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Medicine

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—In Bible and Talmud:

The ancient Hebrew regarded health and disease as emanating from the same divine source. "I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal" (Deuteronomy 32:39), said the Lord through His servant Moses; and therefore they who minister to the health of their fellows are regarded as the messengers of God, as the executors of His will. Although Yhwh is the physician of Israel (Exodus 15:26), yet the practise of medicine is sanctioned by the Law: "If men strive together, and one smite another . . . and . . . he keepeth his bed . . . he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed" (ib. 21:18-19). Joseph employed house physicians (Gen. 1. 2); and Isaiah mentions especially a surgeon or wound-dresser (Isaiah 3:7). Among the Jews, unlike other primitive nations, the priests did not monopolize the art and science of healing. Moses assigned to them only the task of police supervision in cases of contagious diseases. The Bible does not mention a single instance of a priest having performed the functions of a physician. The Prophets, however, practised occasionally the art of healing. Elijah brought to life a child apparently dead (1 Kings 17:17-22); and his disciple Elisha performed a similar miraculous cure (2 Kings 4:18-20,34-35). A man of God restored the paralyzed hand of King Jeroboam (1 Kings 13:4-6). Isaiah cured King Hezekiah of an inflammation by applying a plaster made of figs (2 Kings 20:7).

At a later period physicians were held in high esteem by the people, as may be gathered from Ben Sira: "Honor a physician with the honor due unto him for the uses which ye may have of him, for the Lord hath created him. . . . The Lord has created medicines out of the earth; and he that is wise will not abhor them. . . . And He has given men skill that He might be honored in His marvelous works. . . . My son, in thy sickness be not negligent; . . . give place to the physician; . . . let him not go from thee, for thou hast need of him" (Ecclus. [Sirach] 38:1-12). Afterward the status of the medical profession became still more exalted. The court of justice ("bet din") employed in certain cases the services of a physician ("rofe"), whose expert testimony was decisive in criminal matters. In cases of assault, for instance, it was his duty to give his opinion ("umdena") as to the danger to the life of the assaulted (Sanh. 78a; Giá¹­. 12b). Corporal punishment was inflicted under the supervision of a physician (Mak. 22b). No physician was permitted to practise without a license from the local judicial council (B. B. 21a; Mak. 20b). Every city was required to have at least one physician; and to live in a city that had none was considered hazardous (Sanh. 17b).

Sources of Medical Knowledge.

The medical knowledge of the Talmudists was based upon tradition, the dissection of human bodies, observation of diseases, and experiments upon animals ("'issuḳ be-debarim"; Ḥul. 57b). When making their rounds physicians used to take their apprentices with them (Deut. R. ). In the majority of cases the art of healing was transmitted from father to son (Yer. R. H. 1:3,57b). The numerous medical aphorisms preserved in the Talmudim and Midrashim, and the fact that physicians took part in the discussion of many important religious questions by the Rabbis, indicate that the latter were not unacquainted with the science of medicine (Naz. 52a; Nid. 22b). That the demand upon the skill of physicians was considerable may be adduced from the statute law prohibiting the part owner of a house from renting his part toa physician on account of the noise and disturbance caused by the visiting patients (B. B. 21a). Physicians received for their services comparatively large fees. A current saying was: "A physician who takes nothing is worth nothing" (B. Ḳ. 85a).

What was the sum total of medical knowledge possessed by the ancient Hebrews can not be stated definitely, for the reason that neither the Bible nor the Talmud contains medical treatises as such. The Mishnah mentions a medical book, "Sefer Refu'ot," which was attributed to King Solomon and expurgated by King Hezekiah (Pes. 4:9), and the Talmud cites a treatise on pharmacology, "Megillat Sammanin" (Yoma 38a); but neither of these has been preserved. Medicine was an integral part of the religion of the Jews; and medical subjects are treated of or alluded to only in so far as they concern or elucidate some point of law.

Anatomy.

There are in the Bible but few direct references to the internal organs. Biblical poetry, however, abounds with expressions in which the names of such organs are used metaphorically, e.g.: "His archers compass me round about, he cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall upon the ground" (Job 16:13); "His vessels are full of healthy fluid, and the marrow of his bones is well moistened" (ib. 21:24, Hebr.); "I am weary; . . . my throat is dried" (Psalms 69). See See ANATOMY.

Osteology.

The laws concerning clean ("ṭohorah") and unclean ("ṭum'ah") afford means for ascertaining in part the familiarity of the ancient Hebrews with certain branches of anatomy. According to the Mosaic law (Numbers 19:14), any one who comes in contact with a dead body or any part thereof, or who remains in a tent wherein a corpse is found, is considered infected ("unclean") for seven days. The Mishnah teaches that this tent-infection ("ṭum'at ohel") takes place in the presence either of a complete corpse, or of an anatomical unit or member ("eber"), e., a bone covered with its soft parts. A bone stripped of its soft parts does not infect. Should, however, a collection of such bones, by either their bulk or number, represent more than half of the skeleton ("sheled"), their infecting power is equal to that of a complete corpse (Oh. et seq.). This law made it imperative that the number of bones in the human body should be ascertained. Oh. - gives the number as 248; and the following bones are recognized and named: hand ("pissat ha-yad") 30; forearm ("ḳaneh") 2; elbowjoint ("marpeḳ") 2; arm 1; shoulder-joint ("kataf"), including shoulder-blade ("kanaf"), 4; foot ("pissat ha-regel") 30; ankle-joint ("ḳarsol") 10; leg 2; knee-joint ("'arḳub"), including knee-cap ("piḳah") 5; thigh 1; hip-joint ("ḳoṭlit"), including head of femur ("buḳa de-iṭma") and innominate bone ("ḳeliboset"), 3; spinal column ("shedrah") made up of vertebræ ("ḥulyot") 18; ribs 11; breast-bone ("mafteaḥ shelleb") 6; sacrum and coccyx ("'uḳaẓ") 6; and head 9, in which were recognized the vertex ("ḳederah"), two condyloid processes, the foramen magnum, the fontanels, maxillary bone, maxillary arch ("gabbot ha-zaḳan"), and the nasal bone ("'eẓem ha-ḥoṭam"). This enumeration gave rise to numerous disputes as to the number of bones constituting a normal skeleton. The disciples of R. Ishmael, in order to settle this question, obtained the body of a young harlot who had been put to death, and, having subjected it to prolonged boiling ("shelikah"), counted the bones and found the number of them to be 252 (Bek. 45a). Neither of the numbers given agrees with modern anatomical knowledge. The explanation of the discrepancy is to be found in the youthful age of the subject used, many of the bones not having become completely ossified; also the prolonged boiling caused them to be separated into their original component parts, so that the Talmudists counted the epiphysis and diaphysis as separate bones. As an expert osteologist is mentioned Theodos, a well-known physician (Naz. 52a).

