MEN AND BOOKS
Medieval survivals in 17th century English medicine'
Katharine M. Briggs, d.litt., Oxford, England
There were two great periods of me¬
dieval science, distinct but not unre-
lated: the 13th and the 15th centuries.
The former saw the flowering of the
early medieval period; the great out-
burst of the Renaissance occurred in
the latter.
In the 13th century Roger Bacon,
Robert Grossetete, Duns Scotus, Adam
Marsh and William Ockham were its
scientists, and Thomas Aquinas was
its supreme theologian; its encyclo-
pedist was Bartolomeus Anglicus and
its historians Matthew Paris and Giral-
dus Cambrensis. And these were in
England alone. The Friars were in
the forefront of the new learning
first the Dominicans and afterwards, in
England particularly, the Franciscans.
It must not be imagined that the
early scientists believed in a flat earth,
over the edge of which too rash
voyagers would be plunged into outer
darkness. This concept belonged to the
short period of the Dark Ages, and
appears to have sprung from the Scan-
dinavian cosmology. Already in Barto¬
lomeus Anglicus we find the Ptole-
maic conception of the universe, al¬
though rather vaguely treated:
"The Highest made the world to the
likeness of a sphere, and made the
highest circle above it immoveable
and the earth, pight and stedfast in
the middle thereof; not withdrawing
toward the left side nor towards the
right side, and set the elements
moveable, and made them move by
the moving of seven planets, and
all other stars help the planets in
their working and kind."
*Paper given at the Academy of Medicine,
Toronto, November 7, 1972
Reprint requests to: Dr. K. M.
The Barn House, Burford, OxfordBriggs,
0X8 4NB,
Kngland
There were variations in the presen¬
tation of the Ptolemaic universe, but
the main picture was clear. The uni¬
verse was a vast globe consisting of
nine, ten or twelve concentric spheres
hung by a golden chain from the
throne of God and surrounded by
chaos. The earth was its small and
rotten heart, into which all the filth
and refuse of the universe drained.
The moon came next to the Earth, then
Mercury, Venus, the sun, Mars,
Jupiter, Saturn. Outside the spheres
of the planets was the great sphere
of the fixed stars with the signs of
the zodiac borne on it among the
rest, and beyond them again was the
primum mobile, the crystalline sphere
which gave movement to all the rest.
Each sphere was dominated by its
angel, one of the nine hierarchies
which went outward in ascending order
of greatness, beginning with angels
and ending with the cherubim.
This was the simplest conception,
and does not include the four elements,
earth, air, fire and water. A more
complex diagram was composed by
the 17th century scholar Robert Fludd
under the influence of the Hermetic-
Cabalic tradition, in which Earth rep¬
resented the element of earth, circled
by the other elements, water, air and
fire, then the planets, then the fixed
stars, the primum mobile, and beyond
them the nine angelic orders in groups
of three. The stellar spaces were con-
ceived of a magnitude almost equal
to the findings of modern science
.
emotionally if not numerically. Be-
neath the moon, good was deeply mixed
with evil, devils moved freely, the at¬
mosphere was air, foul and muddy,
and the elements were unequally mixed,
so that death and decay ruled here.
Above the moon the atmosphere was
CMA JOURNAL/OCTOBER 20, 1973/VOL. 109 765
ether and the elements were equally
mixed, so that death had no sway.
The devils, fallen angels, were con-
fined beneath the moon and could not
ascend into the heavenly places.
This general conception was com¬
mon to both medieval periods, and was
unchallenged until the publication of
De Revolutionibus de Orbium Celes-
tum by Nicholas Copernicus in 1543
in which the sun was made central
to the universe. Though the conclu-
sion of Copernicus was reached by
pure mathematics he defends his posi¬
tion by references to Pythagoras,
Philolaus and Hermes Trismegistus,
and it was on Hermetic grounds that
Giordano Bruno supported him. It will
be seen from this that the Hermetic
Magi of the Renaissance had moved
a good distance from the Thomist
theology, however little they had ap¬
peared to alter their conception of the
universe. So long as the medieval con¬
ception remained uncracked, astrology
and medicine were interknit. When
change came in one direction the whole
structure began to splinter.
