The Seven Books of Paulus ægineta, Volume 1 (of 3)

Part 1

THE SYDENHAM SOCIETY

INSTITUTED MDCCCXLIII

LONDON MDCCCXLIV.

THE SEVEN BOOKS OF PAULUS ÆGINETA.

TRANSLATED FROM THE GREEK.

WITH A COMMENTARY EMBRACING A COMPLETE VIEW OF THE KNOWLEDGE POSSESSED BY THE GREEKS, ROMANS, AND ARABIANS ON ALL SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH MEDICINE AND SURGERY.

BY FRANCIS ADAMS.

IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I.

LONDON PRINTED FOR THE SYDENHAM SOCIETY MDCCCXLIV.

“MULTUM EGERUNT QUI ANTE NOS FUERUNT, SED NON PEREGERUNT. SUSPICIENDI TAMEN SUNT, ET RITU DEORUM COLENDI.” (SENECA, EPIST. LXIV.)

PRINTED BY C. AND J. ADLARD, BARTHOLOMEW CLOSE.

ADVERTISEMENT.

Although in the Preface which immediately follows, and which is reprinted with slight alterations from the former edition, I have entered, at some length, upon the subject of the following translation, I felt it necessary, in the circumstances under which my work now appears, to premise a few additional remarks.

It is now many years since I undertook and completed a translation of the whole works of Paulus Ægineta. In the year 1834 I published the first three books, with a commentary, having for its object to embody the most important opinions of the Greek, Roman, and Arabian writers, on all subjects treated of by the original author. Notwithstanding the very favorable reception which that volume obtained from many of the most eminent members of the medical profession, as well as from scholars both at home and abroad, I was under the necessity—from circumstances which I need not here detail—of deviating from my original intention of completing the publication of the work in the same form and at my own risk. After an interval of ten years the proposition was made to me by the Council of the SYDENHAM SOCIETY to prepare a new edition of the volume already published, and to complete the remaining two on the same general plan. This proposition was too gratifying to my feelings not to be immediately assented to; and it is with unfeigned satisfaction that I have now the honour to submit the first volume of the work to the members of so distinguished and important a Society.

In preparing this volume for the press, knowing that it will now be subjected to the criticisms of a very numerous and intelligent body of my professional brethren, I have been anxious to render it worthy of their approbation as far as lay in my power. At the request of the Council I have made considerable omissions in my commentary as formerly printed, more especially in regard to modern authorities; it being thought advisable not to bring the annotations further down than the period of the Arabian writers. I have also made not a few additions and alterations which I hope will be considered as improvements. In performing this part of my task I have greatly profited by the aid and valuable criticisms of two esteemed friends, Sir William Hamilton of Edinburgh, and Dr. Greenhill of Oxford.

I am sensible that it is to the growing conviction in the profession, of the value of the ancient authorities, that I owe the very flattering distinction which my work has now obtained; and I shall have great satisfaction in reverting to the labours of former years if they should now prove instrumental in increasing the desire of becoming acquainted with the views and practice of our forefathers. That the ancient literature of medicine has been too much neglected in this country is not disputed by any competent judge; and it would appear from the remarks of M. Hecker, in his address to the physicians of Germany, given in his admirable work on Epidemics, that the profession on the Continent is not much in advance of us in this respect.

Dr. Babington’s Translation; Sydenham edition, p. xv.

The time, however, it is to be hoped, is not far distant when the medical profession will everywhere be impressed with the importance of becoming properly acquainted with the views of the animal economy and of its derangements, entertained by three of the most intellectual nations of mankind; and when every newly-broached hypothesis will be tested by a comparison with doctrines of a similar nature advanced in former days, and every newly-proposed remedy will be subjected to a like ordeal. Surely every age ought to endeavour to benefit by the experiments, whether successful or otherwise, of all preceding ones; instead of every generation commencing a new series of trials, and wandering over the same ground in search of truths which had been long ago discovered; or in stumbling through the mazes of error without regarding the beacons set up by their forefathers to direct the footsteps of their descendants. If the wisdom of antiquity be entitled to high reverence in any case, it surely is so in medicine, founded as this art especially is on general observation and experience.

