endency to prevent drainage, the literal meaning of the Latin words
_saniem incarcerare_ is to "incarcerate sanious material," it is easy to
understand that the claim that antiseptic surgery was anticipated six
centuries ago is no exaggeration and no far-fetched explanation with
modern ideas in mind of certain clever modes of dressing hit upon
accidentally by medieval surgeons.

Theodoric's treatment of many practical problems is interesting for the
modern time. For instance, in his discussion of cancer he says that
there are two forms of the affection. One of them is due to a
melancholy humor, a constitutional tendency as it were, and occurs
especially in the breasts of women or latent in the womb. This is
difficult of treatment and usually fatal. The other class consists of a
deep ulcer with undermined edges, occurring particularly on the legs,
difficult to cure and ready of relapse, but for which the outlook is not
so bad. His description of _noli me tangere_ and of lupus is rather
practical. Lupus is "eating herpes," occurs mainly on the nose, or
around the mouth, slowly increases, and either follows a preceding
erysipelas or comes from some internal cause. _Noli me tangere_ is a
corroding ulcer, so called perhaps because irritation of it causes it to
spread more rapidly. He thinks that deep cauterization of it is the best
treatment. Since these are in the department of skin diseases this seems
the place to mention that Theodoric describes salivation as occurring
after the use of mercury for certain skin diseases. He has already shown
that he knows of certain genital ulcers and sores on the genital regions
and of distinctions between them.

WILLIAM OF SALICET

The third of the great surgeons in northern Italy was William of
Salicet. He was a pupil of Bruno's and the master of Lanfranc. The first
part of his life was passed at Bologna and the latter part as the
municipal and hospital physician of Verona. He probably died about 1280.
He was a physician as well as a surgeon and was one of those who
insisted that the two modes of practising medicine should not be
separated, or if they were both medicine and surgery would suffer. He
thought that the physician learned much by seeing the interior of the
body during life, while the surgeon was more conservative if he were a
physician. It is curiously interesting to find that the Regius
Professors at both Oxford and Cambridge in our time have expressed
themselves somewh