MODERN medicine is a child of the Renaissance and of that independent study of science, which preceded the rediscovery of Greek literature. It belongs to that great re-birth of the human intellect of which the study of Greek literature at the source was only a part; though a part which infused a new spirit and outlook into the whole. Medieval medicine, like other medieval thought, was bound fast in traditionalism, it was content to repeat very debased and imperfect renderings of the ideas of the ancient Greek physicians, with a certain admixture of Arabian ideas. The importance of the study of the ancient medical writers at the source lay, not in the recalling of forgotten facts, but rather in the infusing of a new spirit into medical studies, a spirit of enquiry and freedom, of clear cut and questioning thought, above all in a return to the observation of Nature. The cradle of the renewed learning in medicine, as in other branches of knowledge, was in Italy. In Italy important schools of medicine had existed throughout the Middle Ages, anatomy was studied in the nth century and public dissections took place as early as the 12th century ; and there too, during the Renaissance, many modem medical ideas were anticipated by Fracastoro and others.1 In France also there were ancient medical schools that were justly famous. But though the ground was being prepared there was little change in the actual practice of medicine until the 17th century, for it was not until Vesalius revolutionized anatomy and Harvey had made possible modem physiology, that modem medicine

could begin. Even then the new knowledge did not conquer suddenly or dramatically. Traditionalism and medievalism retained much of their influence in medicine during the 17th century and even in the early 18th century. In the 16th and 17th centuries thought had so broken its medieval fetters in the realms of literature that it is difficult to realize that in some branches of knowledge it was still in bondage. It was not until the middle of the 18th century that the broad conception of an immutable order in nature became part of the mental heritage of all educated persons, a conception that was of immeasurable importance in the study of medicine. Whoever glances through the index to the medical transactions of the Royal Society (founded 1660) cannot fail to be struck with the contrast between the titl~s of the papers of the first fifty years and those of the subsequent one~. The earlier papers are mainly concerned with marvels and curiosities while the subjects of the 18th century are similar to those which would be discussed in a modern medical society. Even in the year 1720 a woman in Godalming declared that she was giving birth to rabbits, and several doctors, including the King's anatomist, believed her story.2 Twenty years later no doctor could have been thus deceived. The scientific age had begun. The study of anatomy and physiology proceeded apace both in England and on the Continent, but the advance in knowledge of the human frame and its mechanism did not have any immediate outstanding result in diminishing hunlan suffering except, and it is an important exception, in the practice of obstetrics. The art of the surgeon, which was ultimately to achieve such marvels, was held back until the discovery of anaesthetics and still more until Pasteur and Lister had laid bare the cause of, and cure for, septic wounds. The earliest triumphs of modern medidne were not so much due to advance in pure theory as to advance in practice in what may be called the departments of nursing and hygiene. But none the less the advance was scientific, since it was due to correct and detailed observation, to constant endeavour to classify correctly, to willingness to break away from tradition and to experiment, all of which is the mark of the scientific attitude. Diseases,

especially fevers, were diagnosed and classified and if the new methods of treatment often entailed nothing more than· the application of fresh air and soap and water, this advocacy at the time, was bold in the extreme.