What renders ancient medical literature of the more importance at the present day, is the circumstance that it is almost our only source of information with regard to the diseases prevalent in several extensive countries bordering upon the Mediterranean Sea. It is well known that the inhabitants of Greece, of Asia Minor, and of the north coast of Africa have been long sunk into such a state of intellectual decrepitude as renders them incapable of making and recording original observation; consequently, for information in regard to the phenomena of disease, as manifested in these regions, we are almost entirely thrown back upon the literature of their ancestors.

I take the present opportunity of adverting to one or two circumstances which I omitted to notice in my original preface.

An objection, I am well aware, will be made by some scholars to the manner in which I have executed one part of my task. It is this:—that the references to ancient authors are often so vague, as to make it a matter of considerable difficulty to find the passages in the originals. It must be admitted that there are grounds for this objection; and if I had the work to do over again, I should most probably take pains to obviate it, in some degree, at least. But to remedy the omission, after the work was completed on its present plan, would have been a task of immense labour to me, without bringing a correspondent advantage to my readers. Moreover, I am convinced that, even as they stand, the references will, in general, be found sufficient to guide those who have an acquaintance with the originals to the places indicated; and to those who are unacquainted with them, this strict system of quotation would be of no use, further than to inspire them with a greater degree of confidence in the accuracy and pains-taking research of the Editor. It may be proper for me, then, to state that I have made it an invariable rule never to quote at second-hand, nor to make any reference to the opinions of an author whose works I have not myself carefully examined.

Many readers, I fear, will find considerable difficulty with the names of the Compound Medicines which occur throughout this volume; and may be disposed to think it was the duty of the Commentator to explain them as they occur. In answer to this objection, I beg to state, that these compositions will be fully described in the third and last volume, which treats of the Materia Medica and Pharmacy; and on this account I thought it unnecessary to notice them elsewhere. The GENERAL INDEX, which will be given at the end of the work, will also facilitate reference in such cases.

F. A.

BANCHORY, August 17th, 1844.

EDITOR’S PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION OF VOL. I.

Notwithstanding the additions which have been made of late years to the history of medical literature, it must still be admitted that there is not, in the English language, any work which contains a full and accurate account of the theoretical and practical knowledge possessed by the Greeks, Romans, and Arabians, on matters connected with medicine and surgery. Nor, as far as I can learn, is the case very different with the continental languages. For, although the German and French have lately acquired several histories of medicine distinguished for their ability and research, the object of these works would appear to be confined to a general exposition of the leading discoveries and revolutions in doctrine which marked each particular age or epoch in the profession; and I will venture to affirm that no person will be able to acquire from a perusal of them anything like a competent acquaintance with the minute details of ancient practice. The design of the present publication is to supply the deficiency, now adverted to, by giving a complete Manual of the Surgery and Medicine of the Ancients, with a brief but comprehensive outline of the sciences intimately connected with them, especially Physiology, the Materia Medica, and Pharmacy. At first it was my intention to accomplish this purpose in the form of an original work, but, being perplexed what plan to choose in arranging the multifarious matters which I had to treat of, I at last resolved upon taking for my text-book the celebrated synopsis of PAULUS ÆGINETA, whereby I was at once supplied with a convenient arrangement of my subject, and at the same time, by giving a close translation of it into English, I saw that I would be enabled to enrich our medical literature with one of the most valuable relics of ancient science. By following this correct and faithful guide, by supplying his omissions and enlarging his plan, when necessary, from the more copious works of his predecessors, and by adding, in all cases, the improvements of subsequent ages, down to the latest date of ancient literature, I am in hopes that I have been able to present the reader with a work from which he may, at one view, become acquainted with the prevailing opinions upon all the most important matters connected with medical practice during a period of more than fifteen centuries. Impressed with a sense of the arduous nature of the task which I had undertaken, and sensible that its value consists entirely in its completeness on all points, I have endeavoured to discharge this duty faithfully and to the best of my ability. I trust then it will be found that not only have I overlooked no treatise connected with the medical art which has come down to us from antiquity, but that I have turned to good account my acquaintance with the learned labours of modern commentators, especially in the department of the Materia Medica, in order to adopt the nomenclature of the ancients on these subjects to the terminology of Botany, Chemistry, and Mineralogy, in the present time.

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