The Popes and Science / The History of the Papal Relations to Science During the Middle Ages and Down to Our Own Time

A typical example of the sort of opposition which a modern discoverer in science meets with is to be found in the life of Ohm, after whom, because of his discovery of the law of electrical resistance, the unit of resistance is called. When he made his discovery Ohm was working in the Gymnasium at Cologne. The leading physicists of the day could not bring themselves to believe that this comparatively young man--he was scarcely forty at the time--could have made a discovery that went far beyond their knowledge. His paper on the subject was discussed rather coldly and without any recognition of the far-reaching significance of the work that he had accomplished. A distinguished representative of the University of Berlin criticised it severely. As the law was advanced on mathematical as well as experimental grounds, the opinion of the university authorities at Berlin was looked upon as extremely important, since at the time mathematics was the forte there. The minister of education took his cue from the authorities at Berlin. Ohm and his friends urged his appointment to a university position. This was not only refused, but was rejected in such terms that Ohm offered his resignation as a teacher. His resignation was accepted with regrets by the ministry, but with a distinct expression that Ohm must not expect other than a gymnasium position. The consequence of this misunderstanding was that other teaching institutions in Germany would not give him a place on their staff, because of the danger of misunderstanding with the ministry of education. Ohm had to accept a private tutorship in mathematics in Berlin and a few hours of teaching in a military school, for which he was paid three hundred thalers a year. This would be something over $200 in our money, though money was worth, in buying power, probably two or three times as much as it is at the present time. Six precious years of Ohm's life, at the very acme of his powers as an investigator, were thus spent away from the larger educational institutions and their opportunities for research, because men would not accept the great discovery that he had made, and could not be brought to understand that a genius might come along to revolutionize all their thinking, though he did his work from an obscure position, and practically attracted no attention {409} before he found this wonderful clue to the maze of electrical science, which meant so much for the elucidation of difficulties hitherto insoluble.

Always men find some excuse other than their own unwillingness to confess that they were wrong. It is to this that they object, and not the acceptance of the new truth. In the course of writing the biographies of the Makers of Modern Medicine, published last year, and the Makers of Electricity, which is now preparing for the press, one fact proved to be very striking. It is that discoverers of really great truths are practically always what we would call young men, and what older men are apt to think of as scarcely more than mere boys. Such men as Morgagni, the Father of Pathology; Laennec, the Father of Pulmonary Diagnosis; Stokes, who taught us so much about the lungs; and Corrigan, who laid the foundation of exact knowledge in heart diseases,--were under twenty-five when they made their primal discovery, and some of them scarcely more than twenty. Vesalius published his great work on anatomy when he was not yet thirty, and Stensen did his best work under twenty-five. When such men attempt to teach their elders, of course they are properly put in their places by their elders, and this often includes a good deal of bitter satire and discouragement. It is the eternal conflict between youth and age that constitutes the main reason for opposition to progress in any form of knowledge, for youth will be progressive and age will be conservative. Unfortunately age often dissembles the reasons for its opposition even to itself, and religion and common sense and supposedly established principles of science are all appealed to as contradicted by the new doctrine introduced by young men, the truth of which their elders cannot see.

Nor must it be thought that the second half of the nineteenth century was free from this tendency to persecute those who made advances in medicine. There is probably no form of treatment which, in the minds of those who know most about the disease, that has done more to save awful suffering in mankind than the Pasteur treatment for rabies. Anyone who knows anything about the history of the introduction of that treatment will not be likely to forget how much of pain {410} and suffering the discovery and introduction of it cost its author. Nothing too bitter could be said by the medical profession of Germany for many years after the treatment was first broached. One of the most distinguished of German medical discoverers in the nineteenth century said, in a very climax of satire, "that the distinguished Frenchman deserved to be well known as one who treated diseases of which he knew nothing by remedies of which he knew less." His good faith was impugned, his statistics scorned, his results laughed at, even his friends hesitated to say anything on the subject. Those who were close to Pasteur know that he suffered, for his nature was of the most sensitive, veritable torment because of this bitter opposition, which at one time, because his French colleagues also were sceptical of his treatment, threatened to impair the usefulness of our greatest discoverer in nineteenth century medicine and leave him without that support which would enable him to go on with his precious investigation.

The more recent furore against antitoxin is still in many persons' minds. Physicians who used it, and in whose cases serious results took place, not the consequence of the antitoxin, but the consequence of factors of the disease over which they had no control, sometimes suffered seriously in their practice. All forms of opposition were aroused against it. Even at the present time one still hears of the crime, as some do not hesitate to call it, of injecting the serum of a diseased animal into the veins of the human being, and above all a little child. There are men (intelligent men!) who do not stop short of tracing all sorts of disease incidents that happen after such an injection, even many years later, to the evil effects of the horse serum employed. Such people are exercising that superstitious fanatic faculty which at all times has caused the obstinately conservative to seek and find the most serious objections to any new doctrine, careless of the consequences that they might bring on the discoverer or the benefit they might prevent for the mass of humanity.