Myology.

The Bible speaks of muscles under the general term "flesh" ("basar"). The abdominal muscles are mentioned in Job 16. The psoas muscle is mentioned in the Talmud (Ḥul. 93a); and Rab Ḥisdai made the remarkable observation that the psoas in all clean animals, e., those that chew the cud and whose hoofs are cleft, has two accessory muscles whose respective fibers run longitudinally and transversely (ib. 59a). Tendons are frequently mentioned under the term "giddim."

The salivary glands or "fountains" (Niddah 55b) are situated in the cavity of the mouth (Ab. R. N. ) and under the tongue (Lev. R. ). The capacity of the pharynx ("bet ha-beli'ah") was found by experiment to be larger than it seems. A hen's egg can easily be swallowed whole (Yoma 80a). The esophagus ("wesheṭ") and larynx ("ḳaneh") have their respective origins in the pharynx. The structure of the esophagus is composed of two layers ("orot")—an outer, muscular one and an inner, serous one (Ḥul. 43a). The inner layer has longitudinal folds throughout its length, except at the upper part, which is called "tarbeẓ ha-wesheṭ" (ib. 43b). The lower portion of the inner layer is supplied with hair-like projections (ib. 44a).

The larynx ("ḳaneh," "gargeret") is composed of a large ring of cricoid cartilage ("ṭabba'at gedolah"), thyroid cartilage ("koba'," "piḳah shel-gargeret"), and the epiglottis ("shippuy koba'"; Ḥul. 18b). The trachea is composed of incomplete cartilaginous rings ("ḥulyot"), and membranous ones ("bene ḥulyah").

The alimentary canal of ruminating animals is thus described:

"The food passes from the mouth into the pharynx, thence into the esophagus ["isṭomka"], thence into the reticulum ["bet ha-kosot"], thence into the psalterium ["ha-masas" or "hemses"], thence into the abomasum ["karsa"], thence into the duodenum ["resh mayah"], thence into the small intestines ["kerukah ḳaṭṭinah"], thence into the blind gut ["sanya debe"], thence into the large intestines ["kerukit 'ubya"], thence into the rectum ["peṭaroka"], whence it makes its exit through the sphincter ani ["iskutha"]" (Lev. R. ).

According to R. Samuel, there are no hair-like projections ("milot") below the pylorus ("meẓar"). The gastro-intestinal tract throughout its lengthis covered externally with the peritoneum ("ḳerum niḳlaf") except the posterior surface of the lower portion of the rectum ("ḥilḥolet"; Ḥul. 49b). The peritoneum forms the greater omentum ("peder"), which is attached to the greater curvature or "bow" ("Ḳashta") of the stomach (ib. 50a) and the beginning of the small intestines (ib. 93a).

The liver is attached to the diaphragm ("ṭarpesha") by a fold of the peritoneum (ib. 46a). It is united also with the gall-bladder ("marah") by means of a narrow tube ("simpona"; ib. 48b). The pancreas is considered an accessory organ of the liver, and is called the "finger of the liver" ("eẓba' ha-kabed"). Its relations to the abdominal organs are described correctly (Tamid 31a). The anterior abdominal wall is divided into an inner, peritoneal layer ("keres penimit") and an outer, muscular one ("keres ḥiẓonah"). The spleen and kidneys are frequently mentioned in Talmud and Midrash, but no description is given (see below).

The Lungs and Heart.

The lungs are composed of two "rows" ("'arugot"), right and left, divided vertically, by a septum ("ṭarpesh ha-leb") which rises from the pericardium ("kis ha-leb") and is attached to the spinal column. The large bronchi ("bet ha-simponot") enter respectively the inner side of each row (ib. 50a). Alongside of the bronchi enter also the large blood-vessels ("mizraḳim"; ib. 93b). The number of lobes in each lung is given correctly (ib. 47a). The pleura is composed of two layers, an outer, rough one ("ḳerama 'illaya") and an inner, rose-colored one ("ḳerama tatta'a," "kittuna de-warda"; ib. 46a). The heart is composed of two ventricles ("ḥalal"), the right being larger than the left (ib. 45b). It is situated to the left of the median line (Men. 37b). Rab expressed a radical view for his time, namely, that the aorta ("ḳaneh shel-leb") contains blood, not air (Ḥul. 45b). The large veins are called "weridim"; the small ones, "ḥuṭe dam."

The brain is not mentioned in the Bible. According to the Talmudists, it has two coats, an outer (the dura mater) and an inner coat (the pia mater), the one being hard ("ḳashshish"), the other thin ("daḳḳiḳ"). The spinal cord begins outside of the condyloid processes (Ḥul. 45a). The Zohar gives a somewhat more detailed description: "The skull contains three cavities in which the brain is lodged. From the brain issue thirty-two paths. These paths spread over the body connecting it with the brain" (Zohar on Leviticus 26).

The Generative Organs.

From the laws relating to circumcision, flux, menstruation, etc., which are discussed at length in the Bible and especially in the Talmud, may be gathered some idea of the knowledge which the ancient Jews possessed concerning the anatomy of the generative organs. Of the male genitals the anatomical parts are mentioned as follows: The scrotum ("kis")is divided by a septum into two sacculi (Bek. 40a); the testes ("beẓim," "ashakim") have two coats (Ḥul. 45a); each testicle has an appendix, the epididymis ("ḥuṭe beẓah"; Yeb. 75a); it is supplied with blood-vessels ("gide paḥad"; Ḥul. 93a) and nerves (ib. 45b), and it contains a viscid fluid (Yeb. 75a). It was held that the spermatic fluid and the urine had each a separate canal for their exit (Bek. 44b).

Besides the uterus only the visible parts of the female generative organs ("reḥem"), there being many synonyms, are mentioned in the Bible. The Talmud mentions the following: Mons veneris (Hebr. "kaf tappuaḥ"; Yer. Yeb. 1-2); vulva ("'erwah"); rima pudendorum ("bet ha-setarim"; Niddah 66b); vestibulum vaginœ ("bet ḥiẓon"; ib. 41b); orificium urethrœ ("lul"; ib. 17b); hymen ("betulim"); ostium vaginœ ("bet shinnayim"; ib. 46b); vagina ("bet toref," "bet ha-reḥem"; Shab. 64a); septum vesico-vaginalis ("gag prosdor"; Niddah 18a); septum vagina-rectalis ("karka prosdor"; ib.); uterus ("reḥem"; ib.); canalis cervicis uteri ("maḳor; ib. 41a); cavum uteri ("ḥeder" [ib. 17b]; "bet herayon" ['Ar. 7a]).

Embryology.

