One of the difficulties in the early days of the universities was to procure good MSS.  In the Paris Faculty, the records of which are the most complete in Europe, there is an inventory for the year 1395 which gives a list of twelve volumes, nearly all by Arabian authors.(25) Franklin gives an interesting incident illustrating the rarity of medical MSS. at this period.  Louis XI, always worried about his health, was anxious to have in his library the works of Rhazes.  The only copy available was in the library of the medical school.  The manuscript was lent, but on excellent security, and it is nice to know that it was returned.

     (25) Franklin:  Recherches sur la Bibliotheque de la Faculte de
     Medecine de Paris, 1864.

It is said that one of the special advantages that Montpellier had over Paris was its possession of so many important MSS., particularly those of the Arabian writers.  Many “Compendia” were written containing extracts from various writers, and no doubt these were extensively copied and lent or sold to students.  At Bologna and Padua, there were regulations as to the price of these MSS.  The university controlled the production of them, and stationers were liable to fines for inaccurate copies.  The trade must have been extensive in those early days, as Rashdall mentions that in 1323 there were twenty-eight sworn booksellers in Paris, besides keepers of bookstalls in the open air.

MEDIAEVAL PRACTICE

The Greek doctrine of the four humors colored all the conceptions of disease; upon their harmony alone it was thought that health depended.  The four temperaments, sanguine, phlegmatic, bilious and melancholic, corresponded with the prevalence of these humors.  The body was composed of certain so-called “naturals,” seven in number—­the elements, the temperaments, the humors, the members or parts, the virtues or faculties, the operations or functions and the spirits.  Certain “non-naturals,” nine in number, preserved the health of the body, viz. air, food and drink, movement and repose, sleeping and waking, excretion and retention, and the passions.  Disease was due usually to alterations in the composition of the humors, and the indications for treatment were in accordance with these doctrines.  They were to be evacuated, tenuated, cooled, heated, purged or strengthened.  This humoral doctrine prevailed throughout the Middle Ages, and reached far into modern times—­indeed, echoes of it are still to be heard in popular conversations on the nature of disease.

The Arabians were famous for their vigor and resource in matters of treatment.  Bleeding was the first resort in a large majority of all diseases.  In the “Practice” of Ferrari there is scarcely a malady for which it is not recommended.  All remedies were directed to the regulation of the six non-naturals, and they either preserved health, cured the disease or did the opposite.  The most popular