Originally vaccination was opposed by certain clergymen on the grounds of theological objection to its use. At the present time most of such objection has ceased, {411} It is still clergymen, however, who are the most prominent among the anti-vaccinationists, though now they usually find biological and pathological, instead of theological reasons. They proclaim it a crime against nature, from the biological standpoint, that the disease of an animal should be conveyed to man, even for protective purposes. At the present time one can find just as bitter objections to vaccination in anti-vaccination journals as when the subject was first brought under discussion. Men must find some reason for their opposition, and they take the weapon that is handiest and that they are able to use with best effect. In an era when theological ideas were dominant, theology was ready at hand for this purpose, but any other ology will do just as well, and the history of science, even in the present day, will show that always some ology, regardless of human feelings, is used quite as ruthlessly and as cruelly as in the olden days. There are tortures of spirit that are worse than prison or even fire.

When we recall how few examples there are of opposition to science on the part of ecclesiastics, and how most of these prove on careful examination to be due to misunderstandings rather than to actual desire to prevent the development of science, the stories of the way in which discoveries in science were received in more modern times become a striking lesson that makes us appreciate the broad-mindedness and liberal policy of ecclesiastical educators in the olden time. They were evidently much more ready to accept novel ideas, and much less prone to set themselves up in opposition to them, than the educational authorities of more modern times. This is the phase of the history of education in the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries that deserves the most careful study, and that should make modern educators feel proud of their kinship with these old founders and patrons in education, who at the same time furnish an example of liberality of mind that it would be very beneficial to have in our modern supposedly free universities.

For while we are prone to be proud of our academic freedom, we have had more than one example in recent times of how dangerous it is for a man, even though he may be recognized as an authority in his department, {412} to treat certain economic questions from a standpoint that is not favored by the rest of the faculty, or by the Board of Governors, or, above all, by certain munificent patrons of the particular educational institution. Much has been said about religious educational institutions, about the middle of the nineteenth century, so hampering the work of men in the physical sciences, especially with regard to problems in geology and evolution, as to nullify progress. Just this same thing, however, is true with regard to many economic questions, because of the attitude of educational interests with regard to free trade and protection, single tax, and socialism and the like. No professor of science at a religious institution ever felt himself more in the grip of old-fashioned notions than do certain professors in departments of finance and sociology with regard to problems that are now of the most profound interest. Men have changed the reason for their conservatism, but the conservatism itself remains, and apparently always will remain. This is what must be realized when the stories of ecclesiastical opposition to progress are told.

APPENDIX II.

Latin text of the Papal bulls and decrees which are given in English in the body of this book. These documents are taken from Tomassetti's Bullarium, except the decree of John XXII. with regard to alchemies, which is taken from the Corpus Juris Canonici, Tome II., Lyons, 1779.

I.

Bull of Pope Boniface VIII. with regard to burials, which is supposed to have been misconstrued into a prohibition of dissection.

De Sepulturis, Bonifacius VIII. Corpora defunctorum exenternantes, et ea immaniter decoquentes, ut ossa a carnibus separata ferant sepelienda in terram suam, ipso facto sunt excommunicati.

Cap. I. Detestandae feritatis abusum, quem ex quodam more (Alias, modo) horribili nonnulli fideles improvide prosequuntur, nos piae intentionis ducti proposito, ne abusus praedicti saevitia ulterius corpora humana dilaceret, mentesque fidelium horrore commoveat, et perturbet auditum, digue decrevimus abolendum. Praefati namque fideles hujus suae improbandae utique consuetudinis vitio intendentes, si quisquam ex eis genere nobilis, vel dignitatis titulo insignitus, praesertim extra suarum partium limites debitum naturae persolvat, in suis, vel alienis remotis partibus sepultura electa; defuncti corpus ex quodam impiae pietatis affectu truculenter exenterant, ae illud membratim, vel in frusta immaniter concidentes, ea subsequenter aquis immersa exponunt ignibus decoquenda. Et tandem (ab ossibus tegumento carnis excusso) eadem ad partes praedictas mittunt, seu deferunt tumulanda. Quod non solum Divinae majestatis conspectui abominabile plurimum redditur, sed etiam humanae considerationis obtutibus occurrit vehementius abhorrendum. Volentes igitur (prout officii nostri debitum exigit), illud in hac parte remedium adhibere, per quod tantae abominationis, tantaeque immanitatis, et impietatis abusus penitus deleatur, nec extendatur ad alios; Apostolica auctoritate statuimus, et ordinamus, ut cum quis cujuscumque status, aut generis, seu dignitatis exstitent: in civitatibus, terris, seu locis, in quibus catholicae fidei cultus viget, diem de caetero claudet extremum circa corpora defunctorum hujusmodi abusus, vel similis nullatenus observetur, nec fidelium manus tanta immanitate foedentur. Sed ut defunctorum corpora sic impie, ac crudeliter non tractentur, et deferantur ad loca in quibus viventes eligerint sepeliri, aut in civitate, castro, vel loco ubi decesserint, vel loco vicino ecclesiasticae sepulturae tradantur ad tempus, ita, quod demum incineratis corporibus, aut alias ad loca ubi sepulturam eligerint, deportentur, et sepeliantur in eis. Nos enim si praedicti defuncti executor, vel executores, aut familiares ejus, seu quivis alii cujuscumque ordinis, conditionis, status aut gradus fuerint etiam si pontificali dignitate praefulgeant, aliquid contra hujusmodi nostri statuti, et ordinationis tenorem praesumpserint attentare defunctorum corpora sic inhumaniter et crudeliter pertractando, vel faciendo pertractari {414} excommunicationis sententiam (quam exnunc in ipsos plurimos) ipso facto se moverint incursuros, a qua non nisi per Apostolicam sedem (praeterquam in mortis articulo) possint absolutionis beneficium obtinere. Et nihilominus ille, cujus corpus sic inhumane tractatum fuerit, ecclesiastica careat sepultura. Nulli ergo, etc. Datum Latera. XII. Calen. Martii, Pontificatus nostri anno VI.

