SOME BOOKS OF TRH WEEK.
[Under this heading we notice such Books of the v.( sk as have not been reserved for review in other forms.] Medicine in the British Isles. By Norman Moore, M.D. (The. Clarendon Press. 105. 6d. net.)—The first of the four lectures contained in this volume—the "Fitzpatrick Lectures" of 1905-6— is occupied with mediaeval medicine. The importance of the art. is indicated by the frequency of the physician's signature to documents, and the whole subject is illustrated in a most inter- esting way by the personality of John Mirfield, an inmate of the House of St. Bartholomew in Smithfield. His " Breviarimn Bartholomaei" happily survives, and throws much light on thm medical studies of the period, and incidentally, of course, on the health of the people. The whole is a curious combination or science, tradition, and what we may, perhaps, call white magic. Chronic rheumatism was to be treated with olive oil ; the sign of the cross was to be made and two prayers said over the vessel, and it was to be heated for as long a time as the pharmacist took to say Psalm xi. down to "Postula a me." As Dr. Moore remarks,. this was equal to so many seconds. Clocks were rare, and never - had minute-hands. An epileptic patient was to have three - lines, of which "Gaspar fert myrrham : tns Melchior: Balthazar aurnm" was the first, whispered into his ear. "Medical Educa- - tion in London" in the seventeenth century is the subject of the second lecture. The third and fourth are given to the "Study of Clinical Medicine." At all times the physician must have more - or less observed the condition of the patient. But he relied.. substantially on books, and came to his work with strong pre- possessions gained from them. Modern medicine is founded on the experience of the bedside, reinforced, of course, and interpreted by science, in which anatomy, a practically forbidden region to the mediaeval physician, is the most important element. . All this deserves, and, so excellent is Dr. Moore's method, will- easily secure, careful attention. There is an interesting digression on the hereditary profession of medicine as followed by certain- Irish families. Among the noteworthy contents of the volume is the report made by the physician Mayerne on the health of King James I. (It is dated December 1st, 1623, and the King died on March 27th, 1625.) We wonder, as we read, how he contrived to live so long. He seems to have had a poor start in life, for he had a drunken wet-nurse, and up to the age of five was too weak to walk. And he certainly did not do the best for himself. Dr. Mayerne's language about his drinking does not mince matters. "In drink, he errs as to quality, quantity, frequency, time, and order." Beer, ale, Spanish wine, sweet French wine, white wine (his common drink), and Muscatel were drunk promiscuously. "He has the greatest antipathy to water." For want of teeth, he did not masticate his food, but bolted it.
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