wn of
only fifteen thousand inhabitants now, was one of the most important
towns of Flanders in the Middle Ages, noted for its manufacture of
linens and fine laces, and has a handsome cathedral dating from the
thirteenth century and a town hall, the famous Cloth Hall, from the
same period, which is one of the most beautiful architectural
monuments in Europe and one of the finest municipal buildings in the
world.

After his return Yperman settled down in his native town and practiced
surgery until his death, which probably took place about 1330. He
obtained a great renown, and this has been maintained so that in that
part of the country even yet, an expert surgeon is spoken of as an
Yperman. He is the author of two works in Flemish. One of these is
what Pagel calls an unimportant compilation on internal medicine, but
the headings of the chapters as he gives them can scarcely fail to
attract the attention of the modern physician. He treats of dropsy,
rheumatism, under which occur the terms coryza and catarrh, icterus,
phthisis (he calls the tuberculous, tysiken), apoplexy, epilepsy,
frenzy, lethargy, fallen palate, cough, shortness of breath, lung
abscess, hemorrhage, blood-spitting, liver abscess, hardening of the
spleen, affections of the kidney, bloody urine, diabetes, incontinence
of urine, dysuria, strangury, gonorrhoea and involuntary seminal
emissions--all these terms are quoted directly from Pagel.

All this would seem to show that Yperman was a {181} thoroughly
representative medical man. When I add that Pagel says he shows a well
marked striving to free himself from the bondage of authority and that
most of his therapeutic prescriptions rest upon his own experience, it
will be seen that he deserves the greatest possible credit. His work
in medicine, however, Pagel considers as nothing compared to his work
in surgery. A special feature of this is the presence of seventy
illustrations of instruments of the most various kinds, together with
a plate showing the anatomical features of the stitching of a wound of
the head. The work as we have it is only a fragment. The last part of
it which treated of the extremities is defective. If anyone thinks for
a moment that surgery was a neglected specialty at the end of the
thirteenth and the beginning of the fourteenth century, he should
consult the text of this, or even Pagel's brief account of its
contents. Some of the features of it are noteworthy. There is a
chapter d