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THE SCHOOL OF SALERNO. 203
function of such organs in man ; reliance being placed
upon the writings of GALEN, RUFUS, and THEOPHILUS
PROTOSPATHARIUS, although the scientific elevation of
these men was beyond the lecturer's reach. So too
COPHO'S Anatomy of the Pig consists essentially only, of
an enumeration of the most important parts of the body.
And yet we find therein certain indications of more
searching inquiry and some observations in pathological
anatomy. Thus it is said, for instance, that it is possible to
inflate the lungs by introducing a pipe into the trachea*
Again, mention is made of effusions into the pericardium
and pleura.
More attention was devoted to practical medicine. As
early as the year 820 a public hospital was founded in
Salerno by the high priest ADELMUS, which was brought
into connection with the Benedictine monastery. At a
later period several other infirmaries and charitable institu­
tions arose, which were endowed with valuable property
and conducted by members of charitable orders.f It is
uncertain whether clinical instruction was imparted at
these places or not.
ARCHIMATTH^US gives in a treatise J complete advice
as to how a doctor should comport himself on visiting a
patient. He should place himself under the protection of
God, he says, and implore the assistance of the angel who
guided TOBIAS. On the way to see the sick person he
should question the messenger who has summoned him
upon the circumstances and the conditions of the illness of
the patient; then if not able to make any positive diagnosis
after examining the pulse and the urine, he will at least
excite the patient's astonishment by his accurate knowledge
of the symptoms of the disease and thus win his confidence.
The author also considers it a matter of great importance
* DE RENZI : Collect. Salern. ii, 389.
t DE RENZI : Storia docum. della scuola med. di Salerno, p. 563, Doc. 329.
X Anomymi Salernitani de adventu medici ad segrotum ed. A. G. E. Tn.
HENSCHEL, Vratist 1850.—DE RENZI : Collect. Salernit. ii, 74-81, v, 333-349.