I.

Decree of Pope John XXII. forbidding alchemies, by which he prohibited the pretended making of gold and silver, but is claimed to have hampered the progress of chemistry.

De Crimine Falsi Titulus VI. I Joannis XXII. [circa annum 1317 Avenioni]

Alkimiae hic prohibentur, et puniuntur facientes et fieri procurantes: quoniam tantum de vero auro et argento debent inferre in publicum, ut pauperibus erogetur quantum de falso et adulterino posuerunt. Et si eorum facultates non sufficiunt, poena per judicis discretionem in aliam commutabitur, et infames fiunt. Et si sint clerici beneficiis habitis privantur et ad habenda inhabiles efficiuntur. (Vide Extravagantem ejusdem Joannis quae incipit "Providens" et est sub eodem titulo collocata.)

Spondent quas non exhibent divitias, pauperes Alchimistae; pariter qui se sapientes existimamt in foveam incidunt quam fecerunt. Nam haud dubie hujus artis Alchimiae alterutrum se professores ludificant; cum suae ignorantiae conscii, eos, qui supra ipsos aliquid hujusmodi dixerint, admirentur: quibus cum veritas quaesita non suppetat, diem cernunt, facultates exhauriunt; idemque verbis dissimulant falsitatem, ut tandem quod non est in rerum natura, esse verum aurum vel argentum sophistica transmutatione confingant; eoque interdum eorum temeritas damnata et damnanda progreditur, ut fictis metallis cudant publicae monetae characteres fidis oculis, et non alias Alchimicum fornacis ignem vulgum ignorantem eludant. Haec itaque perpetuis volentes exulare temporibus, hac edictali constitutione sancimus, ut quicumque hujusmodi aurum vel argentum fecerint, vel fieri secuto facto mandaverint, vel ad hoc scienter (dum id fieret) facientibus ministraverint, aut scienter vel auro vel argento usi fuerint vendendo vel dando in solutum: [illegible letter or or mark] verum tanti ponderis aurum vel argentum poenae nomine inferre cogantur in publicum pauperibus erogandum, quanti Alchimicum existat; circa quod eos aliquo praedictorum modorum legitime constiterit deliquisse: facientibus nihilominus aurum vel argentum Alchimicum aut ipso, praemittitur, scienter utentibus perpetuae, infamiae nota respersis. Quod si ad praefatam poenam pecuniarum exsolvendam deliquentium ipsorum facultates non sufficiant, poterit discreti moderatio judicis poenam hanc in aliam (puta carceris, vel alteram juxta qualitatem negotii personarum differentiam aliasque attendendo circumstantias) commutare. Illos vero qui in tantae ignorantiam infelicitatis proruperint, ut nedum nummos vedunt, sed naturalis juris praacepta contemnant, artis excedant metas, legumque violant interdieta scienter videlicet adulterinam ex auro et argento Alchimico cudendo seu fundendo, cudi seu fundi faciendo monetam; hac animadversione percelli jubemus, ut ipsorum bona deserantur carceri, ipsique perpetuo sint infames. Et si clerici fuerint delinquentes, ipsi ultra praedictas poenas priventur beneficiis habitis et prorsus reddantur inhabiles ad habenda.

III.

Bull of Pope John XXII. forbidding certain magical practices, which, like the prohibition of alchemies, protected his flock from {415} sharpers of various kinds, sooth-sayers, pretended sorcerers, magicians, et id genus omne. This is the bull which Pres. White quotes under its Latin title, Super illius specula, as if he had it under his eye at the moment of writing, and which he says "shows Pope John himself, in spite of his infallibility, sunk in superstition the most abject and debasing; for in this bull, supposed to be inspired from wisdom from on high, Pope John complains that both he and his flock are in danger of their lives by the arts of the sorcerers. He (the Pope) declares that such sorcerers can shut up devils in mirrors and finger-rings and phials and kill men and women by a magic word; that they had tried to kill him by piercing a waxen image of him with needles in the name of the devil."

Contra immolantes daemonibus, aut responsa et auxilia ab eis postulantes; sive tenentes libros de eiusmodi erroribus tractantes.

Ioannes episcopus servus servorum Dei, ad perpetuam rei memoriam.