According to the Mosaic law (Leviticus 12:2-5), a woman after giving birth to a male child remained unclean for seven days thereafter; in the case of a female child, fourteen days. Then followed a period of purification—for a male thirty days, and for a female sixty-six days. According to the Mishnah, miscarriages fell under the same law, provided, however, the fetus ("shefir") was completely formed ("meruḳḳam") and its features were well differentiated ("mi-ẓorat adam"). Monstrosities and all fetuses not viable were exempt from the above-named law (Niddah ). This interpretation of the Biblical law served as an impetus to the Talmudists for the diligent study of embryology.

The esteem in which were held those who occupied themselves with this study is shown in the legend that King David devoted a great deal of his time to these investigations (Ber. 4a). R. Samuel, it is said, was able to tell the exact age of a fetus (Niddah 25b). The fetus, it was held, is completely formed at the end of the sixth week. Aba Saul, a grave-digger by occupation, but also an embryologist, describes an embryo at the end of the sixth week as follows: "Size, that of the locust; eyes are like two specks at some distance from each other, so are the nostrils; feet like two silken cords; mouth like a hair. . . . The soles are not well defined." He adds that the embryo should not be examined in water, but in oil, and only by sunlight (Niddah 25b). R. Samuel (c.) contended that it was impossible to differentiate the sex before the end of the fourth month, which, by the way, is the opinion of modern embryologists. At certain autopsies it was found that the male embryos were completely formed at the end of the forty-first day, and the female embryos at the end of the eighty-first day. The Rabbis contended that the autopsies had not been free from error (Niddah 30b). The soft parts are formed first, then the bones (Gen. R. ). Monstrosities like cyclopia, monopsia, double back with double spinal column, and artresia œsophagi ("wesheṭ aṭum"), etc., are mentioned (Niddah 23b, 24a, b).

Physiology.

The Bible identifies the blood with the soul (Genesis 9:4). The Talmudists regard blood as the essential principle of life (Ḥul. 125a). The relation between strength and the development of muscles is mentioned in the Bible (Job 16). The Talmudists noted the fact that the muscles change their formwhen in motion (Ḥul. 93a). Respiration is compared to burning. Expired air can not sustain life (Sanh. 77a). The life of all the organs of the body depends upon the heart (Yer. Ter. 8:4). Each gland secretes a fluid peculiar to itself, although all the glands derive their material from the same source (Num. R. ). The difference in the structure of the teeth in herbivorous and carnivorous animals is noted (Ḥul. 59). Saliva, besides moistening the tongue, adds to the palatability of food (Num. R. ). The stomach performs a purely mechanical function, that of churning the food; it is compared to a mill. Digestion proper ("ikkul") is carried on in the intestines. The time occupied in digestion is not the same in all individuals. The end of the digestive period is made manifest by the return of a desire for food (Bek. 52b). Eating when the bowels are full is likened to the making of a fire in a stove from which the ashes have not been removed (ib. 55a). Normal defecation hastens digestion. Birds digest their food rapidly (Shab. 82a); dogs, slowly (Oh. 11:7). The reasoning faculties are lodged in the brain (Yeb. 9a). The movements of the body depend upon the integrity of the spinal cord (Ḥul. 58). Rabbi Isaac holds that the liver elaborates blood (Shab. 82a).

There are numerous references to the influence of climate, customs, trade, etc., upon the development of the organism as a whole, and upon certain groups of muscles (Ab. R. N.; Yeb. 103a; M. Ḳ. 25b).

The phenomena preceding the period of menstruation are described in detail (Niddah 11:8). The menstrual fluid is considered by Rabbi Meïr as an extra nutritive material which is discharged periodically when of no use, but which is converted into milk during the period of lactation (ib.). Absence of menstruation indicates sterility. Fear and cold may arrest the flow (ib. 66).

Pathology.

That medicine was an integral part of the religion of Israel is made more evident from the pathological studies of the Rabbis than from any other branch of medical science. It is indeed remarkable that the Rabbis seem to have been the first to recognize practically what is at present the prevailing theory, namely, that the symptoms of all diseases are merely outward manifestations of internal changes in the tissues—a theory never advanced by their contemporaries, e.g., Hippocrates and his disciples, and only vaguely hinted at by Galen ("De Locis Affectis," , ch. ). Their pathological studies were a direct outgrowth of the law concerning the "flesh that is torn of beasts in the field," which becomes unfit ("ṭerefah") for food (Exodus 22:30 [A. V. 31]). Certain rules concerning this infection are enjoined upon those who come in contact with the flesh of an animal that "dieth of itself or is torn with beasts" (Leviticus 22:8). The Talmudists went a step further, and declared that the word "unfit" included the flesh of animals afflicted with any disease which would have sooner or later caused the death of the animal (Ḥul. 3:1).

In order, therefore, to determine the condition of the internal organs, each slaughtered animal was subjected to an autopsy; this is the practise even to-day. The pathological changes of the lungs have been most diligently studied as to color, consistency, cavities, and vegetable growths. Redness of the lungs indicates hyperemia (Ḥul. 47b), a condition which is not fatal (ib. 46b); blue and light-green discoloration is not considered dangerous (ib. 47b); black indicates that the object has begun to disintegrate ("laḳah"); and the part of the lungs thus affected can not return to its normal state. Bright yellow ("yaroḳ") is considered the color indicative of the most fatal condition. If, on inflating the lungs, it is found that air does not enter into a certain part of them ("oṭem bere'ah"), it is then important to find out whether the obstruction is caused by pus or mucus ("mugla") in the bronchi, which might have been expelled by coughing, or is due to thickening of the tissues. In the latter case the animal is unfit for food. Caseous degeneration ("re'ah she-yabeshah"), "in which there is no blood and it crumbles under the nail," makes the flesh of the animal unfit for food. Softening of the lung ("re'ah she-nitmasmesah") is fatal. In the case of an animal with collapsed lungs ("re'ah she-ẓameḳah") the following rule is given by the Talmud: if after they have been immersed in water they can be inflated with air, the flesh of the animal is fit for food; if they can not be so inflated it is unfit. A pitcher-shaped cavity in the lung ("re'ah she-nishpekah ke-ḳiton"), filled with fluid, renders the animal unfit for food. An empty cavity ("re'ah shenimmoḳah") is not dangerous to life (ib.). The Rabbis speak of vegetable growths ("ẓemaḥim") on the lungs in connection with adhesions of the lung to the thorax ("dofen"); and they describe several forms, all of which are not considered dangerous.

