cribed the oesophagus as being
composed of two coats; they speak of the pleura as the double
covering of the lungs; and mention the special coat of fat
about the kidneys. They had made progress in obstetrics;
described monstrosities and congenital deformities; practised
version, evisceration, and Caesarian section upon the dead and
upon the living mother. A.H. Israels has clearly shown in his
'Dissertatio Historico-Medica Inauguralis' that Caesarian
section, according to the Talmud, was performed among the Jews
with safety to mother and child. The surgery of the Talmud
includes a knowledge of dislocation of the thigh bone,
contusions of the skull, perforation of the lungs,
oesophagus, stomach, small intestines, and gall bladder;
wounds of the spinal cord, windpipe, of fractures of the ribs,
etc. They described imperforate anus and how it was to be
relieved by operation. Chanina Ben Chania inserted natural and
wooden teeth as early as the second century, C.E."

There is a famous summing up of the possibilities of life and happiness
in the Talmud that has been often quoted--its possible wanting in
gallantry being set down to the times in which it was written. "Life is
compatible with any disease, provided the bowels remain open; any kind
of pain, provided the heart remain unaffected; any kind of uneasiness,
provided the head is not attacked; all manner of evils, except it be a
bad woman."

There are many other interesting suggestions in the Talmud. Sometimes
they have come to be generally accepted in the modern time, sometimes
they are only curious notions that have not, however, lost all their
interest. The crucial incision for carbuncle is a typical example of the
first class and the suggestion of the removal of superfluous fat from
within the abdomen or in the abdominal wall itself by operation is
another. That they had some idea of the danger of sepsis may be gathered
from the fact that they suspected iron surgical instruments and advised
the use of others of less enduring character.

The Talmud itself was indeed a sort of encyclopedia in which was
gathered knowledge of all kinds from many sources. It was not
particularly a book of medicine, though it contains so many medical
ideas. In many parts of it the authors' regard for science is
emphatically expressed. Landau, in his "History of Jewish Physicians,"
closes his account of the Tal