Super illius specula, quamvis immeriti, Eius favente clementia qui primum hominem humani quidem generis protoplastum, terrenis praclatum, divinis virtutibus adornatum, conformem et consimilem imagini suea fecit, revocavit profugum, legem dando; ac demum liberavit captivum, reinvenit perditum, et redemit venditum, merito suae Passionis, ut contemplaremur ex illa super filios hominum, qui christianae religionis culta Deum intelligunt et requirunt: dolenter advertimus, quod etiam cum nostrorum turbatione viscerum cogitamus quamplures esse solo nomine christianos, qui relicto primo veritatis lumine, tanto erroris caligine obnubilantur, quod cum morte foedus ineunt, et pactum faciunt cum inferno: daemonibus namque immolant, hos adorant, fabricant ac fabricari procurant imagines, annulum vel speculum, vel phialam, vel rem quamcumque aliam magice ad daemones inibi alligandos, ab his petunt responsa, ab his recipiunt, et pro implendis pravis suis desideriis auxilia postulant, pro re faet idissima faetidam exhibent servitutem: Proh dolor! hujusmodi morbus pestifer, nunc per mundum solito amplius convalescens, eccessive gravius inficit Christi gregem.

1. Cum igitur, ex debito suscepti pastoralis officii, oves aberrantes per devia teneamur ad caulas Christi reducere, et excludere a grege dominico morbidas, ne alias corrumpant: hoc edicto in perpetuum valituro, de consilio fratrum nostrorum, monemus omnes et singulos renatos fonte baptismatis, in virtute sanctae obedientiae, et sub interminatione anathematis, praecipientes eisdem, quod nullus ipsorum aliquid de perversis dictis dogmatibus docere ac addiscere audeat: vel, quod execrabilius est, quomodolibet alio modo, in aliquo illis uti.

2. Et quia dignum est, quod hi, qui per sua opera perversa spernunt Altissimum, poenis suis pro culpis debitis percellantur: nos in omnes et singulos, qui contra nostra saluberrima monita et mandata facere de praedictis quicquam praesumpserint, excommunicationis sententiam promulgamus, quam ipsos incurrere volumus ipso facto. Statuentes firmiter, quod praeter poenas praedictas, contra tales, qui admoniti de praedictis seu praedictorum aliquo infra octo dies a monitione computandos praefata, a praefatis non se correxerint, ad infligendas poenas omnes et singulas, praeter bonorum [Transcriber: might be "ponorum"] confiscationem dumtaxat, quas de iure merentur haeretici, per suos competentes iudices procedetur.

3. Verum cum sit expediens, quod ad haec tam nefanda omnis via omnisque occasio praecludatur, de dictorum nostrorum fratrum consilio, universis praecipimus et mandamus, quod nullus eorum libellos, scripturas quascumque ex praefatis damnatis errobus quicquam continentes, habere aut tenere vel in ipsis studere praesumat; quin {416} potius volumus, et in virtute sanctae obedientiae cunctis praecipimus, quod quicumque de scripturis praefatis vel libellis quicquam habuerint, infra octo dierum spatium ab huiusmodi edicti nostri notitia computandum, totum et in toto et in qualibet sui parte abolere et comburere teneantur: alioquin volumus, quod incurrant sententiam excommunicationis ipso facto, processuri contra contemptores huiusmodi (cum constiterit) ad poenas alias graviores. Datum Avenione, etc.

IV.

Bull of Pope John XXII. authorizing the institution of chairs of medicine and arts in the University of Perugia. The bull shows John's care for the maintenance of standards in education, and is a revelation by its anticipation of requirements for the Doctor's Degree that we are only now coming to enforce once more.

Erectio cathedrarum medicinae et artium in Perusino Studio, data insuper facultate episcopo licentiandi et laureandi in utraque facultate idoneos, pro quorum examine nonullae sanciuntur leges.

Ioannes episcopus servus servorum Dei, ad perpetuam rei memoriam.

Dum solicitae considerationis indagine in mente revolvimus, quam sit donum scientiae pretiosum, quamque illius desiderabilis et gloriosa possessio, per quam profugandur ignorantiae tenebrae, et eliminata funditus erroris caligine, studentium curiosa solertia cursus et actus disponit et ordinat in lumine veritatis; magno nimirum desidero ducimur, ut literarum studia, in quibus impretiabilis margarita scientiae reperitur, laudanda ubilibet incrementa suscipiant: sed in illis praesertim locis propensius vigeant, quae ad multiplicanda doctrinae semina et germina salutari producenda fore magis accommoda et idonea dignoscuntur.

1. Dudum siquidem felicis recordationis Clemens Papa praedecessor noster, attendens fidei puritatem et devotionem eximiam, quam civitas Perusina, terra peculiaris Romanae Ecclesiae, ad ipsam Ecclesiam ab olim habuisse dignoscitur, et quod illas ad eam successibus temporum de bono in melius augumentarat, dignum duxit et aequitati consonum existimavit, ut civitatem eamdem, quam divina gratia multarum praerogativa bonitatum gratiose dotaverat, concessione generalis Studii insigniret: et ut auctore Deo ex civitate ipsa producerentur viri scientia praepollentes auctoritate apostolica statuit, ut in ea esset Studium generale, illudque vigeret ibidem perpetuis futuris temporibus in qualibet facultate, prout in literis praedecessoris eiusdem inde confectis plenius dicitur contineri.

