thought that nursing was extremely important and that without
it surgery often failed of its purpose. He says, "For if the assistants
are not solicitous and faithful, and obedient to the surgeons in each
and every thing which may make for the cure of the disease, they put
obstacles and difficulties in the way of the surgeon." It is especially
important that the patient's nutrition should be cared for and that the
bandages should be managed exactly as the surgeon directs. He has no use
for garrulous, talkative nurses, and does not hesitate to say that
sometimes near relatives are particularly likely to disturb patients.
"Especially are they prone to let drop some hint of bad news which the
surgeon may have revealed to them in secret, or even the reports that
they may hear from others, friends or enemies, and this provokes the
patient to anger or anxiety and is likely to give him fever. If the
assistants quarrel among themselves, or are heard murmuring, or if they
draw long faces, all of these things will disturb the patients and
produce worry and anxiety or fear. The surgeon therefore must be careful
in the selection of his nurses, for some of them obey very well while he
is present, but do as they like and often just exactly the opposite of
what he has directed when he is away."

We do not know enough of the details of Mondeville's life to be sure
whether he was married or not. It is probable that he was not, for all
of these surgeons of the thirteenth century before Mondeville's time,
Theodoric, William of Salicet, Lanfranc, and Guy de Chauliac, after him
belonged to the clerical order; Theodoric was a bishop; the others,
however, seem only to have been in minor orders. It is therefore from
the standpoint of a man who views married life from without that
Mondeville makes his remarks as to the difficulty often encountered when
wives nurse their husbands. He says that the surgeon has difficulty
oftener when husbands or wives care for their spouses than at other
times. This is much more likely to take place when the wives are caring
for the husbands. "In our days," he says, "in this Gallican part of the
world, wives rule their husbands, and the men for the most part permit
themselves to be ruled. Whatever a surgeon may order for the cure of a
husband then will often seem to the wives to be a waste of good
material, though the men seem to be quite willing to get anything that
may be ordered for the cure of their wives. The