Perforation of the outer coat of the brain is not fatal; but the slightest perforation of the inner coat is. Rabbi Jacob held that an injury of the spinal cord is fatal; the editor of the Mishnah said that it is fatal only when the injury extends to more than one-half of its transverse diameter (Ḥul. 3:1). A sheep that dragged its hind legs was diagnosed by Rabbi Yemar as suffering from ischiagra, ("shigrona"); but Rabina contended that it was a paralysis due to the solution of continuity of the spinal cord. The sheep was killed, and the diagnosis of Rabina was corroborated (Ḥul. 51a). This is the only case on record in ancient literature where a diagnosis was made during life and was verified at a post-mortem examination. Rabbi Levi saw one who suffered from tremor of the head, and he remarked that the man was suffering from softening of the spinal cord. Abaya said that such cases were not fatal, but the patients lost their reproductive functions (ib.).

Perforation of the heart is considered fatal. No other pathological changes of the heart are mentioned. A transverse division of the trachea is not considered fatal, provided it is less than one-half of its circumference. Longitudinal wounds in the trachea heal quickly (ib. 45a, 54a, and 57b). Loss of substance is not considered fatal (ib. 18b). Perforation of the esophagus is fatal, since the food may escape into the mediastinum (ib. 45b). Volvulus is considered fatal (ib. 56b). Perforation of the stomach or of the intestines is fatal. Extirpation of the spleen in animals and in man is not consideredfatal (Ḥul. 2). Rupture or wounding of the spleen is considered fatal. Ablation of the uterus is mentioned and is not considered fatal (Bek. 6:4). Atrophy and abscess of the kidney are fatal (Ḥul. 55a, b). Accumulation of transparent fluid in the kidney is not fatal (ib. 53b).

The pathological changes in the liver mentioned in the Talmud are: that in which the organ becomes dry and bloodless and "crumbles under the nails"; abscess; and stone-like hardening. Extirpation of the liver is not considered fatal if there is left intact the part which surrounds the biliary duct and "that place from which the liver receives its vitality." Absence of one testicle is mentioned, and the subject is considered sterile (Bek. 6:6). Hypertrophy and atrophy of the testicles (ib. 40b), scrotal hernia ("ruaḥ ba-ashakim"), and elephantiasis scroti (the sufferer being called "me'ushkan"; ib.) are also mentioned. Various forms of hypospadias and epispadias are described (Niddah 13a; Yeb. 76a). The Mishnah enumerates 140 pathological conditions which in the eyes of the Law make a man a "cripple" ("mum") and therefore unfit to perform any religious service in the Temple. Fifteen of these describe various osteologic deformities of the head, spine, and extremities (Bek. ). The rare cases of individuals having a tendency to hemorrhage are related, and the fact that this affection is hereditary is noted (Yeb. 64b).

Surgery.

Wounds in different parts of the body, caused by different weapons—sword, arrow, hammer, etc.—are mentioned in the Bible (2 Samuel 2:23, 3:27, 4:6, 18:14, 20:10; Numbers 25:8; Judges 3:21, 5:24; 1 Kings 22:34; 2 Chronicles 35:23; and often elsewhere). Inflammation and abscesses (Deuteronomy 28:27,35), gangrene and putrid discharges (Psalms 38:6; Proverbs 12:4, 14:30; II Macc. 9:9) are also referred to. Wounds were treated by the application of wine or oil, bandages or sutures (Isaiah 1:5; Jeremiah 8:22, 46:11, 51:8; Deuteronomy 28:27). The surgical operations mentioned in the Bible are those of CIRCUMCISION and castration, the latter being prohibited (Deuteronomy 23:1).

Operations.

During the Talmudical period surgery attained a high degree of development. Many physicians devoted themselves exclusively to it. Surgeons ("ummanim"; Sanh. 91b), when operating, used to wear a tunic over their dress (Kelim 26:5). They used various surgical instruments (ib. 13:2). In major operations the patients were given an anesthetic or a sleeping-potion ("samme de-shinta"; B. M. 83b). Venesection was extensively used upon the healthy and the sick alike. Mar Samuel Yarḥinai went so far as to recommend its use once in thirty days (Shab. 129b). After the age of fifty venesection should be employed less frequently (Giṭ. 70a). It is not to be performed during inclement weather; and a careful dietetic régime should be followed for some time after the operation (Shab. 129a). Bleeding by means of leeches ("'aluḳah," "nime shel mayim"; 'Ab. Zarah 12b) and by means of cupping (the cup being called "ḳarna de-ummana"; Shab. 154:2) is frequently mentioned. Dislocation of various joints ('Ab. Zarah 29), fractures, amputations (Ker. 66a; Sem. 28; Shab. 66a), and trephining (Ket. 77b) are discussed in the Talmud. Artificial teeth, made of hard wood, gold, or silver, were used (Shab. 65a; Ned. 66b). Extirpation of the spleen was successfully performed upon man ('Ab. Zarah 44a). The following forms of castration are mentioned: Amputatio membri; extirpatio testiculorum (Deuteronomy 23:2 [A. V. 1]); subcutaneous stretching or cutting of the cord (Leviticus 22:24; Bek. 39b); and obliteration of the testicle by means of gradual pressure. Intubation of the larynx was practised upon animals (the tube was called "ḳerumit shel ḳaneh"); and a plate ("ḥidduḳ shel ḳarweyah") was used in a case of loss of substance of the cranium. A uterine speculum was used (Niddah 66).

The practise was adopted of freshening up the borders of old wounds in order that union might be effected (Ḥul. 77). The operation for imperforate anus in the new-born is described (Shab. 134b). Wounds exposed to air do not heal as readily as protected ones (Ḥul. 46). In an accident in which the abdominal viscera were protruding through a wound the reposition of the organs was effected automatically by frightening the patient, which caused the abdominal muscles to relax; after this the external wound was closed by sutures (Shab. 82a). Nasal polyps are said to cause fetor ex ore (Ket. 77). Crutches and various other orthopedic appliances are mentioned (Shab. 65a). Intestinal parasites and hydatids are frequently mentioned (Ḥul. 48a). Extraction of the fetus through an incision made in the abdomen was an operation known to the Talmudists (Niddah 40b). BATHS, BATHING; see CIRCUMCISION; MIDWIFE; Miracles; HEALTH LAWS