2. Ac subsequenter nos, licet immeriti, ad apicem Summi Apostolatus assumpti, civitatem eamdem propter suae devotionis insignia quibus se dignam Apostolicae Sedis gratia exhibebat, uberiore dono gratiae prosequi cupientes, auctoritate apostolica de fratrum nostrorum consilio, venerabili fratri nostro episcopo Perusino et successoribus eius episcopus Perusinis, qui essent pro tempore, impertiendi personis ad hoc idoneis docendi licentiam in iure canonico et civili iuxta certum modum in literis nostris expressum, liberam concessimus potestatem, prout in eisdem literis nostris plenius et seriosius continetur.

3. Considerantes igitur, quod eadem civitas propter eius commoditates et conditiones quamplurimas est non modicum apta studentibus, ac propterea concessiones huiusmodi ob profectus publicos, quos exinde provenire speramus, ampliare volentes, apostolica auctoritate statuimus ut si qui processu temporis in eodem Studio fuerint, qui etiam in medicinali scientia et liberalibus artibus scientiae bravium assecuti, sibi docendi licentiam, ut alios liberius erudire valeant, petierint in perpetuum, in praedictis medicinali scientia et artibus examinari possint ibidem et in eisdem facultatibus {417} titulo magisterii decorari: statuentes, ut quotiens aliqui in praedictis medicina et artibus fuerint doctorandi, praesententur episcopo Perusino, qui pro tempore fuerit, vel ei, quern ad hoe praedictus episcopus duxerit deputandum, qui magistris huiusmodi facultatis, in qua examinatio fuerit facienda, in studio eodem praesentibus, qui ad minus quatuor numero in examinatione huiusmodi esse debeant, convocatis eos gratis, et difficultate quacumque sublata, de scientia, facundia, modo legendi, et aliis, quae in promovendis ad doctoratus seu magistratus officium requiruntur, examinari studeat diligenter; et illos, quos idoneos repererit, petito secrete magistrorum eorumdem consilio, quod utique consilium in ipsorum consulentium dispendium vel iacturam revelare quomodolibet districtius prohibemus, approbet et admittat, eisque petitam licentiam largiatur: alios minus idoneos nullatenus admittendo, postpositis gratia, odio vel favore.

4. Ut autem in praedictis medicina et artibus praefatum Studium tanto plenius coalescat, quanto peritiores doctores in huiusmodi suis primitiis ibidem caeperint actu regere etdocere, statuimus, quod usque ad triennium vel quatriennium aliqui doctores, duo ad minus, qui in medicinali scientia in Parisien, vel Bononien, aut aliis famosis generalibus Studiis honorem receperint doctoratus, ad docendum et regendum in scientia medicinae et tres vel duo ad minus, qui in artibus in Parisien. Studio apud maiorem Parisien. Ecclesiam docendi licentiam fuerint assecuti, et saltem per annum rexerint, sue docuerint in Parisien. Studio memorato, ad regendum et docendum in dictis artibus in praefato Perusin. Studio assumantur, qui usque ad quatriennium vel quinquennium, donec praefatum Studium in bonis studentibus laudabiliter progressum acceperit, regant et doceant in eodem.

5. Circa doctorandos vero in scientia medicinae hoc praecipue observetur, ut huiusmodi decorandi audiverint omnes libros eiusdem scientiae, qui in Bononien. vel Parisien. Studio a studentibus promovendis consueverunt audiri, per septennium, vel qui in logicalibus aut philosophia alias forent sufficienter instructi saltem per quinquennium in scientia praedicta studerint, ita quod saltem tribus annis eiusdem septennii vel quinquenni, ut praedicitur, in medicinali scientia audierint in aliquo Studio generali, et ut moris est, responderint sub doctoribus et extraordinarie legerint libros legi extraordinarie consuetos, servato circa examinationem ipsius in medicinae scientia promovendi more laudabili, qui in talibus erga eos, qui promoventur in Parisien. vel Bononien. Studio observatur.

6. Circa doctorandos vero in artibus liberalibus etiam observetur, quod studuerint per quatuor vel quinque annos, de quibus saltem duobus annis audierint in aliquo Studio generali: ita videlicet ut in grammatica Priscianum maiorem et minorem, et in dialectica Logicam novam et veterem Aristotelis, ac in philosophia librum de anima, et saltem quatuor libros Ethicorum; et tarn in iis, quam in caeteris aliis liberalibus artibus illos alios libros audierint, qui in Parisien. Studio per promovendos in dicta facultate artium consueverint audiri, servato circa examinationem tarn in communibus quam in propriis ipsius artibus promovendi more laudabili, qui in talibus erga eos, qui promoventur, apud praefatam maiorem Ecclesiam Parisien. observatur.

7. Verum quia non passim reperiuntur in Studiis, qui omnes huiusmodi libros audierint, praefato Perusin, episcopo suisque successoribus Perusin episcopis, qui pro tempore fuerint, indulgemus, ut in auditione aliorum praefatorum librorum de forma circa licentiandos ipsos in artibus, prout sufficientia eorumdem licentiandorum exegerit et sibi videbitur expedire, auctoritate nostra valeat dispensare.

8. Illi autem, qui in dicta civitate Perusin, taliter examinati et approbati fuerint, ac docendi licentiam obtinuerint, ut est dictum, ex tunc, absque examinatione vel approbatione alia, regendi et docendi ubique plenam et liberam habeant auctoritate praesentium facultatem, nec a quoquam valeant prohiberi.

