all physicians some of the distinctive passages in which luke's familiarity with medical terms to such an extent that to express his meaning he found himself compelled to use them will appeal at once to these for whom such terms are part of everyday speech the use of the word hydropikos which is not to be met with anywhere else in the new testament non-medical greek literature of that time though the word is a frequent occurrence as a designation for a person suffering from dropsy and always as in luke the adjective for the substantiive in hypochritis dioscorids in galen is a typical example where such vague terms as paralyze occur luke does not use the familiar word but the medical term that meant stricken with paralysis indicating not any inability to use the limbs but such a one as was due to a stroke of apoplexy we who, as physicians have heard of so many cures of paralysis from our friends the ediites are prone to ask as the first question what sort of a paralysis it was luke made inquiries for men who were eyewitnesses and then has described the scene with such details as convinced him as a physician of the reality of the miracle and his description was meant to carry conviction to the minds of others occasionally saint luke uses words which only a physician would be likely to know at all that is to say even a man reasonably familiar with medical terminology would not be likely to know them unless he had been technically trained one of these is the word sphudron a word which is only medical and is not to be found even in such large greek lexicons of ordinary words as that of passow sphudron is the anatomical term of the greek oalexandrian school for the condolites of the femur galen and other medical authors use it and luke in giving the details of the story of the lame man cured in the third chapter of the act seventh verse selects it because it exactly expresses the meaning he wished to convey in this story there are a number of added medical details these are all evidently arranged so as to give the full medical significance to the miracle of existence the man had been lame from birth literally from the womb of his mother at this time he was 40 years of age an age at which the spontaneous cure of such an ailment or indeed any cure of it could scarcely be expected if during the preceding time there had been no improvement in the story of the cure of sol's blindness luke says in the acts that the blindness fell from him like scales the figure is a typically medical one the word for fall that is used is as was pointed out by hobart medical language of saint luke double in 1882 exactly the term that is used for the falling of scales from the body the term for scales is the specific designation of the particles that fall from the body during certain skin diseases or after certain of the infectious fevers as in scarlet fever hivocrates and galen have used it in many places it is distinctively a medical word in the story of the vision of saint peter told also in the acts the word ecstasis from which we derive our word ecstasy is used this is the only word saint luke uses for vision and he alone uses it this term is of constant employment in a technical sense in the medical writers of saint luke's time and before it when the other evangelists talk of lame people they use the popular term this might mean anything or nothing for a physician luke uses one of the terms that is employed by physicians when they wish to indicate that for some definite reason there is inability to walk in the story of the good samaritan there are some interesting details that indicate medical interest on the part of the writer it is luke's characteristic story in a typical medical instance he employs certain words in it that are used only by medical writers the use of oil and wine in the treatment of the wounds of the stranger traveler was at one time said to indicate that it could not have been a physician who wrote the story since the ancients used oil for external applications in such cases but not wine more careful search of the old masters of medicine however has shown that they use oil and wine not only internally but externally Hippocrates for instance has a number of recommendations of this combination for wounds it is rather interesting to realize this and especially the wine in addition to the oil because wine contains enough alcohol to be rather satisfactorily antiseptic there seems no doubt that wounds that had been bathed in wine and then had oil poured over them would be likely to do better than those which were treated in other ways the wine would cleanse and at least inhibit bacterial growth the subsequent covering with oil would serve to protect the wound to some degree from external contamination sometimes there is an application of medical terms to something extraneous from medicine that makes the phrase employed quite amusing for instance when luke wants to explain how they strengthen the vessel in which they were to sail he describes the process by the term which was used in medical greek to mean the splinting of a part or at least the binding up of it in such a way as to enable it to be used the word was quite a puzzle to the commentators until it was pointed out that it was the familiar medical term and then it was easy to understand occasionally this use of a medical term gives a strikingly accurate significance to luke's diction for instance where other evangelist talk of the lord looking at a patient or turning to them luke uses the expression that was technically employed for a physician's examination of his patient as if the lord carefully looked over the ailing people to see their physical needs and then proceeded to cure them manifestly in luke's mind the most interesting phase of the lord's life was his exhibition of curative powers and the savior was for him the divine healer the god physician of bodies as well of souls there are many little incidents which he relates that emphasize this for instance where saint mark talks about the healing of the man with a withered hand saint luke adds the characteristic medical note that it was the right hand when he tells of the cutting off of the ear of the servant of the high priest of the garden of olives saint luke takes the story from saint mark but adds the information that would appeal to a physician that it was the right ear moreover though all four evangelists record the cutting off of the ear only saint luke adds the