Partnership of astrology with medicine
In the 13th century scholars were
fluent in Latinity, though not strong
on textual criticism; there was some
knowledge of Greek and a little of
Hebrew and Arabic. Astrology was
universally accepted and was most im¬
portant in medicine. Each of the bodily
organs was under the influence of one
of the signs of the zodiac and planetal
influences were potent over men's
constitutions, as well as over herbs
and animals. The waxing and waning
of the moon was of great importance
in both medicine and husbandry. The
four elements were represented in the
body by the four humours (phlegmatic,
melancholic, sanguine and choleric)
and these were also believed to be af¬
fected by zodiacal and planetal in¬
fluences. The medical anatomy was
curious. No connection appears to have
been recognized between the veins and
arteries. The veins came from the liver,
the arteries from the heart and the
sinews from the brain. The liver was
said to be the seat of the affections,
the heart of the intelligence and the
brain of the senses.
Certainly at this time Roger Bacon
had already made a beginning in ex-
perimental science and the alchemists
had learned a large amount of prac¬
tical chemistry in the course of their
quest for the Philosopher's Stone and
the transmutation of base metals into
go!d. Paradoxically, the intellectual
basis of this quest was founded on
the dogma of the Great Chain of
Being, the hierarchy which shaped the
universe. According to this conception
each order of being had a primate .
Man among earthly creatures, the lion
among beasts, the eagle among birds
and so on down to inorganic matter.
Gold was, of course, first amongst the
metals, and it was assumed that it
was metal in perfection and all the
others were intermixed with baser mat¬
ter and could be redeemed to their
original purity if the right recipe could
be found. This seems rather an intru-
sion on the main thesis; it was no-
where assumed that an ape could by
any method of purging be turned into
a man, yet the alchemists held fervent-
ly to their theory. The medieval em-
phasis was not, however, on research;
the sanctions of science lay mainly in
tradition. Men were looking back to
the primitive church, to the early
fathers, chief among them Augustine,
with an admixture of classical learning
and classical medicine. In natural his¬
tory, for instance, Pliny was supreme.
Upon this foundation of classicism and
church authority was erected a vast
interrelated theocentric system of the
universe into which everything had to
be dovetailed. It seemed almost un-
necessary to test facts by observation
and experiment; fitness to the pattern
was enough. To give a small example,
in Bartolomeus the green in the rain-
bow is described as the nethermost
colour because it represents earth, the
lowest of the elements. It seemed that
no one had looked at a rainbow to
see that the green comes between the
blue and the yellow. Modern science
may be said to begin when experiment
took the place of authority.
The influence of magic
In Renaissance times science still
766 CMA JOURNAL/OCTOBER 20, 1973/VOL. 109
looked backward to a golden age of
knowledge and revelation, but one
rather different from that of the earlier
medievalists. For the medievalists the
golden age was the time of the Magi,
when Egyptian, Chaldean and Hebraic
traditions had a high prestige.
There were various methods of prac¬
tising this mystical magic. There was
natural magic, in contact with the im-
personal powers of the universe, her¬
metic magic which entailed intercourse
with good spirits and the Cabala in
the Hebraic mystical tradition. Effects
could also be wrought by obtaining
dominance over evil spirits, to which
unpremeditated declension magicians
were prone. Lynn Thorndike in his
"History of Magic and Medicine" (vol.
VII, 1923) distinguishes between the
various kinds.
"Natural magic is the working of
marvellous effects, which may seem
preternatural, by a knowledge of oc-
cult forces in nature without resort
to supernatural assistance. It was
therefore regarded, unless employed
for evil purposes, as permissible,
whereas diabolical magic, worked
by demon aid, was illicit. Natural
magic was also distinguishable from
natural science, as being more mys-
terious, and less explicable in uni¬
versal, regular and mathematical
terms. Indeed, since demons were
often thought to work their magic
simply by superior insight into the
secrets of nature based on long ex¬
perience, the connection between
natural and diabolical magic was
somewhat closer than that between
natural magic and classified and
generally accepted natural science."