9. Sane ut rite in praefatis examinationibus procedatur, praecipimus, ut tarn {418} episcopus Perusin., qui pro tempore fuerit quam ille, cui praefatus episcopus ex causa rationabili impeditus in hac parte commiserit vices suas, eidem episcopo, propositis tamen, sed non tactis Evangeliis, ab aliis vero corporaliter tactis iurent, quod in hac parte officium suum fideliter exequentur. Volumus autem quod personis, quae per examinationem huiusmodi repertae fuerint idoneae, huiusmodi licentia debeatur impertiri, et quod idem episcopus personaliter, non per vicarium vel substitutum examinationi huiusmodi interesse debeat: nisi esset ex aliqua rationabili causa adeo impeditus quod suam non posset examinationi praedictae personalem praesentiam exhibere: in quo casu eidem episcopo interessendi examinationi huiusmodi per vicarium, vel alium ad hoc idoneum substitutum, tenore praesentium indulgemus: et quod nomini huiusmodi impartietur licentia, nisi, ei, quern omnis vel maior pars doctorum, qui huiusmodi examinationi intererint, approbabunt.

10. Magistri quoque, regere in eodem Studio cupientes, vel alias inibi residentes, antequam incipiant, praestent in manibus dicti episcopi iuramentum, quod ipsi vocatio ad examinationes easdem venient, nisi fuerint legitime impediti, et gratis sine difficultate dabunt examinatori fidele consilium, qui de examinatis ut digni approbari debeant, aut indigni merito non admitti. Qui vero iuramentum huiusmodi praestare noluerint, nec ad examinationes eorumdem, nec etiam ad aliqua ipsius Studii commoda vel beneficia ullatenus admittantur.

11. Nulli ergo omnino hominum liceat hanc paginam nostrarum constitutionis, prohibitionis, concessionis, praecepti et voluntatis infringere, etc.

Datum Avenioni, duodecimo kalendas martii, pontificatus nostri anno v. Dat. die 18 februarii 1321, pontif. anno v.

V.

Bull of Pope John XXII. in which he authorizes the foundation of a University in the City of Cahors, his birthplace, as a memorial of his interest in the townspeople and a monument of his zeal for education.

Confirmatio erectionis Universitatis studiorum in civitate Cadurcensi.

Ioannes episcopus servus servorum Dei, ad perpetuam rei memoriam.

Cum civitas Cadurcensis, quam excellentiae divinae bonitas multiplicium gratiarum bonis et dotibus decoravit, propter ipsius commoditates et conditiones quamplurimas apta non modicum generali Studio censeatur, nos reipublicae multipliciter expedire credentes, quod in civitate praefata fiat et emanet fons scientiarum irriguus, de cuius plenitudine hauriant universi, litteralibus cupientes imbui documentis, et etiam cultores sapientiae inserantur et provehantur diversarum facultatum dogmatibus eruditi, facundi et undique illustrati, fructum uberem, largiente Domino, suo tempore producturi; attendentes quoque sincerae fidei puritatem, ac eximiae devotionis affectum, quos dilecti filii consules et Universitas eiusdem civitatis ad nos et Romanam Ecclesiam habere noscuntur: ex praedictis causis, porrectis etiam nobis pro parte consulum et Universitatis praedictae humilibus et devotis supplicationibus inclinati, auctoritate apostolica statuimus et ordinamus, quod in civitate praedicta perpetuis futuris temporibus generale. Studium habeatur et vigeat in qualibet licita facultate, quodque praefatum Studium, ac eius Universitas, ac doctores, magistri, licentiati, baccalaurei et scholares pro tempore commorantes causa studiorum ibidem, omnibus privilegiis, liberatibus et immunitatibus, concessis Studio Tholosamensi ac Universitati eius, plene et libere gaudeant et utantur.

Nulli ergo omnino hominum etc.

Datum Avenione vii idus iunii, pontificatus nostri anno xvi.

Dat. die 7 iunii 1332, pont. anno xvi.

APPENDIX III.
MEDIEVAL LAW FOR THE REGULATION OF THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE.

It is usually presumed that the practice of medicine was on a very low plane during the Middle Ages, and that while only little was known about medical science, the methods of practicing the medical art were crude, as befitted an earlier time in evolution before modern advances had come. Any such impression is founded entirely on ignorance of the conditions which actually existed. In his studies in the history of anatomy in the Middle Ages, Von Töply [Footnote 48] quotes the law for the regulation of the practice of medicine issued by the Emperor Frederick II. in 1240 or 1241. The Law was binding on the two Sicilies, and shows exactly the state of medical practice in the southern part of Italy at this time. Everything that we think we have gained by magnificent advances in modern times is to be found in this law. A physician must have a diploma from a university and a license from the government; he must have studied three years before taking up medicine--then three years in a medical school, and then must have practiced with a physician for a year before he will be allowed to take up the practice of medicine on his own account. If he is to take up surgery, he must have made special studies in anatomy. The law is especially interesting because of its regulation of the purity of drugs, in which it anticipates by nearly seven centuries our Pure Drug Law of last year. (This law was published in the form here given in the "Journal of the American Medical Association," January, 1908.)

[Footnote 48: Studien zur Geschichte der Anatomie im Mittelalter von Robert Ritter Von Töply. Leipzig, 1898.]

