rout Israeli, (the Israelite.) The monk Nicholas was his intimate friend, and his regard for him in return was unbounded. Chasdai translated all the names of the medicines described in the Treatise of Dioscorides, which were unknown to the Arabs. He also first composed at Cordova the Treatise on Materia Medica, called Farouk, and determined the true nature of the substance called Schadjaryych which enters into its composition. § XXIII. PROGRESS OF MEDICINE. The tenth century was particularly remarkable for the progress of medicine among the Jews. Hippocrates who continually referred to experience, and Galen so profound in his observations, were held in high favor by those doctors; it is nevertheless true, that the works of the doctors would have been more useful to the science if they had observed nature more. On the other hand they regarded the dissection of bodies as a profanity, and surgery as an ignoble profession; which opinion was injurious to the improvement of medicine. and From whatever cause it may be produced, this age witnessed the birth of a great number of celebrated Jewish physicians, viz. Haroun of Cordova, Iehuda Chaioug of Fez, Amram of Toledo, &c. Haroun who held the first rank among the physicians of his time was born at Cordova in the reign of Abd Adlrahman III, was brought up with great care by his father Isaac. He began to be distinguished about the year 965, and became a professor in the University of his native city. In 975, he published a commentary on Ebn Sina,* which secured him immediate fame among the Arabian physicians. This celebrated man full of honors had approached the end of his career, when a young man in the prime of age and talent presented himself in the lists to contend with him for the palm of glory. This young man was Iehuda Chaioug. He was already distinguished as the first grammarian of his nation, when he undertook the commentary on Ebn Sina, which deserves a higher rank than the work by Haroun.* Chaioug, or as he is known among the Arabs, Iahai ben David Ebn Zacharias, was the son of David Fezi or of Fez. Endowed with a happy faculty, he cultivated most propitiously his natural talents, and distinguished himself by his efforts at the school of Karoun, which then rivalled the best scientific institutions of the Arabs. Time has destroyed the commentary, which would enable us to judge of the scientific and literary merits of Chaioug in medicine at that period. Before his time Emran ben Isaact had professed the healing art at Toledo with great reputation. At a later period he filled the place of secretary, of the Arabic tongue, when he was sent by the government to Seville, on the occasion of imposing a tribute. The governor of that city having been offended by him put him to death in the 387th year of the Hegira, the 997 of the common Era. Emian was a man very able in Medicine, Philosophy and Astrology; but we are not informed of his having written any thing on these different sciences. § XXIV. MEDICINE IS CULTIVATED BY THE RABBIS. Jewish medicine about the commencement of the eleventh century, advanced with gigantic steps, and assumed a firm and decided character. This was in consequence of its introduction into the schools of the Rabbis, who became almost the sole physicians of Europe, "The Oriental languages" said the learned Cabanis, were familiar to them, and at a time when Galen, Hippocrates, and the other fathers of medicine were only known in * MSS. of our Library, No. 142. LEO AFRICANUS. De viribus illustribus, chap. XXVIII. the west through the medium of Syriac and Arabic translations; the Jews were almost the only persons who knew how to treat diseases with some system, from the advantages derived from the works of antiquity." In fact they then devoted themselves so much to medicine, that this science became one of the principal objects of their labor. Each prince, each prelate, had his Israelite physician, who were more than once involved in religious controversies. Such among others, was the case with the physician of the Emperor Henry III, who, according to the canon Anselmo,* often proposed to Wazon, Bishop of Leige, difficulties in reference to the Bible. One day he declared, that he would even pledge one of his fingers, that no one would ever be able to confute him by the authority of the Holy Scripture. It is supposed that the Rabbi was very soon vanquished, as Anselmo assures us, he even confessed his defeat, and offered to give up with a good grace, the finger he had lost in the wager; but the Bishop said to him, smiling, that he would trust to his good faith until he should claim it. According to the Art of Verifying Dates,† the Hebrew Doctor confessed himself vanquished, and