ts of three
of the greatest names in the history of Arabian medicine: Avenzoar,
Albucasis, and Averroes (Avenzoar is indeed claimed to be a Jew).
Great as is the fame of Averroes as the commentator and transmitter of
Aristotle to scholastic Europe, his fame is enhanced as the teacher
and inspirer of Moses ben Maimon. Exiled from Spain, this great
teacher became in Egypt the Thomas Aquinas of Jewry, the conciliator
of the Bible and the Talmud with the philosophy of Aristotle. He
remains one of Israel's great prophets, and while devoted to theology
and philosophy, he was a distinguished and successful practitioner of
medicine and the author of many works highly prized for nearly five
centuries, some of which are still reprinted. He says pathetically,
"Although from my youth Torah was betrothed to me and continues to
live by me as the wife of my youth, in whose love I find a constant
delight, strange women, whom I took at first into my house as her
handmaids, have become her rivals and absorbed part of my time." The
spirit of the man is manifest in his famous prayer, one of the
precious documents of our profession, worthy to be placed beside the
Hippocratic oath. It ends with: "In suffering let me always see only
my fellow creature."[A]

_Jewish Physicians and Medieval Popes_

In the revival of learning in the thirteenth century, which led to the
foundation of so many of the universities, Hebrew physicians took a
prominent part, particularly in the great schools of Montpelier and of
Paris; and for the next two or three centuries in Italy, in France,
and in Germany, Hebrew physicians were greatly prized. But too often
the tribulations of Israel were their lot. As one reads of the
grievous persecutions they suffered, there comes to mind the truth of
Zunz' words: "_Wenn es eine Stufenleiter von Leiden giebt, so hat
Israel die hochste Staffel erstiegen._" Their checkered career is well
illustrated by the relations with the Popes, some of whom uttered
official bulls and fulminations against them, others seem to have had
a special fondness for them as body physicians. Paul III was for years
in charge of Jacob Montino, a distinguished Jewish physician, who
translated extensively from the Arabic and Hebrew into Latin, and his
edition of Averroes is dedicated to Pope Leo X. In my library there is
a copy of the letter of Pope Gregory XIII, dated March 30th, 1581, and
printed in 1584, confirming the decrees of Paul IV and Pius V,