nt of civilization and knowledge."
M. Daunou's title for the work as issued originally in French was An
Historical Essay on the Temporal Power of the Popes and on the Abuses
which they have made of their Spiritual Ministry. [Footnote 3]

[Footnote 3: The time at which this little book was published
furnishes the best possible commentary on its purpose. It was
originally issued in 1810, the year after Pope Pius VII. had been
carried off from Rome, and when Napoleon was using every effort to
discredit the Pope and bring about a state of affairs in which the
pontiff would be compelled to accept a Concordat that would deprive
the Church of many of her former rights. It was then really a
political pamphlet meant to curry favor with Napoleon, and issued
anonymously, because even Daunou did not care to put his name to it
under the circumstances. This will give a better idea of how much
credence may be given to Daunou's assertions with regard to the Popes
of the Middle Ages, than any reflections that we could make.]

Everything that M. Daunou has to say with regard to the Popes is
tinged by his political and Gallican {56} prejudices. This is why he
states so definitely in the Histoire Litteraire de la France that the
bull of Pope Boniface VIII., if it did not actually forbid dissection,
at least was responsible for hampering the practice for two centuries.
That M. Daunou's expressions on this subject have been taken so
seriously, however, is to me at least a never-ending source of
surprise. He himself must have known nothing at all of the history of
dissection, while those who accepted his opinion must have carefully
avoided consulting authorities on the history of anatomy, for it is
actually just after this bull that the history of public dissection
begins. It is clear to me, then, that this absurd assertion of M.
Daunou never would have been swallowed so readily only that writers
were over-anxious to find material to use against the Popes and the
Church.

Daunou found this bull of Boniface an excellent opportunity to
discredit the Popes in their relations to science. It is true, the
bull itself says nothing about dissection, nor is there anything in it
that would tend to create even a distant impression that it was
directed against anatomical preparations of any kind. We might expect,
then, that his assertion in this matter would have been contradicted
at once by some one who would read the bull. The bull is, however, not