immediately cut off his finger and sent it to Wazon, to hold until he should reclaim it as a thing which belonged to him. However, this may be, the superiority of the Jewish physicians over other physicians, was so generally recognised, that Huarte, one of the best minds that the Spanish nation has produced, has endeavoured to prove, that by the galenical theories, their temperament is that which was most adapted to medicine. The subtilties on which he founds his opinion, says Cabanis,‡ fail to convince of its truth, but it is very certain that even at his time, the most sought for, and probably most skilful physicians were Jews, In fact, the Jewish physicians were well received, not only in the palaces of the Musselman and the Christian princes, but even popes and prelates had them in their service, notwithstanding the canons which declared that no Jew could be permitted to be + Chronologie historique des eveques et princes de Liege, An. 1042. Revolution de la Medicine, chap. ii, §. vi, a physician, or to administer remedies to a Christian, as we will see in a future part of this work. That which is particularly deserving of praise in the Jewish physicians, is their having founded the plan of medical teaching at Montpelier, which was the cradle of the celebrated Faculty of this city. All the histories agree in this glorious fact, but no one of them informs us of the precise epoch, nor the gradual progress. We shall attempt to give both in this place. The origin of the city of Montpelier was as early as the ninth century. At that period the Israelites had schools in many of the towns of Languedoe and Provence, particularly at Arles, and Narbonne about the year 1000. This last school was under the presidency of the Doctor Rabbi Abou, grandfather of the learned Moses ha Darschon. Religion was the principal object of instruction, but medicine was not neglected. One of his disciples whose name has not been preserved by history, but who has transmitted the title of a medical work which he had composed, resided at Montpelier, about the year 1025,* and is probably the founder of the medical school of that city. Teaching was conducted there as in the school at Salernum, in Hebrew and Arabic, and a remark made by Salisburi, Bishop of Chastres, who lived in the twelfth century, that those who came from this school were full of barbarous words, proves that even at that period, the studies were conducted in a foreign tongue. The Greek was rarely learned there, and the physicians of that city who descended from the Israelites, made use in the first place of the Arabic and the Hebrew, and subsequently of the Provencal and Latin, which we find used in the translations of the twelfth century. Whoever he may be, this unknown physician taught medicine at Montpelier, and his disciples who continued his course of studies, had a powerful influence in inspiring Christians with a desire of learning. As regards the work of our doctor it is referred to under the title of Book of Medicine, by * JEMOTH OLAM, MSS. of our Library, No. 83. Nathan ben Jechiel of Rome,* by Solomon ben Isaac of Troyes,† and by Eleazar ben Nathan of Margence, all authors of the twelfth century. § XXV. EBN DJANAH. While the Jews of France evidenced so much zeal in the cultivation of medicine, and by their labors had made the school of Montpelier the centre of medical sciences, Jewish Spain witnessed the advent of a great physician, in the person of Abou l'walid Merwan Ebn Djanah.§ This celebrated man who bore the Hebrew name of Ionah ben Ganach, is distinguished as one of the most profound grammarians produced among the Jews. He was born at Cordova, but took up his residence at Sarragossa, during the wars which desolated his country. While yet a young man, his predilection for the study of the Holy Scriptures, attracted him to the school of the Hebraists. He soon made the acquaintance of the best works of the Hebrew grammarians, particularly of the celebrated Iehuda Chaioug. Having found many defects in the writings of this great man, he criticised them in a work of so profound a character, that the illustrious Samuel ha Naghid deemed it necessary to defend the work against his attack. But Ebn Djanah replied immediately by a second work, which was succeeded by three others on the same subject. Agreeably to the custom of the times, these works were written in Arabic, and it appears that none of them have been translated into the Hebrew or any other language. Not so in regard to his Hebrew Grammar, which was translated into Hebrew by the physician Iehuda Ebn Tybbon. On account of these various * Sefer Aruch. s. v. CHATAN. Sefer Raben, p. 122. § EBN ABI, OSAIBA. † Commentaire, JUGES. |