ve up the
supposed historical truth of the preceding generations and have an
open mind for the newer ideas that are coming in as the result of the
renewed consultation of original documents and primal sources of
information. The present volume is written entirely with the idea of
bringing out the facts of the relations of the Popes and the Church
and the ecclesiastics, especially of the centuries before the
reformation, to science and to scientific education. My own position
as a professor of the history of medicine has necessarily made medical
science very prominent in the book. This, however, far from being a
disadvantage, is really an {26} advantage, since the physical sciences
of the medieval times gathered mainly around medicine, and it was
chiefly physicians and medical students who devoted most time to them.
After a detailed study of the history of medical science in the Middle
Ages as well of its allied sciences, it becomes very clear that there
was no trace of Papal or Church opposition to science as science, and,
on the contrary, liberal patronage, abundant encouragement, and even
pecuniary aid for the development of scientific education in every
way.

What we have tried to give in this book, then, is the authoritative
refutation of the supposed prohibition of the cultivation of certain
departments of medical and allied sciences by the Popes, and
sufficient information to enable students and teachers of science to
realize that the ordinarily accepted notions with regard to opposition
to science in the Middle Ages are founded on nothing more substantial
than sublime ignorance of the facts of the history of science at that
time. There was no bull against anatomy or dissection; no bull against
chemistry; the Popes were the patrons of the great medical scientists
and surgeons; the Papal Medical School was one of the best in the
world and was sedulously fostered; the great scientists of the Middle
Ages were clergymen, and many of them when they died were declared
saints by the Church. The opposite impression is entirely a deduction
from false premises with regard to the supposed attitude of the Church
and churchmen. We shall furnish abundant authorities of the first rank
and of value as absolute as there can be in present day history as to
these questions. The consultation of these will furnish further
material for those who desire to have real knowledge of {27} the
history of science in a magnificently original a