e as regards any prohibition of
dissection in itself, but insists that by a misinterpretation, easy to
understand as he considers, because of the supposed opposition of
ecclesiastics to medical science, it did actually prevent anatomical
development. President White says: "As to the decretal of Pope
Boniface VIII., the usual statement is that it forbade all
dissections. While it was undoubtedly construed universally to
prohibit dissection for anatomical purposes, its declared intent was
as stated in the text; that it was constantly construed against
anatomical investigations cannot for a moment be denied."

If a misinterpretation were subsequently made, surely Pope Boniface
VIII. must not be held responsible for it; yet in spite of the fact
that Dr. White shows that he knew very well that this bull did not
forbid the practice of dissection, he does not hesitate to use over
and over again expressions which would imply that some formal decision
against dissection itself had been made, though this is the only Papal
document he refers to. He even goes so far as to say that "anatomical
investigation was made a sin against the Holy Ghost." He frequently
repeats that for three centuries after the issuance of this bull the
development of anatomy was delayed and hampered, and insists that only
that Vesalius at great personal risk broke through this Church
opposition, modern anatomy would never have developed. He proceeds
constantly on the theory that it was always this bull that was in
fault, though he confesses that if so, it was by a misunderstanding;
and the only fault he can find to attribute to the Pope is a lack of
infallibility, as he {36} calls it, because he was not able to foresee
that his bull would be so misunderstood.

I suppose we are to understand from this that Dr. White considers that
he knows the meaning of the word infallibility. It is not a hard word
to understand if one wishes to understand it. The meaning that he
gives it in this passage is so entirely different from its accepted
meaning among Catholics, that any schoolboy in any of our parochial
schools would tell him that the word was never used by Catholics in
the sense in which he here employs it. It is so misunderstood
popularly outside of the Church, and this Dr. White doubtless knew
very well. When a man uses a term in medicine in a different sense to
that which is ordinarily accepted, we consider him ignorant; but when
he deliberately uses it in a