Upon the decline of the Saracenic universities of Spain. which may be dated from the death of Averroi.k. the best medical teaching was to he found in Italy. where the School of Salerno became celebrated. it was gradually eclipsed in its turn by the rising fame of other inedieal schools at Bologna. Vienna. Paris. Padua. and elsewhere. Contemporary With ondinn lived Gil bert, the first English medical writer of note; and the prior century gave birth to Linaere (q.v.). who studied at the Continental universities and subsequently founded the London College of Physicians. It was in the fifteenth century that the sect of chemical physicians arose• who maintained that all the phenomena of the living body may be explained by t he same chemical laws as those which rule inorganic matter. The chemical school, with Paracelsus (q.v.) at their head, did nothing to advance medicine except to into the nmteria medica several valu able metallic preparations. During this period many new diseases were recognized and de scribed.
In the sixteenth century the study of human anatomy was first fairly established by the labors of Vesalitts (q.v.) ; and in this century and the following we meet %vitt' the names of many physicians whose anatomical :old physiological studies materially advanced medical science. This was the epoch of FsU:tsc•hio (q.v.), Fallopio Assellius. Barvey (q.v.), Rudbeck. tIa r i/101111, (;lissom, Sylvius. Willis, Bellini, and others. Ambroise Pare ( 1517-90i made important additions to surgical knowledge and technique. The Ca•sarian operation, which had been known among the Oreeks and Romans. was revived. Alaipighi (q.v.) and (Arm founded the cell doc trine. Besides many discoveries in minute anat omy, made possible by the invention and gradual improvement of the microscope, the materia medica was enriched by the addition of Peruvian bark or cinchona by the Countess Chinehon in 1632. The seventeenth century is also marked by great advance in obstetries; medical jurispru dence had its beginning about this time; and bedside or clinical teaching was introduced. Chemistry was now Is-coming distinct from al chemy, and advancing to the dignity of a science, and an alliance between its principles and those of physiology was formed. which resulted in a new sect of chemical physicians, quite distinct, however, front the sect represented two centuries previously by ParaecIsus. These chemical phy sicians believed that diseases were referable to certain fermentations which took place in the blood, and that certain of these humors were naturally acid and others alkaline, and that when one or the other of these predominated certain specific diseases were the result. which were to be removed by the exhibition of remedies of an opposite nature to that of the disease.
They were soon succeeded by the latro-mathe matieal school. of which Bore 11 i Sauvages, ,burin. .lead. and Friend were among the best known. Another sect was that of the Vital ist,. which originated with Van and which, with some modification, was adopted by Stahl and Hoffmann. Among other• physicians whose names stand out prominently in the annals of the sew-nleenth century are Sir Thomas Browne and S3alenhain (q.v.1. both Englishmen, the latter the greatest elinicat physician cif his time; Wharton, who diseuvered the submaxillary duet ; Sehneider, who deseribed the Sehneiderian membrane of the nose: Stenson. Peyer. Branner. l'acchioni. Havers, and Cowper.
The most eminent leacher of medicine in the early part of the eighteenth century was Boer haave 1.1011 ell to the chair of medieine at Leyden in 1709, Among the pupils of rioerhaave was Can Swielen. whose romtiii-ii1s 011 the aphor of his master formed a valuable collection of practical observations: and Haller (9.v.), who has been called the father of modern physiology and who first enunciated the theory that irrita bility sensibility are properties of ionsentar and nervous tissues. Nlost of the tinguished physicians of the latter part of the eighteenth century belonged to the Collenian school of medicine•. (See Cil.l.EN.1 Cullen's views were attacked with great acrimony by his former assistant, John Brown (q.v.). who be came the founder of the Itrunonian system of medicine. in fIreat Britain the views of Brown were regarded as too purely theoretical, and did not attain any great popularity; but in some parts of the Continent, and especially in Italy, they found acceptance, and became for a eoll Advrable time the prevailing doctrine in the leading medical schools. Among the medical curiosities of the later years of this century were the doctrine of annual magnetism or mesmerism (q.v.) and honaeopathy (q.v.). The latter was founded by Bahnemann (q.v.) and served a use ful purpose in protesting against the enormous dosage of medicines and the excessive blood letting then in vogue. The eighteenth century witnessed a steady progress in all branches of medicine and surgery, the social status of the practitioner was raised, and medicine became conscientious vocation and not a mere trade. The greatest single discovery of the age, and that which conferred the mmtst benefit oa Mankind, was vaccination (see JENNER), and next to this, per haps, a reform in the methods of treating the insane. To supplement this outline of the prog ress of medicine in the eighteenth century. the reader is recommended to consult the biographical sketches of Alonro, the llunters, and others.