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  • A. H. Israels, Beiträge zur Talmudischen Medizin, in Janus, 2:330,352, Breslau, 1847;
  • idem, De Keizersnede by Levenden, Volgens den Babylonischen Talmud, Amsterdam, 1882;
  • L. Kazenelson, Anatomiya, Normalnaya i Patologicheskaya v Drevneyevreiskoi Pismennosti, St. Petersburg, 1889;
  • S. W. H. Kemper, Biblical Medicine, in Indiana Journal of Medicine, 1872-73, 3:1,47,335;
  • M. Levin, Analecta Historica ad Medicinam Ebrœorum, Halle, 1798;
  • S. Lizelius, De Poetis Medicis, Sacrœ Scripturœ Interpretidus, Commentatis, Speyer, 1743;
  • P. J. Müller, Biblical Medicine, Strasburg, 1785;
  • J. H. Nebel, Physiologiœ-Biblicœ, Selecta Quadem Capita Breviter ac Strictim Illustrata, Giessen, 1711;
  • O. N. Nicolaus, Meletema de Servis Josephi Medicis ad Gen. 1, 2, Magdeburg, 1752;
  • Oppler, Einiges aus der Altjüdischen Medicin, in Deutsche Archiv für Medicinische Gesch. 4:62, Leipsic, 1881;
  • G. L. Pasnoligo,Della Condizione della Medica Scienza Presso il Popolo Ebreo, n.d.;
  • M. Pholis, De Questione an Esau Fuerit Monstrum, Wittenberg, 1669;
  • I. M. Rabbinowicz, La Médecine du Talmud, Paris, 1880;
  • Rittman, Die Talmudische Medizin im Mittelalter, in Allg. Wiener Medicinische Zeitung, 1868, 13:123;
  • P. Schagen, Specimen Anatomiœ Biblicœ, Utrecht, 1750;
  • J. D. Schleunitz, Philologemata Medica, sive ad Medicinam et Res Medicas Pertinentia ex Ebrea et Huic Adfinibus Orientalibus Linguis Decerpta, Halle and Magdeburg, 1758;
  • J. J. Schmidt, Biblischer Medicus, Züllichau, 1743;
  • J. H. Slevogtius, Biblical Medicine, Jena, 1699;
  • C. D. Spivak, Menstruation: A Summary of the Theories of the Aucients with Special Reference to the View Held by the Talmudists, in Medical Times, Feb. 14, 1891;
  • M. Steinschneider, Schriften über Medicin in Bibel und Talmud und über Jüdische Aerzte, in Wiener Klinische Rundschau, 1896;
  • J. H. Walker, On the State of Medical Art Among the Jews as Recorded in the Bible, in Midland Medical and Surgical Reporter, 2:163,243, Worcester, 1830-1831;
  • R. J. Wunderbar, Biblisch-Talmudische Medizin, 1857;
  • Bumm, Spuren der Griechischen Psychiatrie im Talmud, 1901;
  • Bennett, Diseases of the Bible, 1887;
  • Burrell, The Insane Kings of the Bible, in Am. Jour. of Insanity, 1893, 4:493;
  • Bombaugh, The Plagues and Pestilences of the Old Testament, in Johns Hopkins Medical Bulletin, 1893, 4:64;
  • Carnault, La Tuberculose Bovine et le Talmud, in Revue Scientifique, 4th series, vol. , Nos. 3, 75;
  • Kotelman, Die Geburtshilfe bei den Alten Hebräern, Marburg, 1876;
  • Ebstein, Die Medizin im Neuen Testament und im Talmud, Stuttgart, 1903;
  • Ellis, Biblical Obstetrics, in The Lancet, 1:874, London, 1875;
  • Preuss, Der Arzt in Bibel und Talmud, in Virchow's Archiv, vol. 138:261;
  • idem, Materialien zur Geschichte der Alten Medizin: die Organe der Bauchhöhle nach Bibel und Talmud, in Allgemeine Medizinische Central-Zeitschrift, 1898, pp. 489, 502, 514, 526;
  • idem, Die Erkrankungen der Haut, ib. 1903, pp. 431, 455, 474;
  • idem, Der Tote und Seine Bestattung, ib. 1901, Nos. 25, 26, 27;
  • idem, Die Männliche Genitalien und Ihre Krankheiten nach Bibel und Talmud, in Wiener Medizinische Wochenschrift, 1898, pp. 570, 618, 662, 709, 1194, 1239;
  • idem, Biblisch-Talmudische Pathologie und Therapie, in Zeit. für. Medizin, 45:457;
  • idem, Chirurgisches in Bibel und Talmud, in Deutsche Zeit. für Chirurgie, 59:507;
  • Ravitzki, Ueber die Lehre der Superfœtatio und der Entstehungs-Ursache die Fœtus Compressus im Talmud, in Janus, 6:410,461,512;
  • Rosenbaum, Une Conference Contradictoire, Religieuse et Scientifique sur l'Anatomie et Physiologie des Organes Genitaux de la Femme à l'Ecole de Rami Fils de Samuel et de Rabbi Yitshac Fils de Rabbi Yehoudou, à la Fin du Deuxième Siècle, Paris, 1901;
  • Schapiro, Obstetrique des Anciens Hébreux d'Après la Bible et le Talmud, Comparée avec la Tocologie Gréco-Romain, in La France Médicale, 1904;
  • idem, Connaissance Medical de Mar Samuel, in R. E. J. Paris, , No. 83, p. 14;
  • Pyasetski, Medizina po Biblii i Talmudu, St. Petersburg, 1903.

S. S.
C. D. S.

—In Post-Talmudic Times:

During the fifth and sixth centuries of the common era the sciences languished in the Orient owing in part to disturbed political conditions, to superstitions, and to the attention which was being paid to pseudo-sciences. The persecutions of the Jews under Honorius (in 404 and 419), Theodosius the Great (493), and Kobad in Persia (520) resulted in the promulgation of laws forbidding Jews to hold any office, to follow any handicraft or liberal art, or to practise medicine.

With the spread of Mohammedanism in the seventh century a great revival of the sciences took place in Asia Minor. The califs opened colleges which included medical schools at Bagdad, Kufah, and Bassora, and these were well equipped and were furnished with the best of teachers. Among both the teachers and the students were to be found many who bore Jewish names. Science then was free to all; but in 853 a law was promulgated in Bagdad which prohibited the Jews from teaching or studying medicine in any language other than Hebrew or Syriac. The Mohammedans, being able to fill all positions themselves, were no longer in need of the help of the Jews. The earliest Jewish physicians mentioned during the golden age under the Arabs were: Abu Ḥafṣah Yazid (c. 643), physician to the calif Omar, Mohammed's successor; MASARJAWAIH (Messer Jawait) in Bassora about 883, physician to the calif Mu'awiyyah I., whom he induced to procure translations of works written in foreign languages, and who himself translated from the Syriac into Arabic the pandects of Aaron the Archdeacon, upon medicinal plants and foods; Isḥaḳ ben Amram (d. 799; not to be confounded with the Kairwan physician of the same name), who wrote a treatise on poison; Sahl, called "Rabban al-Ṭabari," who lived about 800 at Taberistan on the Caspian Sea, was an eminent physician and mathematician, and translated into Arabic the "Almagest" of the Greek astronomer Ptolemy; his son Ali ibn Sahl ibn Rabban al-Tabari (Abu al-Ḥasan), who lived at Irak about 850, became a convert to Mohammedanism, and was court physician to the califs Al-Mu'taṣim and Al-Mutawakkil.

Bagdad.

