ar, and hatred; no crime could be imputed to him
too incredible. Thus Zedekias, the physician to Charles the Bald, was
asserted to have devoured at one meal, in the presence of the court, a
waggon-load of hay, together with its horses and driver. [Sidenote:
Writings of Jewish physicians.] The titles of some of the works that
appeared among them deserve mention, as displaying a strong contrast
with the mystical designations in vogue. Thus Isaac Ben Soleiman, an
Egyptian, wrote "On Fevers," "On Medicine," "On Food and Remedies," "On
the Pulse," "On Philosophy," "On Melancholy," "An Introduction to
Logic." The simplicity of these titles displays an intellectual
clearness and a precision of thought which have ever been shown by the
Israelites. They are in themselves sufficient to convince us of the
strong common sense which these men were silently infusing into the
literature of Western Europe in ages of concealment and mystification.
Roger Bacon, at a much later time, gave to one of his works the title of
"The Green Lion;" to another, "The Treatise of Three Words."

Since it was by the power and patronage of the Saracens that the Jewish
physicians were acting, it is not surprising that the language used in
many of their compositions was Arabic. Translations were, however,
commonly made into Hebrew, and, at a subsequent period, into Latin.
Through the ninth century the Asiatic colleges maintained their previous
celebrity in certain branches of knowledge. Thus the Jew Shabtai Donolo
was obliged to go to Bagdad to complete his studies in astronomy.
[Sidenote: Foundation of colleges.] As Arabian influence extended itself
into Sicily and Italy, Jewish intelligence accompanied it, and schools
were founded at Tarentum, Salerno, Bari, and other places. Here the Arab
and Jew Orientalists first amalgamated with a truly European
element--the Greek--as is shown by the circumstance that in the college
at Salerno instruction was given through the medium of all three
languages. At one time, Pontus taught in Greek, Abdallah in Arabic, and
Elisha in Hebrew. A similar influence of the Arab and Jew combined
founded the University of Montpellier.

[Sidenote: Medical studies among the Jews.] After the foundation of
medical colleges, the progress of medicine among the Jews was very
rapid. Judged by our standard, in some respects it was peculiar. Thus,
they looked upon the practice of surgery as altogether mechanical, and
therefore ignoble. A l