"While we are bent upon making regulations for the commonweal of our loyal subjects, we keep ever under our observation the health of the individual. In consideration of the serious damage and the irreparable suffering which may occur as a consequence of the inexperience of physicians, we decree that in future no one who claims the title of physician shall exercise the art of healing or dare {420} to treat the ailing, except such as have beforehand, in our University of Salerno, passed a public examination under a regular teacher of medicine, and been given a certificate not only by the professor of medicine, but also by one of our civil officials, which declares his trustworthiness and sufficient knowledge. This document must be presented to us, or in our absence from the kingdom to the person who remains behind in our stead, and must be followed by the obtaining of a license to practice medicine either from us or from our representative aforesaid. Violation of this law is to be punished by confiscation of goods and a year in prison for all those who in future dare to practice medicine without such permission from our authority.

"Since students cannot be expected to learn medical science unless they have previously been grounded in logic, we further decree that no one be permitted to take up the study of medical science without beforehand having devoted at least three full years to the study of logic." (Under logic at this time was included the study of practically all the subjects that are now taken up in the arts department of our universities. Huxley, in his address before the University of Aberdeen on the occasion of his inauguration as Rector of that University, said that "the scholars [of the early days of the universities] studied Grammar and Rhetoric; Arithmetic and Geometry; Astronomy, Theology and Music." He added: "Thus their work, however imperfect and faulty, judged by modern lights, it may have been, brought them face to face with all the leading aspects of the many-sided mind of man. For these studies did really contain, at any rate, in embryo--sometimes, it may be, in caricature--what we now call Philosophy, Mathematical and Physical Science, and Art. And I doubt if the curriculum of any modern university shows so clear and generous a comprehension of what is meant by culture as the old Trivium and Quadrivium does." Huxley, Science and Education Essays, page 197. New York, D. Appleton & Co., 1896.--J. J. W.)

"After three years devoted to these studies, he (the student) may, if he will, proceed to the study of medicine, provided always that during the prescribed time he devotes himself also to surgery, which is a part of medicine. After this, and not before, will he be given the license to practice, provided he has passed an examination in legal form as well as obtained a certificate from his teacher as to his {421} studies in the preceding time. After having spent five years in study, he shall not practice medicine until he has during a full year devoted himself to medical practise with the advice and under the direction of an experienced physician. In the medical schools the professors shall during these five years devote themselves to the recognized books, both those of Hippocrates as well as those of Galen, and shall teach not only theoretic, but also practical medicine.

"We also decree, as a measure intended for the furtherance of Public Health, that no surgeon shall be allowed to practice, unless he has a written certificate, which he must present to the professor in the medical faculty, stating that he has spent at least a year at that part of medicine which is necessary as a guide to the practice of surgery, and that, above all, he has learned the anatomy of the human body at the medical school, and is fully equipped in this department of medicine, without which neither operations of any kind can be undertaken with success nor fractures be properly treated.

"In every province of our Kingdom which is under our legal authority, we decree that two prudent and trustworthy men, whose names must be sent to our court, shall be appointed and bound by a formal oath, under whose inspection electuaries and syrups and other medicines be prepared according to law and only be sold after such inspection. In Salerno in particular, we decree that this inspectorship shall be limited to those who have taken their degrees as Masters in Physic.

"We also decree by the present law, that no one in the Kingdom, except in Salerno or in Naples (in which were the two universities of the Kingdom), shall undertake to give lectures on medicine or surgery, or presume to assume the name of teacher, unless he shall have been very thoroughly examined in the presence of a Government official and of a professor in the art of medicine.

"Every physician given a license to practice must take an oath that he shall faithfully fulfil all the requirements of the law, and in addition, whenever it comes to his knowledge that any apothecary has for sale drugs that are of less than normal strength, he shall report him to the court, and besides he shall give his advice to the poor without asking for any compensation. A physician shall visit his patient at least twice a day, and at the wish of his patient once also at night, and shall charge him, in case the visit does not {422} require him to go out of the village or beyond the walls of the city, not more than one-half tarrene in gold for each day's service." (A tarrene in gold was equal to about thirty cents of our money. Money had at least twenty times the purchasing power at that time that it has now. At the end of the thirteenth century, according to an Act of the English Parliament, a workman received 4d [eight cents] a day for his labor, and according to the same Act of Parliament the following prices were charged for commodities: A pair of shoes cost eight cents, that is, a day's wages. A fat goose cost seven cents, less than a day's wages. A fat sheep unshorn cost thirty-five cents; shorn, about twenty-five cents. For four days pay a man could get enough meat for himself and family to live on for a week, besides material out of which his wife could make excellent garments for the family. A fat hog cost twice as much as a fat sheep, and a bullock about six times as much.--J. J. W.) "From a patient whom he visits outside of the village or the wall of the town, the physician has a right to demand for a day's service not more than three tarrenes, to which maybe added, however, his expenses, provided that he does not demand more than four tarrenes altogether.