This description does not take ac¬
count of the spirit magic generally
employed by the theurgic magicians
the intercourse with angels. Included
by Ficino in natural magic is the fash-
ioning of sigils or talismans, which he
used for medical purposes. For in¬
stance, "For the curing of illnesses
Ficino advises the use of this image:
'A king on a throne, in a yellow gar-
ment, and a crow and the form of
the sun'"; and "For happiness and
strength of body, Ficino advises an
image of a young Venus, holding ap-
ples and flowers, and dressed in white
and yellow". As Seznec points out in
his La Survivance des Dieux Antiques,
these astrological images brought men
very near to a return to classical pagan
idolatry.
Ficino practised in the 15th century, tained very easily. Lilly, the astrologer,
but the fashioning of sigils and amulets received an imposing licence to prac¬
was a profitable part of the magician's tise from the Archbishop of Canter-
trade until the middle of the 17th bury on the recommendation of two
century.
The Hermetic, Cabalistic and later Lilly had always been interested in
the Rosicrucian Magi were all theurgic
magicians who abjured necromancy and
traffic with devils. They were interested
in some medical cures, in particular
those of mental and nervous states, but
their main object was heavenly con-
templation. Their original error of as-
cribing the second century works of
Hermes Trismegistus and the Pimanders
of Asklepios to a contemporary of
Moses, if not Moses himself, infected
the matter of their studies. They could
have learned much from their more
prosaic contemporaries, the humanists,
who were working on the classics, many
of them already dated with precision,
and were teaching themselves a great
deal in their researches about textual
criticism and the accurate dating of
their sources.
The Ptolemaic and Dionysian con¬
ception of the universe continued to
be influential through the 15th, 16th
and much of the 17th centuries, though
it gradually weakened and became
permeated by the Copernican discovery
as further established by Galileo. As¬
trology was still much used. Though
judicial astrology was being increasing-
ly called into question, medical as¬
trology was still respectable, and in
some of the case-books of careful
physicians we find astrological notes
on diseases. With this conception we
find those of the four elements and
of the sympathies. Cranks pursued
some of these almost to the end of the
century as, for instance, Sir Kenelm
Digby's Weapon Salve, in the use of
which the wound was healed by anoint-
ing the weapon that had made it; but
cranks are always with us.
Ordinary practitioners, however, still
treated scarlet fever by hanging scarlet
curtains round the patient's bed and
wrapping him in red flannel. The stand¬
ard of the practitioners was very
varied. The poor, unless they were
admitted to hospitals, had to take
what treatment they could get. In the
country the purer air and water were
offset by the inaccessibility of the
doctor. A conscientious lady of the
manor would treat her tenants with
draughts, poultices and kitchen physic;
many would go to a "wise woman" to
be treated with traditional herbal
remedies (some of them are still in
the materia medica) or with sympathe-
tic magic.
practising physicians
Some
The degree of M.D. could be ob¬
members of the College of Physicians.
medicine. In his autobiography he gives Fabricius of Aquapendente and gradu¬ acquittal of the four women accused
a horrifying account of how, as a young ated as M.D. in 1602. His highly com- of witchcraft in Lancashire in 1634
serving boy, he treated his mistress mendatory diploma is preserved in the on the accusation of an inventive little
for cancer of the breast, cutting away College of Physicians in London. He liar, Edmund Robinson. A rather
the dying flesh day by day. He must returned to England in 1604 and re¬ pleasant anecdote told about Harvey
always have had the power of inspir- ceived his M.D. at Cambridge elected in the in an early issue of The Gentlemen's
ing confidence, for she would suffer same year. In 1607 he was Magazine illustrates the experimental
no one to dress her wounds but him. Fellow of the College of Physicians methods of his time. An old woman
At the end of his life he had a large and was appointed Physician to St. who was believed to be a witch, and
practice among the poor of Kingston- Bartholomew's Hospital in 1609 on the indeed believed herself to be one, was
on-Thames, to whom he was very recommendations of the King and the visited by Harvey, who wished to prove
charitable. He does not tell us how President of the College. A careful her innocent of the charge. She was
much magic he mixed with his medi¬ charge was given to him on his appoint- surly and suspicious at first, but he
cine. ment. He was to attend the hospital convinced her that he was a witch him-
An aspirant to medical practice once a week or oftener if necessary. self, for he had a very magical face.