Harun al-Rashid (786-809) was the founder of the university at Bagdad, the most flourishing institution of its time, possessing hospitals, a medical school, and holding medical examinations. The professors included Joshua ben Nun (c. 800), a physician of high repute and translator, one of whose pupils was Yusuf Ya'ḳub ibn Isḥaḳ (c. 850); much later Hibat Allah Abu al-Barakat b. 'Ali b. Malka, who lived about 1150 and who pursued his studies under the greatest difficulties on account of the laws prohibiting Jews from studying medicine (later he became a convert to Mohammedanism); Ibn Zakariyya (died at Aleppo 1190); Sa'ad al-Daulah, court physician to the Mongolian khan Arghun (1284-91) when in Bagdad (killed in 1291 for not curing his lord). The calif Ma'mun, Harun al-Rashid's son (813-833), established the universities of Bassora and Samarcand.

Egypt and Northern Africa.

After the beginning of the fourteenth century the center of Mohammedan learning moved westward, and no more Jewish physicians are met with in 'Iraḳ after that date. The sciences followed the conquering armies of the Arabs from Asia Minor through Egypt and the Mediterranean countries of Africa to Spain and southern France, to Sicily, and thence to Italy. Alexandria, Cairo, and Kairwan became the seats of colleges with medical schools. At Kairwan about 793 lived the Jewish physician Shammakh, who poisoned the imam Idris by order of Harun al-Rashid; at Algiers, about 900, Isḥaḳ ibn 'Imran, court physician to the emir Ziyadat Allah II., and Isḥaḳ ibn 'Imran the Younger, court physician to the last Aghlabite emir, Ziyadat Allah III. 'Imran the Younger's successor was Isaac ben Solomon Israeli (c. 832-932), who later became oculist and physician to the Fatimite calif 'Ubaid Allah al-Mahdi at Kairwan. Israeli's works written in Arabic were translated into Latin in 1087 by the monk Constantine of Carthage, who claimed them as his own. In 1515 they were reprinted in Latin in Leyden under the title "Opera Omnia Isaci Judæi," the subjects treated including fever, dietetics, urine, drugs, dropsy, therapeutics, and aliments; the last part appeared in Hebrew under the title "Sefer ha-Mis'adim." The Leyden edition contains not only Israeli's works, but also those of other physicians falsely attributed to Israeli (Steinschneider doubtsif Israeli really existed). Israeli's pupil was DUNASH IBN TAMIM (Abu Sahl), also court physician (c. 950), who is said to have been a convert to Islam. Jewish physicians in Egypt were: Ephraim ibn al-Za'faran (d. 1068), celebrated through his library; Abu Sa'id ibn Ḥusain (Al-Ṭabib), about 1050; Abu Manṣur (c. 1125), one of the physicians of the calif Al-Ḥafiẓ; Nathanael Israeli (the Egyptian), at Cairo (c. 1150), court physician to the last Fatimite calif of Egypt and to the great Saladin; Abu al-Barakat (c. 1150); Abu al-Faḍa'il ibn al-Naḳid (d. 1189), a celebrated oculist; Abu al-Bayyan al-Mudawwar (d. 1184), also physician to Saladin, and David ben Solomon (1161-1241), connected with the hospital Al-Naṣiri in Cairo, both Karaite physicians; the Karaite Sadid b. Abi al-Bayyan (c. 1160); Abu Ja'far Joseph Nathanael Israel (c. 1175); and Abu al-Ma'ali, brother-in-law of Maimonides, also in the service of Saladin.

Maimonides.

In 1166 Maimonides himself (1135-1205) went to Egypt and settled in Fusṭaṭ. Born at Cordova, Spain, he left his native land on account of the disfranchisement of the Jews by the Mohammedan rulers. He became court physician to the sultan Saladin. Of the descendants of Maimonides the following were physicians: his son Abraham (1185-1254), his grandson David (1212-1300), also the two sons of the latter, Abraham Maimonides II. (1246-1310) and Solomon, all of whom held the office of nagid also. In Aleppo lived a pupil of Maimonides, Yusuf al-Sabti (d. 1226); while in Fez practised another pupil of his, Abu al-Ḥayyuj Yusuf. In Cairo lived 'Imran al-Isra'ili (1165-1239); Samuel Abu Naṣr ibn 'Abbas (c. 1165); Abu al-Ḥasan (d. 1251); Jacob b. Isaac (c. 1250); the Karaite Solomon Cohen and Al-Asad al-Maḥalli (about the end of the twelfth century); Ibn Abi al-Ḥasan al-Barkamani and the pharmacologist Abu al-Muna al-Kuhin al-'Aṭṭar (c. 1325); in Egypt, the encyclopedist Abu Manṣur al-Haruni (c. 1375); at Algiers, Simon ben Ẓemaḥ DURAN (1360-1444); Samuel and his son Jacob (c. 1425); the Samaritan Abu Sa'id al-'Afif (c. 1450); Solomon ben Joseph (c. 1481), nagid of Egypt, and physician to the sultan Al-Malik al-Ashraf.

Spain.

When the Arabs crossed the Straits of Gibraltar the influx of culture from Arabia into Spain was important. Here again the califs supported the universities, as those of Cordova, Seville, and Toledo, and again Jewish physicians are found, e.g.: Ḥasdai Abu Yusuf ibn Shaprut (915-970), who lived in Cordova, was appointed physician to 'Abd al-Raḥman III., and became prime minister to that calif, for whom he translated the works of Dioscorides into Arabic; Harun at Cordova (c. 975); Amram ben Isaac (d. 997) at Toledo; Jonah (Abu al-Walid Merwan ibn Janaḥ; at Cordova 995-1045). The physician Abu Bekr Mohammed ben Merwan ibn Zuhr (d. 1031 at Talabira) and his grandson, the celebrated Abu Merwan ibn Zuhr, who lived in Bagdad, Cairo, and Spain, are considered by many to have been Jews, but this has been frequently denied, and no positive proof of their Jewish descent has been presented. Abu Merwan was the most important physician of his time, opposing the Arabic physician Avicenna (980-1037), who in his "Canon" gave the "rules of medicine," superseding the works of Hippocrates and Galen, although he himself adopted the fundamental ideas of these two great physicians. Other Jewish physicians of note were: JUDAH HA-LEVI (b. 1085); Sulaiman ibn al-Mu'allim, court physician to the calif Ali at Seville (1106-45); Abraham ibn Ezra (1092-1167) at Toledo; Maimonides, mentioned above; at Randa, Elias ibn al-Mudawwar (c. 1150); in Toledo, Jacob; in Aragon, Joseph Constantin; in Barcelona, Judah ben Isaac, Judah ben Joseph ibn al-Fakhkhar, court physician to Ferdinand III.; in Saragossa, Baḥiel ben Moses and his brother Solomon Baḥiel (c. 1225); in Madrid, Solomon ben David; in Gerona, Moses b. Naḥman (1194-1267) and Shem-Ṭob ben Isaac of Tortosa (1206-66). About 1250 lived Judah Moria; Ibrahim ben Sahl; Nathanael ben Joseph al-Maliḥ; Samuel Benveniste; Jacob ben Shoshan; Joseph ibn Sason (d. at Toledo 1336); ABNER OF BURGOS (1270-1348), a convert to Christianity; Samuel Ibn Waḳar (d. c. 1333), physician to King Alfonso XI.; Todros Abulafia; Abraham ben David CASLARI (d. 1349); Vidal Crescas de Caslar (c. 1327); Eliezer Cohen ibn Ardot; Nissim ben Reuben Gerundi (at Barcelona 1340-80); Abraham ibn Machir; Abraham ibn Zarzal (d. at Toledo 1362). Shem-Ṭob ben Jacob; Meïr Alguadez (d. about 1415); Joseph ibn Vives (Joseph al-Lorqui); Solomon ben Abraham ibn Daud; Jacob of Toledo; Todros ibn Davor; Isaac b. Solomon; Abraham of Lerida, oculist to John II. of Aragon (c. 1470); in Catalonia, Gallab (Galled).

