a foundation stone of the science. Gurlt talks of him as
the greatest botanist of his century and his work as director of the
botanical garden of Pisa did much both for medicine and botany. A
little practical work of his was a Manual of the Practice of Medicine,
which attracted much attention and is in line with the efforts of
Papal Physicians as a rule to make knowledge available for the use of
physicians generally.

Still another of the physicians of Pope Clement VIII was Michael
Mercatus, an intimate personal friend of the well-known social
reformer St. Philip Neri, whose profound influence on the social life
of Rome is a matter of history and to whom such men as Newman and
Faber and the English Oratorians turned with the loving name of Father
in the nineteenth century. Mercatus wrote a series of instructions on
the Pest and his medical volume contains also articles on antidotes
against poisons, the gout and paralysis. Like many of the physicians
of his century he was interested in Oriental problems and wrote a
volume on the obelisks of Rome which was published in 1589 and
dedicated to Pope Sixtus V. This led to a controversy with Latino
Latini during which Mercatus published another volume on the obelisks.
Mercatus came of a well-known scholarly family, for his grandfather
had been a close friend of Marsilio Ficino and a member of the famous
Platonic Academy.

Another of the physicians of Pope Clement VIII, at least he received
the honor of the appointment as Papal Physician, though he could not
come to Rome to fulfil its duties because of the approach of age, was
Nicholas Masinus. He is well known for his work on "The Abuse of Cold
Drinks," which was published in {459} 1587. The custom of gathering
snow on the mountains and using it in their wine and other drinks
during the summer time, which had been practised by the ancient
Romans, was revived at the time of the Renaissance and Masinus was
sure that it was productive of harm to the digestive system.

Still another of the physicians of Pope Clement VIII who deserves
mention was Jacobus Bonaventura, to whom Athenius of Brussels
dedicated his edition of the "Medical Consultations of Jerome
Mercurialis," calling him "a very distinguished man." He was a
particular friend of Mercurialis, who expressed his opinion of him in
the highest terms. He made a great many friends among the nobility of
Italy and was very dear to the Sovereign Pontiff.

Still another of the