would often go abroad for a couple He was to give the poor the full ben- Having persuaded her to show him her
of months and come back with a efit of his knowledge without charge familiar, a toad, which she called* out
degree. The best of the physicians, and prescribe for them only suchwithout medi- and fed on milk, he sent her to fetch
however, were highly qualified. One cines as "shall do them good", some ale for them to drink together.
of the most famous of these was regard to the pecuniary interests of While she was out he picked up the
Theodore Mayerne, the physician to the apothecary and was to render ac¬ poor toad and slashed it open. A gush
James I and Charles I. He was born count for any negligence on his part. of milk came out, which convinced him
at Mayerne near Geneva and studied He received his patients in the hall of that the toad was a natural animal.
at Heidelberg for four years, graduat- the hospital, where they were brought When the old woman came back he
ing as M.D. in 1597. He went to Paris to him, attended by the apothecary, had some difficulty in escaping from
and was appointed a Royal Physician the steward and the matron. rt was her fury; but when she was arrested
in 1600. In his lectures he defended the surgeons and the apothecaries who for witchcraft Harvey's testimony ac-
the use of chemical remedies and thus walked the wards. His prescriptions quitted her.
fell afoul of the Galenists. He published were written in a book which was kept By contrast, there were practitioners
an apologia which was received with locked up. His salary was at this time of magic and medicine whom William
much abuse and finally condemned by <£25 a year. In 1615 he was appointed Lilly encountered in the course of his
the College of Physicians at the Uni¬ lecturer at the Royal College of Phys¬ chequered career. Here is his account
versity of Paris. Though he ceased to icians. The notes for these lectures of his first master in astrology, Evans,
lecture, his influence at Court con- on comparative anatomy survive, perhaps the very one that Mayerne
tinued to rise and in 1606 he was taken and it is clear from them that he had examined and condemned.
by an English peer whom he had cured already made his discovery of the 'The same week after
to England where he received an M.D. circulation of the blood. He demon- we went to
at Oxford. He was appointed first strated anatomy on human corpses but see Mr. Evans: When we came to
physician to King James I and was also made many experiments on an¬ his House, he having been drunk
much esteemed by the physicians of imals. He initialled those parts of his the Night before, was upon his Bed,
London. He had an extensive practice lectures which were the result of his if it be lawful to call that a Bed
and kept very careful and exact case- own researches. In 1628 his great book whereon he then lay; he roused
books. Among his most illustrious pa¬ Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis up himself, and, after some Com-
tients was Prince Henry. He was called et Sanguinis in Animalibus was pub¬ plements, he was content to instruct
in late in the illness but left a very lished. It gained immediate favour in me in Astrology; I attended his best
lucid and exact account of the typhoid England but was the subject of a good Opportunities for seven or eight
fever from which Prince Henry died. deal of controversy and invective in Weeks, in which Time I could set
He had attended Charles I as a boy Europe; but it made its way, and was a Figure perfectly: Books he had
and on Charles's accession he was re¬ generally accepted before the end of not any, except Haly de Judiciis
ceived as an old friend. Many of his the author's life. In 1677, however, Astrorum, and Orriganus his Ephe~
notes are preserved in the Sloane Webster wrote that for 18 or 20 years merides, so that as often as I en¬
manuscripts in the British Museum many of the leading Galenists and tered his House I thought I was in
(23 volumes). He made many chemical anatomists in Europe refused to accept the Wilderness. Now something of
and pharmacological experiments; he it, and those of Spain were particularly the M&n: He was by birth a Welch-
brought calomel into use and first pre- tardy. As late as 1695 Bartolomaeus man, a Master of Arts, and in
pared the mercurial lotion known as de Moore asserted that no one had as Sacred Orders; He had formerly had
black-wash. He was an innovator and yet rightly explained the circulation of a Cure of Souls in Staffordshire,
a man of new ideas, but he did not the blood, and especially the, impetus but now was come to try his For-