The Arabs had lost Spain forever, and the intolerance of the Christian rulers forced many Jewish physicians to leave that country. In 1335 the synod of Salamanca had declared that the Jewish physicians offered their services only to kill as many Christians as possible (Döllinger, "Die Juden in Europa," in "Akademische Vorträge"). In 1412 John II. prohibited Jews from practising in Spain. Some immigrated into France, e.g., Judah ibn Tibbon, Joseph ben Isaac ben Ḳimḥi, Isaac ben Shem-Ṭob, Solomon ben Joseph ben Ayyub; some into Algiers, as Simon bar Ẓemaḥ Duran; and others into Italy, as Joshua ben Joseph Ibn Vives al-Lorqui (Hieronymus de Santa Fé) about 1400.

Portugal.

In Portugal lived Gedaliah ibn Yaḥya the Elder (c. 1300), physician to King Diniz; Solomon ben Moses Solomon; Moses, the physician to Ferdinand I. and John I.; Profiat DURAN (c. 1400; he emigrated to Palestine); at Lisbon, Gedaliah ibn Yaḥya the Younger, physician to Alfonso V. (c. 1476; emigrated to Turkey); Joseph and Rodriquez, physicians to John II. of Portugal (1481-90), who were members of the commission appointed to examine Columbus' plans.

Italy.

At the time the Jewish Arabic physicians were practising in Egypt, they are found in Sicily also. Shabbethai ben Abraham ben Joel (DONNOLO) (913-982), who wrote a small work on pharmacology, which has been republished by Steinschneider, lived in Oria. From Sicily they came to southern Italy and settled in Salerno. The ancient University of Salerno is said to have been founded by the Benedictine monks of Monte Cassino in the sixth century, the monks being priests and physicians, as therabbis of old. But it was not until the ninth century that it rose to prominence and became for the Occident what Bagdad had been for the Orient, the leading medical school. In 848 Joseph taught there, and in 855 Joshua, both Jewish physicians. In the eleventh century lectures are said to have been delivered in Greek, Arabic, Hebrew (with Elinus as teacher), and Latin. The medical school of Salerno became celebrated under the name of "Civitas Hippocratica." Elinus' successor as teacher of Hebrew was Copho, the editor of the "Compendium Salernitanum," the first medical encyclopedia. It is not known positively that both were Jews—Steinschneider thinks they were not—but tradition ascribes to them a Jewish origin, as it does to Coplio II. (who wrote a book on the "Anatomica Porci"—which certainly makes the ascription dubious, dedicating it to Robert, eldest son of William the Conqueror). He was followed by Hillel ben Samuel of Verona (1220-95), who translated into Hebrew Brunó's work on surgery, known only under the title "Chirurgia Bruni ex Latina in Hebræam Translata."

From Salerno the Jewish physicians can be traced through Italy. From this school proceeded: Hananeel of Amalfi; Abu al-Hakim of Turin; and FARAJ BEN SALIM (Faragut), who lived in Salerno about 1250. The last-named was physician to Charles of Anjou, King of Sicily, and was one of the first physicians who translated—not into Hebrew, but into Latin. Other physicians of note were: in Rome, Nathan ha-Me'ati, a noted translator, who rendered the "Canon" of Avicenna into Hebrew in 1279; Isaac, the court physician of Pope Boniface VIII.; Zerahiah ben Isaac ben Shealtiel of Barcelona (c. 1275); several members of the Anaw family (Benjamin, Abraham, Judah, Zedekiah, Jekuthiel, Menahem Rofe [about the fourteenth century]); Manuele and Angelus Manuele, physicians to Boniface IX.; Judah ben Solomon Nathan (En Bongodos); and Moses ben Isaac (Gajo) of Rieti (1388-1460); at Naples, Samuel ben Jacob of Capua, court physician to Charles II., and Isaac, court physician to King Robert of Anjou; at Palermo, David; at Verona, Michael ben Abraham; at Padua, Gentili da Foligno (died of the plague 1348); at Venice, Leo (c. 1330), and the following members of the Astruc family: Judah Solomon, Isaac Solomon, Abraham Solomon, Jacob Rofe, and many others.

As the school of Salerno grew in importance it was able to rely on its own pupils for teachers, and could, as Bagdad had done before it, discard Jewish assistance. The connection of the Jews with its further development diminished; in later years they did not exercise a great influence on the history of medicine in Italy, and their rôle became insignificant.

France.

While the University of Salerno was flourishing, certain Jewish schools, where medicine also was taught, are said to have existed in the south of France.

Montpellier.

About the year 1000 Rabbi Abon was principal of the Jewsh school at Narbonne; and one of his pupils founded the Jewish medical school at Montpellier (c. 1025). Independent of these unimportant schools, however, were the beginnings of the great universities of France—Paris, Narbonne, and Montpellier—which soon were to compete with Salerno. In Paris, always a seat of Orthodox Christian theology, a few Jewish physicians are met with at the end of the thirteenth century: Copin and Moses, Rabbi Isaac and his son Vital. In 1301 this school was closed to the Jews. In Montpellier, where the earliest professors are said to have taught at first in Arabic and Hebrew, the use of Latin was introduced in the twelfth century only, when the fame of that university was at its zenith. Among the teachers and pupils were: Isaac ben Abraham; his pupil Judah, whose pupil was Moses ben Naḥman; Jacob ha-Ḳaṭon, who was dean of the medical faculty; Meshullam the physician (1043-1108), a contemporary of Rashi; Samuel ibn Tibbon, the well-known translator; Jacob ben Abba Mari of Marseilles, later court physician to the German emperor Frederick II. at Naples; Judah ben Samuel ibn Tibbon (1120-1190). Moses ibn Tibbon (1230-85), and Jacob ben Machir ibn Tibbon, called Profatius Judæus, dean of the medical faculty about 1306 (this family produced three generations of eminent physicians; IBN TIBBON); and Abraham ABIGDOR (b. 1350).

