e la Faculte de
Medecine de Paris, 1864.

It is said that one of the special advantages that Montpellier had over
Paris was its possession of so many important MSS., particularly
those of the Arabian writers. Many "Compendia" were written containing
extracts from various writers, and no doubt these were extensively
copied and lent or sold to students. At Bologna and Padua, there were
regulations as to the price of these MSS. The university controlled the
production of them, and stationers were liable to fines for inaccurate
copies. The trade must have been extensive in those early days, as
Rashdall mentions that in 1323 there were twenty-eight sworn booksellers
in Paris, besides keepers of bookstalls in the open air.

MEDIAEVAL PRACTICE

THE Greek doctrine of the four humors colored all the conceptions of
disease; upon their harmony alone it was thought that health depended.
The four temperaments, sanguine, phlegmatic, bilious and melancholic,
corresponded with the prevalence of these humors. The body was composed
of certain so-called "naturals," seven in number--the elements,
the temperaments, the humors, the members or parts, the virtues
or faculties, the operations or functions and the spirits. Certain
"non-naturals," nine in number, preserved the health of the body, viz.
air, food and drink, movement and repose, sleeping and waking, excretion
and retention, and the passions. Disease was due usually to alterations
in the composition of the humors, and the indications for treatment were
in accordance with these doctrines. They were to be evacuated, tenuated,
cooled, heated, purged or strengthened. This humoral doctrine prevailed
throughout the Middle Ages, and reached far into modern times--indeed,
echoes of it are still to be heard in popular conversations on the
nature of disease.

The Arabians were famous for their vigor and resource in matters of
treatment. Bleeding was the first resort in a large majority of all
diseases. In the "Practice" of Ferrari there is scarcely a malady
for which it is not recommended. All remedies were directed to the
regulation of the six non-naturals, and they either preserved health,
cured the disease or did the opposite. The most popular medicines were
derived from the vegetable kingdom, and as they were chiefly those
recommended by Galen, they were, and still are, called by his name.
Many important mineral medicines were introduced by the Arabians,
particularly mercur