despise the long-established remedies with which it burst forth from the tunes in London, being in a manner
and only condemned them when he heart. enforced to fly for some Offences
had discovered them to be useless. It will be plain from these careers very scandalous committed by him
Mayerne's great contemporary, Wil- that strenuous efforts were being made in these Parts, where he had lately
liam Harvey, went through as rigorous in England, as in the rest of Europe, lived; for he gave Judgement upon
a training and achieved like academic to secure proper training and super- things lost, the only Shame of As¬
distinction. He graduated as B.A. at vision of physicians and surgeons. Both trology: He was the most Saturnine
Caius College, Cambridge, and, since Mayerne and Harvey were employed Person my Eyes ever beheld, either
he wished to study medicine, travelled in the examination and exposure of before I practised or since; of a
to Padua which was then the most quacks, such as Evans and Savery. middle Stature, broad Forehead,
famous school of medicine in Europe. Harvey was also at the head of the Beetle-brow'd, thick Shoulders, flat
There he studied anatomy under commission which recommended the Nosed, full Lips, down-look'd, black,
CMA JOURNAL/OCTOBER 20, 1973/VOL. 109 767
 curling stiff Hair, splay-footed; to
give him his Right, he had the most
piercing Judgement naturally upon
a Figure of Theft, and many other
Questions, that I ever met withal;
yet for Money he would willingly
give contrary Judgements, and was
much addicted to Debauchery, and
then very abusive or quarrelsome,
seldom without a black Eye, or one
mischief orother: This is the same
Evans who made so many Anti-
monial Cups, upon the Sale whereof
he principally subsisted:he under-
stood Latin very well, and Greek
tongue not at all: He had some
Arts above, and beyond Astrology,
for he was well versed in the Na¬
ture of Spirits, and had many times
observed the circular way of in-
vocating, as in the Time of our
Familiarity he told me."
AntimonialCups were made of glass
of antimony to communicate emetic
qualities to wine (for antiveneric pur¬
poses). Antimony is a brittle metallic
substance, bright bluish and of crystal-
line texture. Evans was one of the
greatest rogues of Lilly's acquaintance,
though he gives account of quite a
number. William Poole ran him close.
There were some of a better reputa¬
tion. For instance, in the list he gives
of fellow practitioners he says:
secure
umbilical
"There was also one Geoffrey Neve
at this time a student in Physick and
Astrology: he had formerly been a
Merchant in Yarmouth, and Mayor
of the Town, but failing in Estate,
went into the Low Countries, and at
Franecker took the Degree of Doc¬
tor in Astrology; could resolve a
Question of Theft, or Love Ques¬
tion, something of Sickness; a very
grave Person, laborious and honest,
of tall stature and comly Feature;
he died of late years."
Later in the book Lilly writes briefly
of another physician.
"In Anno 1634 and 1635 I had
much familiarity with John Hege-
nius, Doctor of Physick, a Dutch-
man, and excellent Scholar and an
able Physician, not meanly versed
in Astrology; unto him, for his great
Civility, I communicated the Art of
framing Sigils, Lamens ete, and the
use of the Mosaical Rods; and we
did create several Sigils to very good
Purpose; I gave him the true Key
thereof, v/z. instructed him of their
Forms, Characters, Words, and last
of all, how to give them Vivifica-
tion, and what Number or Numbers
were appropriated to every Planet."
There were physicians, but Dr.
Napier, of whom Lilly gives a full
account, was one of the theurgic magi
in the Renaissance tradition. He was
a cousin of John Napier of Marchis-
ton who invented logarithms.
"A Word or two of John Napier
who lived at Great Lindford in
Buckinghamshire, was Parson, and
had the Advowson thereof. The Par¬
son was Master of Arts; but whether
Doctorated by Degree or Courtesy,
because of his profession, I know
not: Miscarrying one Day in the
Pulpit, he never after used it, but
all his Life-time kept in his House
some excellent Scholar or other to
officiate for him, with Allowance of
a good Salary: He outwent Forman
in Physick and Holiness of Life;
cured the Falling-Sickness perfectly
in Constellated Rings, some Diseases
by Amulets, &.
"A Maid was much afflicted with
the Falling-Sickness, whose Parents
applied themselves unto him for
Cure; he framed her a constellated
Ring, upon wearing whereof, she
recovered perfectly: Her Parents ac-
quainted some scrupulous Divines
with the Cure of their Daughter:
The Cure is done by Inchantment,
say they; Cast away the Ring, it's
Diabolical; God cannot bless you,
if you do not cast the Ring away.
