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256 THE MIDDLE AGES.
the representatives of their teacher or of some other doctor >
of the faculty of that place* They thus performed nearly
the same functions as practitioners of our day at the poli-
clinical institutions of many academies.
In the middle ages there was no lack of hospitals in which fi|
bachelors of medicine could find opportunities for acquiring, ^J
practical education in the healing art. The great number of v
these institutions must excite in us the more astonishment'
inasmuch as only a certain proportion of them is known to us*
The information which has reached us concerning them is in-
complete and defective. So much of it as refers to Germany,
or as deals with leper-houses has been collected by VlR-
CHOW.t Besides this, rich material lies scattered in archives
and libraries: many sources of knowledge are probably as
yet undiscovered. It would be a thankworthy task, to write
a history of the foundation and development of hospitals in
the middle ages, and would cast many a ray of light upon
the history of medicine and the general history of civiliza­
tion. Christianity had called into existence a number*of
charitable institutions, as I have explained on a previous
page. Wherever its doctrines were made known and found
adherents, houses for the poor and infirm of all kinds arose
by the side of churches and monasteries. The Christian
missionaries, who travelled from Italy and France to the
countries of Northern and Eastern Europe were carriers of |
civilization, preaching humanity and spreading knowledge*f|
—at least in so far as it did not come into conflict with
their own interests. Christian charity celebrated imperish­
able triumphs in founding numerous clerical and lay Orders
the members of which made the care of the sick the task of
their lives. An enthusiasm of philanthropy filled all hearts •
in a way seen but once in the history of the world. High­
born princesses and poor peasants, knights and burghers vied 1
* C. PRANTL : Geschichte der Ludwig Maximilians-Universitat zu Ingolj?||
stadt, Landshut, Miinchen 1872, i, 50. ii, 43.
f VIRCHOW'S Archiv.»Bd*i8, S, I38r(l62>, 273-329.—Bd. 19, S. 43-93,-Bd.
20., S. 166-197, 459-51 2 ' ,'C s