"He (the regularly licensed physician) must not enter into any business relations with the apothecary, nor must he take any of them under his protection nor incur any money obligations in their regard." (Apparently many different ways of getting round this regulation had already been invented, and the idea of these expressions seemed to be to make it very clear in the law that any such business relationship, no matter what the excuse or method of it, is forbidden.--J. J. W.) "Nor must any licensed physician keep an apothecary's shop himself. Apothecaries must conduct their business with a certificate from a physician, according to the regulations and upon their own credit and responsibility, and they shall not be permitted to sell their products without having taken an oath that all their drugs have been prepared in the prescribed form, without any fraud. The apothecary may derive the following profits from his sales: Such extracts and simples as he need not keep in stock for more than a year before they may be employed may be charged for at the rate of three tarrenes an ounce." (90 cents an ounce seems very dear, but this is the maximum.) "Other medicines, however, which in consequence of the special conditions required for their preparation or for any other reason the apothecary has to have in {423} stock for more than a year, he may charge for at the rate of six tarrenes an ounce. Stations for the preparation of medicines may not be located anywhere, but only in certain communities in the Kingdom, as we prescribe below.

"We decree also that the growers of plants meant for medical purpose shall be bound by a solemn oath that they shall prepare medicines conscientiously, according to the rules of their art, and as far as it is humanely possible that they shall prepare them in the presence of the inspectors. Violations of this law shall be punished by the confiscation of their movable goods. If the inspectors, however, to whose fidelity to duty the keeping of these regulations is committed, should allow any fraud in the matters that are entrusted to them, they shall be condemned to punishment by death."

APPENDIX IV.

CHURCH DECREES RELATING TO MEDICINE.

Besides the Papal documents referred to in the body of this book and quoted in the original in the Appendix to the first edition immediately preceding this, there is a series of decrees of Councils and Synods of the Church which are sometimes referred to as representing a distinct policy of opposition on the part of the Church to science and particularly medical and surgical practice, as if their purpose had been to force people to have recourse to prayers and relics and pilgrimages and masses rather than to take advantage of medical knowledge and surgical experience for the relief of their ills. The Papal documents quoted and discussed in the previous edition of this book proved to have no such meaning as was attributed to them and the history of the medical sciences as traced, shows that these Church regulations were not misconstrued either in their own or subsequent generations in such a way as to have the effect of interfering with the development of medical science or medical education as has been claimed. Their citation in support of the thesis of Church opposition to science, theoretic or applied, is entirely without justification.

Exactly this same thing is true with regard to the other documents that are referred to as having a parallel and confirmatory significance of Church opposition to medical science, or medical or surgical practice, or medical teaching. It requires no lengthy explanation to see that the decrees referred to are simply ecclesiastical disciplinary regulations, aimed at putting an end to certain abuses that had arisen in religious matters, and well calculated to prevent their further occurrence. The Church authorities recognized as will anyone who understands the circumstances that men who had devoted their lives in religious orders exclusively to the work of religion, should not be permitted to neglect their religious vocations because of devotion to some secular profession. They were forbidden to practice and to study medicine, but the practice of law was forbidden to them quite as well and for the same reason. There was no question of limiting the number of persons who might take up medical study, but all those who had bound themselves for life to religious duties must not withdraw from these to take up secular occupations. The case against the Church as opposed to science, and above all medicine and surgery, must indeed be weak {425} when it has to be bolstered up by recondite references to documents such as these, the purport of which is so clear and the good sense of which is as evident now as it was when they were issued.

Everyone recognizes that absorbing professional occupations such as the practice of medicine or of law keeps men from devoting themselves to the intellectual or the spiritual life. The opposite is also felt to be the case and there is still a profound distrust of the lawyer or the physician who devotes himself to literature or to any intellectual avocation, for the feeling is that he cannot be practically successful at his profession. This feeling is often a mere prejudice and great lawyers and great physicians have often been litterateurs of distinction, but as a rule there is incompatibility between the two modes of occupation. In the medieval period it was felt that there was the same incompatibility between proper devotion to the spiritual life and the professions, and as members of religious orders had given up worldly affairs and interests in order to devote themselves to other-worldliness and had taken vows of poverty, chastity and obedience for that purpose, it was sincerely felt that they should not engage in gainful occupations and professional work that distracted them from the religious profession which they had taken up. Hence these decrees.

The only way to make perfectly clear the meaning of these decrees in their proper place in history both as regards education in general and medical education, is to give the text of the documents in the accompanying translation. I owe the text of them to Father Corbett of the Seminary of St. Charles Borromeo at Overbrook, Pa., who supplied me with the similar documents for the first edition of this work. The translations are made from the recognized authoritative edition of the decrees of the Church councils and synods issued at Paris in 1671, the title page of which reads as follows: "Sacrosancta concilia ad regiam editionem exacta quae nunc quarta parte prodit auctior studio Philip. Labaei et Gab. Cossartii, Soc. Jesu Prebyterorum, Tomus Decimus, 1053--1197, Lutetiae Parisiorum 1671." [Footnote 49]

[Footnote 49: I feel that I should say that when there was question of publishing these documents I consulted Dr. Garrison, the Assistant Librarian of the Surgeon General's Library at Washington and the author of the best history or medicine in English, as to the Church decrees that ought to be published in their entirety in order to make their meaning perfectly clear. I have followed the list suggested by him.]

The Council of Rheims held under Pope Innocent II, A.D. 1131, Canon VI, forbidding monks or regular canons to study law or medicine for the sake of gain.