information that the lord healed it again it is as if he were defending the kindly feelings of the divine physician as if it would have been inexcusable had he not exerted his miraculous powers of healing on the occasion it is saint luke too who has constantly distinguished between natural illnesses and cases of possession this careful distinction alone would point to the author of the third gospel and the ax as surely a physician as it is it confirms beyond all doubt the claim that the writer of these portions of the new testament was a physician thoroughly familiar with all the medical writings of the time and probably a physician who had practiced for a long time certain miracles of healing are related only by saint luke as if he realized better than any of the other evangelists the evidential value that such instances would have for future generations as to the divinity of the personage who worked them the beautiful story of the raising from death of the son of the widow of nine is probably one of the oftenest quoted passages from saint luke it is a charming bit of literature while it suggests the writer physician it makes one almost sure that the other tradition according to which saint luke was also a painter must be true the scene is as picturesque as it can be the lord and his apostles and the multitudes coming to the gate of the little city just as in the evening sun the funeral courtage with the widow burying her only son came out of it the approach of the lord to the weeping mother his command to the dead son to arise in the simple words end quote constitute as charming the scene as a painter ever tried to visualize besides this luke alone has the story of the man suffering with dropsy and the woman suffering from weakness the intensely picturesque quality of many of these scenes that he described so vividly would indeed seem to place beyond all doubt the old tradition that he was an artist as well as a physician interesting to realize that it is to luke alone that we owe the account of the well-known message sent by Christ himself to John the Baptist when John sent his disciples to inquire as to his mission after describing his ministry he said quote go and relate to John what you have heard and seen the blind see the lame walk the deaf hear the lepers are made clean rise again to the poor the gospel is preached end quote to no one more than to a physician with that description of his mission appeal as surely divine to those who care to follow the subject still further and above all to read opinions given before the reversal of the verdict of the higher criticism on the luke and writings indeed before ever that trial was brought in a biography of Saint Luke by Henry Samuel Baines Longman's 1870 that will surely be of interest he has some interesting quotations which show how thoroughly previous centuries realized all the force of modern arguments for instance the following paragraph from Dr. Nathaniel Robinson a scotch physician of the 18th century will illustrate this Dr. Robinson said it is manifest from his gospel that Luke was both an acute observer and had even given a professional attention to all our saviors miracles of healing originally among the Egyptians divinity and were united in the same order of men so that the priest had the care of souls and was also the physician it was much the same under the Jewish economy but after physics came to be studied by the Greeks they separated the two professions that a physician should write the history of our saviors life was appropriate as there were diverse mysterious things to be noticed concerning which his education enabled him to form a becoming judgment it is even interesting to realize that St. Luke's tendency to use medical terms has been of definite value in determining the question whether both the third gospel and the acts of the apostles are by the same man they have been attributed to St. Luke traditionally but in the higher criticism some doubt has been thrown on this and an elaborate hypothesis of dual authorship set up it has been asserted that it is very improbable on extrinsic grounds that they were both written by one hand and certain intrinsic evidence changes in the mode of narration especially the use of the first personal pronoun in the plural in certain passages has been pointed to as making against single authorship this tendency to deny old time traditions of authorship with regard to many classical writings was a marked characteristic of the early part of the 19th century but the close of the century saw practically all of these denials discredited the 19th century ushered in studies of Homer with the Separatist school perfectly confident in their assertion that the Iliad and the Odyssey were not by the same person and even that the Iliad itself was the work of several hands at the beginning of the 20th century we are quite as sure that both the Iliad and Odyssey were written by the same person and that the Separatists were hurried into a contrary decision not a little by the feeding of the sensation that such a contradiction of previously accepted ideas would create this is a determining factor in many a supposed novel discovery that it is hard always to discount sufficiently a thing may be right even though it is old and most new discoveries it must not be forgotten that is most of those announced with a great Blair of trumpets do not maintain themselves the simple argument that the Separatists would have to find another poet equal to Homer to write the other poem has done more than anything else to bring the opinion into disrepute it is much easier to explain certain discrepancies differences of style and of treatment of subjects as well as other minor variants than to supply another great poet most of the works of our older literatures have gone through a similar trial during the over hasty superficially critical 19th century the Nibelungen lead has been attributed to two or three writers instead of one the Sid the national epic of Spain and the Arthur legends the first British epic have been at least supposed to be amenable to the same sort of criticism in every case scholars have gone back to the older traditional view of a single author the phases of literary and historic criticism with regard to Luke's writings are then only a repetition of what all our great national classics have gone through from supercilious scholarship during the past hundred years end of part one of two