Volume 3

The seven books of Paulus Aegineta / translated from the Greek, with a commentary embracing a complete view of the knowledge possessed by the Greeks, Romans and Arabians on all subjects connected with medicine and surgery, by Francis Adams.

  • Paulus, Aegineta.
Date:
1844
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The seven books of Paulus Aegineta / translated from the Greek, with a commentary embracing a complete view of the knowledge possessed by the Greeks, Romans and Arabians on all subjects connected with medicine and surgery, by Francis Adams. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    ADVERTISEMENT TO THE THIRD VOLUME. I THINK it necessary to say a few words in explanation of the reason why the reader will find in the Commentary con- tained in this, my concluding volume, some deviation from the plan upon which the Commentaries in the two preceding volumes were executed. In the Advertisement to the First Volume it is stated that, by the advice of the Council of the Sydenham Society, I had restricted the history which I gave of professional opinions on the various subjects treated of in the course of my work to what is properly called the period of ancient literature, and to this rule it will accordingly be observed that I have generally adhered, except in a few instances, where a departure from it seemed to be demanded for the sake of illustration, or for some other special object. But in dealing with the subject-matter of the present volume, namely, the Materia Medica and Phar- macy of the ancients, it became apparent to me from the first that a different plan of proceeding was indispensable, otherwise the usefulness of the whole work to the ordinary reader would be very much impaired. It is well known how frequently the nomenclature of the sciences connected with these subjects has changed, and what differences of opinion have prevailed with regard to many of the substances used in the practice of medi- cine by the ancients. In order, therefore, to render the in- formation contained in this and the preceding volumes of readv access for practical purposes, it appeared to me necessary to bring down the annotations to modern times, so that one might see at once what is the exact import of the ancient terms of art, and what the medicinal substances mentioned in the course of the work actually were, according to the nomcn-