conditions.
Draper's surprising ignorance of the history of medicine.
Objections to the Church in her relations to science
always founded on lack of knowledge.

{xv}

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Guy de Chauliac _Frontispiece_

FACING PAGE

Guy de Chauliac's cauteries 182

Guy de Chauliac's cauteries 183

Guy de Chauliac's instruments 186

Guy de Chauliac's instruments 187

Hospital at Luebeck 252

Hospital at Tonnerre 268

Hospital, Mexico 272

Ferri's instruments _Page_ 447

Maggi's instruments _Page_ 448

Maggi's instruments _Page_ 449

Maggi's instruments _Page_ 450

Hospital, Mexico _Opp. Page_ 495

{1}

INTRODUCTION.

When, some years ago, the announcement of the prospective opening of
the medical school at Fordham University, New York City, was made, the
preliminary faculty were rather astonished to find that a number of
intelligent physicians expressed surprise that there should be any
question of the establishment of a medical school in connection with a
Catholic institution of learning, since, as they understood, the
Church forbade the practice of dissection, and in general was
distinctly unfavorable to the development of medical science. Most of
us had already known of the false persuasion existing in some minds,
that by a Papal decree the practice of dissection had been forbidden
during the Middle Ages, but it was hard to understand how men should
think, in this day of general information, that Catholics were not
free to pursue the study of any true science, and above all medical
science, without let or hindrance from ecclesiastical authorities. In
a word, though we live in what we are pleased to call an enlightened
age with the schoolmaster abroad in the land, as is so proudly
proclaimed, we encountered the most childish simplicity of belief in a
number of old-time prejudices as to the position of the Church with
regard to the study of science.

We found such a curious state of positive ignorance and such an
erroneous, pretentious knowledge with regard to the supposed attitude
of the Church to medicine especially, that we realized that the first
thing that the {2} new medical department would have to do would be to
set about correcting authoritatively the false notions which existed
with regard to the Popes and medical science. Most of the
misinforma