The Ring was cast into the Well,
whereupon the Maid become Epilep-
tical as formerly, and endured much
Misery for a long time. At last her
Parents cleansed the Well, and re¬
covered the Ring again; the Maid
wore it, and her Fits took her no

cord more. In this Condition she was one

Year or two; which the Puritan Min-

ligation isters there adjoining hearing, never

left off, till they procured her Parents
to cast the Ring quite away; which
done, the Fits returned in such
Violence, that they were enforced to
apply to the Doctor again, relating
at large the whole Story, humbly im-
ploring his once more Assistance;
but he could not be procured to
do any thing, only said, Those who
despised God's Mercies, were not

at your f ingertips
capable or worthy of enjoying them."
Many of the practitioners and theor-
istswere less modernist than Mayerne
or Harvey. Thorndike (vol. VI, page
When it's time to ligate the umbilical cord, a Hollister 176) cites "The Dogmatic-Hermetic
Double-Grip® Cord-Clamp should be within reach. Its Handbook" of Johan Vincencz Finck,
contoured finger-grips and wide jaw opening make published in 1618. He says
one-hand application easy. Tne serrated jaws of the
clamp hold it firmly in place and maintain a constant "Finck takes remedies from old-wives
pressure as the cord dries, eliminating the dangers as well as from books and phys¬
of seepage. To insure against opening, the clamp has icians. He does not scorn such an¬
a permanent blind closure. Write for free samples. cient remedies as river crabs, if
HOLLISTER LTD.. 332 CONSUMERS ROAD, W1LLOWDALE, ONTARIO washed in rose vinegar and crushed
and bound on in place of a plaster.
770 CMA JOURNAL/OCTOBER 20, 1973/VOL. 109
 An 'experiment known only to the
ancients but also to the moderns' is
prepared from green frogs. By it
Frederick IV, Elector Palatine, was
completely liberated from a perti-
nacious epilepsy contracted in his
youth. Finck further introduces drugs
from the New World. Blackened
teeth are made very white by rub-
bing them daily with the ash of In-
dian tobacco. The front of a human
skull is more medicinal than the
back, and use should be made of
the cranium of a person of the same
sex as the patient. Amulets are em-
ployed, such as wearing red coral
on the hands or about the neck
against phantasy, spectres, phantasms
and melancholy, or a dried powdered
toad in muslin in the arm-pits or
hands against nose-bleed, or the right
hind hoof of an elk, worn in a ring
so that it touches the bare flesh,
against epilepsy. Astrological cere-
mony is to be observed, as in digging
a root of peony under a waning
moon in March or April - or some
prefer the dog days - or gathering
Mistletoe in a waning Moon between
the two feasts of May."
Sir Thomas Browne may be given
as an example of the blend of new
and old, for his testimony, unlike
Harvey's, leaned towards the condem-
nation of witches. In the Norwich
witchcraft case he allowed that "the
Mother", or hysteria, could be a na-
tural disease, but was inclined to think
that it could be unnaturally induced by
witchcraft. This opinion was enough
to bring about the condemnation of
Amy Dunny and Rose Callendar. In
his Pseudodoxia Epidemica, too, he
took a neutral position towards some
of the received fables, but his main
attitude was that of a modernist, for
he was an opponent of unthinking ad-
herence to tradition. "Nor is only a
resolved prostration unto Antiquity a
powerful enemy unto knowledge, but
any confident adherence unto Author-
ity, or resignation of our judgement
upon the testimony of any Age or
Author whatsoever." There speaks the
man of science! He holds this principle
of particular importance in mathema-
tics and natural philosophy, though he
allows that authority may be permis-
sibly cited in morality, rhetoric, law
and history. Even here, however, he
thinks it must be tempered. He repre-
hends the practice, common in the
17th century, of calling on authority
to vouch for self-evident truths or those
that fall under common observation,
which is, he says, "a pedantical vanity".
"Antoninus Guevera that elegant
Spaniard, in his book entitled, The
Dial of Princes, beginneth his
Epistle thus: Apolonius Thyaneus,
disputing with the scholars of Hiar-
chas, said that among all the af-
fections of nature, nothing was more
natural, than the desire all have to
preserve life. Which being a con-
fessed Truth, and a verity acknowl-
edged by all, it was a superfluous
affectation to derive its Authority
from Apolonius, or seek a confirma-
tion thereof as far as India, and
the learned Scholars of Hiarchas."
