One other great mediaeval physician may be mentioned, Peter of Abano (a small town near Padua, famous for its baths).  He is the first in a long line of distinguished physicians connected with the great school of Padua.  Known as “the Conciliator,” from his attempt to reconcile the diverse views on philosophy and medicine, he had an extraordinary reputation as a practitioner and author, the persistence of which is well illustrated by the fact that eight of the one hundred and eighty-two medical books printed before 1481 were from his pen.  He seems to have taught medicine in Paris, Bologna and Padua.  He was a devoted astrologer, had a reputation among the people as a magician and, like his contemporary, Arnold of Villanova, came into conflict with the Church and appears to have been several times before the Inquisition; indeed it is said that he escaped the stake only by a timely death.  He was a prolific commentator on Aristotle, and his exposition of the “problems” had a great vogue.  The early editions of his texts are among the most superb works ever printed.  He outlived his reputation as a magician, and more than a century after his death Frederick, Duke of Urbino, caused his effigies to be set up over the gate of the palace at Padua with this inscription: 

     Petrus APONUS PATAVINUS PHILOSOPHIAE MEDICINAEQUE
     SCIENTISSIMUS, OB IDQUE, CONCILIATORIS nomen
     ADEPTUS, ASTROLOGIAE Vero ADEO PERITUS,
     UT in MAGIAE SUSPICIONEM INCIDERIT,
     FALSOQUE de HAERESI POSTULATUS,
     ABSOLUTUS FUERIT.(21)

     (21) Naude:  History of Magick, London, 1657, p. 182, or the
     original:  Apologie pour les grands hommes soupconnez de magic,
     e.g., ed.  Amst., 1719, p. 275.

It is said that Abano caused to be painted the astronomical figures in the great hall of the palace at Padua.

One characteristic of mediaeval medicine is its union with theology, which is not remarkable, as the learning of the time was chiefly in the hands of the clergy.  One of the most popular works, the “Thesaurus Pauperum,” was written by Petrus Hispanus, afterwards Pope John xxi.  We may judge of the pontifical practice from the page here reproduced, which probably includes, under the term “iliac passion,” all varieties of appendicitis.

For our purpose two beacons illuminate the spirit of the thirteenth century in its outlook on man and nature.  Better than Abelard or St. Thomas Aquinas, and much better than any physicians, Albertus Magnus and Roger Bacon represent the men who were awake to greet the rising of the sun of science.  What a contrast in their lives and in their works!  The great Dominican’s long life was an uninterrupted triumph of fruitful accomplishment—­the titanic task he set himself was not only completed but was appreciated to the full by his own generation—­a life not only of study and teaching, but of practical