0"T' LAERT> "! - USP

Il8 ANCIENT TIMES.
where to be found. The Arabian author RHAZES ascribes
>a- knowledge of it to ANTYLLUS and states at the same time
that the latter was acquainted with the method of removal
of cataract by suction* It is much to be deplored that the
ophthalmological literature of ancient times has for the
most part been lost.
.F The work of the celebrated ophthalmic surgeon DEM0S-
.'THENES which at the end of the thirteenth century was
; made use of by SlMON of Genoa and a copy of which
perhaps lies hidden in some library at the present day
would throw light upon many things about which now
only conjectures are possible. * ,
The course of surgical teaching embraced accordinglo
CELSUSt first of all the general principles of the art of
operating and then the treatment of wounds and abscesses,
and all diseases of the bones. He required of the
surgeon treating wounds "that he should be of such
an age as to enjoy the use of all his faculties, should
possess a steady and firm hand which never shakes,
and should be able to use the left as dexterously as the
right hand : his eyesight should be quick and clear, his i
spirit fearless and not so prone to sympathy as to allow!
himself, by the cries of the patient, whose treatment he has
undertaken, to operate more quickly than the case requires
or to remove less than is necessary. He should not allow
himself to be influenced in any way in his work by the
noise made by the patient." The surgeons were assisted
in the operations by their assistants and pupils. The
services which these had to render are fully discussed in
many of the passages specified above.
GRAEFE (Klin. Monatsbl. f. Augenheilkunde 1868 Januar) says '* The infancy
of extraction is one of the most difficult chapters in investigating the history
of medicine " and a positive answer to the question whether the ancients were
acquainted with it, is not possible.
* RHAZES: Continens ii, c. 3, Abs. 7-ed. Venet. 1506, fol. 41.—SicHELin
the Archiv. f. Ophthalm. 1868, xiv, 3, S. 1.
f CELSUS vii, Praef.