One characteristic of mediaeval medicine is its union with theology,
which is not remarkable, as the learning of the time was chiefly in
the hands of the clergy. One of the most popular works, the "Thesaurus
Pauperum," was written by Petrus Hispanus, afterwards Pope John XXI.
We may judge of the pontifical practice from the page here reproduced,
which probably includes, under the term "iliac passion," all varieties
of appendicitis.
For our purpose two beacons illuminate the spirit of the thirteenth
century in its outlook on man and nature. Better than Abelard or St.
Thomas Aquinas, and much better than any physicians, Albertus Magnus and
Roger Bacon represent the men who were awake to greet the rising of the
sun of science. What a contrast in their lives and in their works! The
great Dominican's long life was an uninterrupted triumph of fruitful
accomplishment--the titanic task he set himself was not only completed
but was appreciated to the full by his own generation--a life not only
of study and teaching, but of practical piety. As head of the order in
Germany and Bishop of Regensburg, he had wide ecclesiastical influence;
and in death he left a memory equalled only by one or two of his
century, and excelled only by his great pupil, Thomas Aquinas.
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