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THE JEW'S. 31
appliances * and showed themselves dexterous and ex­
perienced in operative midwifery; they were acquainted
with several causes of abortion, undertook embryotomyt
and carried out the Caesarean section on the dead and on
the living.:}; The Talmudic philosphers devoted an ardent
study to the medical writings of the Greeks, and made
their scientific acquisitions accessible to the doctors of the
Jewish people. The medical science of Greece had already
by that time become the common property of the whole
civilized world. The Jews possessed at that epoch cele­
brated high-schools at Tiberias, Sura and Pumbeditha, in
which, as before in the prophet-schools, medicine was
probably taught at least in its general outlines. Teaching
lasted only for part of the year: during the remainder the
students went about their business in order to supply
themselves with the necessary means to support life.§
Among them were to be found, mechanics, merchant-folk,
and perhaps doctors who were anxious to acquire from the
teachers of the high schools scientific foundations for their
observations. And conversely the teachers themselves,
who were only at home in theoretical subjects, sought
eagerly for information from experienced practitioners
upon doubtful and difficult points of practice. || Many
doctors seem to have undertaken the treatment of both
internal and external affections, while in other instances
they only devoted themselves to either the one or the other
branch of medical science. Whosoever wished to practise
as a doctor had to obtain the permission of the magistrates
* WUNDERBAR (op. cil. i, S. 50-56) enumerates 56 distinct kinds, among
them knives, scissors, probes, lancets, cupping instruments of horn, perforators,
portable commodes, spoons, sieves, etc.
f Talmud Tr. Bechoroth 46% Nidah 19.
t On the meaning of Joxe dophan see also VIRCHOW'S Archiv Bd. 80, H. 3,
S. 494. Bd. 84, H. 1, S. 164. Bd. 86, H. 2, S. 240. Bd. 89, H. 3, S. 377.
Bd. 95, H. 3, S. 485.—A. H. ISRAELS in d. Ned. Tijdschr. v. GENEESK 1882,
p. 121 et seq.
§ P. BEER : Skizze einer Geschichte der Erziehung und des Unterrichts bei den
Israeliten, Prag. 1832, S. 55.
I Talmud Tr. Nidah 2i b .