Transition to modern science
I have chiefly cited the opinions of
men who were practising doctors as
well as writers. There were, however,
in the 17th century a large number of
amateurs in science, who experimented
in a great variety of directions in a
rather dilettante manner but with an
alert eye and an open mind, as well
as more sedentary scholars who de-
pended more upon books than upon
personal experience. Those of the
former class were generally members
of The Royal Society and it was their
interest and growing expertise which
were to sustain the scientific researchers
of the future. Those of the latter group
preserved the continuity with the past.
There are many stories told of The
Royal Society. It is said that King
Charles I1, who was the interested
patron of the Society, once propounded
the question as to why a dead fish dis-
placed more water in a bowl than a
living one. Many ingenious theories
were put forward, and at the end of
the debate the King said, "Better test
it and see if it is so." A useful lesson
in the scientific approach to a subject.
It is said, too, that Francis Bacon died
as a result of an experiment in refrig-
eration. He stopped his coach and got
out to stuff a fowl with snow to prove
that putrefaction could thus be
prevented, and so caught his death of
cold.
One of the most massive works of
scholarship on a medieval theme was
BuLrton's "The Anatomy of Melan-
choly". It was sparked by a personal
interest, for Burton was himself a
melancholic. The last edition, cor-
rected and added to by Burton, came
out in 1652. It is a massive tome of
700-odd pages crammed with every
learned quotation or citation which
could have any bearing on the subject
of melancholy, written in the incom-
parable 17th century prose style and at
first sight as wandering as thistledown.
Any quotation seems to serve as evid-
ence. If one reads it, however, as a
coherent whole with the help of the
scheme which prefaces each part, it
becomes plain that there is a firm and
CMA JOURNAL/OCTOBER 20, 1973/VOL. 109 771
elaborate design. The book is divided
into parts, sections and subsections,
with occasionally whole chapters of
digression, as for instance that upon
spirits. The first part is devoted to the
causes and kinds of melancholy, be-
ginning with the larger aspects inherent
in the nature of man and planetal dis-
positions, and proceeding to individual
causes such as ill diet, too much study,
and love, then distinguishing the dif-
ferent kinds of melancholy, leading on
to madness and phrensy. The second
book deals with the treatment and cure
of melancholy. Much of this is full
of common sense. The patient's con-
fidence in his doctor is noted as im-
portant; air, surroundings, diet and ex-
ercise are all considered, as well as
medicines, herbs and surgery. Music
is thought to play an important part
in treatment, as it did from Old Testa-
ment times. Astrology is not complete-
ly neglected, but it is not made of
first importance as it is in the earlier
treatise on melancholy by Ficino, Libri-
de Vita (1489). The third book con-
siders Lovers' Melancholy and Religious
Melancholia.
These examples show the extraor-
dinary variety of opinions and beliefs
that were alive in the 17th century.
To them should be added the curious
reaction against the modern trend found
in some of the learned writing towards
the end of the century which left many
medieval notions "an unconscionable
time a-dying."
Books used or quoted
1. Mediaev'al Lore. Conmpile(i fromti the work
of Bartolomeus Aniglicus ini thte transiation
of Ber-thelet, 1533.
2. Lyninl Thoroidlike: vol 7, in A History of
Magic antd Experimtental Science, 1923.
3. B. C. Boulter: Rober-t Grossete, 1936.
4. Robert Burtoni: The Anatonmy of Melan-
choly, 1652.
5. rhoiiias Brownie: Psenidodoxia Epidenica,
1646.
6. E. M. W. Tillyard: The Elizabethan World
Picture.
7. R. Eisler: The Royal Art of Astrology.
S. Anithiony Powell: John Aubrey and his
Friends, 1948.
9. The Dictionary of National Biography.
10. Franices Yates: (Giordano Bruno and the
Herm-etic Tradition, 1964.
II. C. S. Lewis: A P-eface to Paradise Lost.
12. Jeani Seznec: La Survicvan-ce des D)ienx
A utiqu es.