As at Bagdad and Salerno, so at Montpellier laws were promulgated against the Jews as teachers and practitioners of medicine, e.g., in the edict of Count William in 1180; of the Council of Béziers in 1246, and of Alby in 1254. In 1293 a law was enacted punishing with three months' imprisonment Christian patients who accepted treatment from Jewish physicians. Philip of Arlois expelled Jewish physicians altogether from Montpellier in 1306. At the school of Marseilles were Shem-Ṭob ben Isaac of Tortosa (1206-66) and his son Abraham b. Shem-Ṭob. In southern France practised also Isḥanan Yarḥuni, Nathan ben Samuel, and the oculist Abraham of Aragon at Toulouse; in Narbonne, David CASLARI (c. 1275); at Avignon, Israel CASLARI (c. 1325). The councils of Avignon (1326 and 1337) and that of Rouergue also declared against Jewish physicians.

Recall of the Jews to France.

In 1350 the Jews were permitted to return to France; but a law was passed whereby only graduated and licensed physicians could practise. Again some names of Jewish doctors, especially as court physicians, are to be found, e.g.: Samuel and Meshullam ben Abigdor again at Montpellier; Elias of Arles (c. 1407) at Valence; Jacob Lunel and the surgeon Dolan Bellan at Carcassonne; Nathan Tauros (c. 1446) at Tarascon; Jekuthiel. Judah ben Solomon and Moses ben Joshua (Maestre Vidal Blasom; died after 1362) at Narbonne; Crescas Salannas, Ḥayyim Bendig, Abraham Abigdor (c. 1402), Bendig of Caneto, Bellanti (c. 1415), Solomon Mordecai (c. 1431), Moses Carcassonne (c. 1468), all at Arles; Abraham ben Solomon and Abraham Astruc (c. 1446) of St. Maxim; Cohen (c. 1446) at Marseilles ("Revue des Etudes Juives," April and June, 1904, pp. 265 et seq.).

From France the Jewish physicians passed into Belgium, where in the fourteenth century are found Abraham le Mirre, Magister Sause, Lyon, Ely, Isaac of Amessi, and Jacob of Chambery.

In England at this time only three Jewish physicians call for mention: the young physician who was the last victim of the massacre at Lynn in 1190; Isaac Medicus of London (Jacobs, "The Jews of Angevin England," pp. 114, 340, London, 1893); and Abraham Motun of London (1260-90).

Germany.

In Germany the influence of Jewish physicians at this time was small. Harun al-Rashid's great contemporary was Charlemagne, in whose dominion are said to have practised the physicians Meshullam ben Kalonymus, Joseph ben Gorion, Moses ben Judah, Todros of Narbonne, and Joseph ha-Levi. Under Louis the Bald a certain Zedekiah was court physician. They were probably from the Orient. Many Jews were living in Germany, a number of whom had migrated from Spain and France; but the universities were founded comparatively late, and they were not open to Jews. The Jews therefore studied Talmud and Cabala, and took no part in the renaissance of science. Horowitz says that there are no records of the Frankfort community before 1241; and this is the most important German community. That there must have isted Jewish physicians is shown by the decree of the Council of Vienna of 1267 forbidding Jews to treat Christian patients. During the ravages of the plague in 1348 and 1349 Jewish physicians were accused of having poisoned the wells; and at Strasburg a Jewish surgeon named Balavignus was executed in 1348 for an alleged crime of this nature. The Jewish physicians of this period included the following: Jacob of Strasburg at Frankfort (c. 1378); Baruch (c. 1390); the city physician Solomon Pletsch of Ratisbon (1394), who received as stipend 36 florins and six yards of cloth and was required to treat the servants of the city council and the sick Jews; his successor, Isaac Friedrich, who received only 20 florins; in Speyer, Lembelin; in Schweidnitz, Abraham; in Bohemia, Simon; in the Palatinate, Godliep; at Basel, Jossel, who held the office of city physician at an annual stipend of 25 silver pounds; Gutleben, his successor, who received only 18 pounds; at Würzburg, Seligmann (c. 1407), physician to Bishop John I.; his successor, John II., permitted a woman named Sarah to practise medicine in the bishopric of Würzburg, who, with the Jewess Zerlin (c. 1475), oculist at Frankfort-on-the-Main, was the earliest Jewish woman physician in Germany of whom there is record.

In addition to those above mentioned there were: in Tirol, Rubein (c. 1432); in Graz, Niklas Unger (c. 1439); in Würzburg, Heylmann (c. 1450); Jacob ben Jehiel LOANS, physician to the emperor Frederick III. (c. 1450), who, with Obadiah Sforno, was Hebrew teacher of Reuchlin; Michael, surgeon to Frederick III.; at Frankfort, Solomon of Zynonge (c. 1450); his son Joseph (c. 1500); and Moses of Aschaffenburg.

In the opening years of the sixteenth century persecutions of the Jewish physicians began. In 1509 appeared Victor of Carben's "Opus Aureum ac Novum," the third part of which treats of Jewish physicians. In 1505 Lorenz of Bibra prohibited Jews from practising in Würzburg (the edict was reenacted in 1549). Up to 1517 the physicians who wished to practise in Vienna had to acknowledge under oath their belief in the "immaculate conception."

In 1422 Pope Martin V. in a bull exhorted all Christians to treat the Jews with kindness, and permitted the latter to practise medicine. But at the end of the fourteenth and at the beginning of the fifteenth century Jewish physicians found the greatest difficulty in practising medicine. Papal decrees and Church councils (as at Basel, 1434) decided against them. The Arabian influence in southern Europe had disappeared.

Retrospect from 622 to 1492.

Hippocrates and Galen ruled supreme in the medical world up to the thirteenth century. The Arab physician Avicenna (980-1037) wrote his celebrated "Canon," which work took rank next to the writings of Hippocrates and Galen. But their works were translated into Arabic, a language which, in Europe, was known only to the Jews, who retranslated them into Hebrew and Latin, and thus held the key to medical science. Learning from these great scholars, the Jewish teachers and physicians wrote works of their own. They excelled in surgery and medicine (including ophthalmology), in therapeutics, pharmacology, and toxicology. The connection of the Jews with the drug-trade of the East helped them to contribute also to a practical knowledge of pharmacology at a time when every apothecary posed as a doctor; but with these branches of the true science of medicine there was during the first millennium of the common era combined also a knowledge of pseudo-science, astrology, and Cabala. Superstition was still an important factor. Against these pseudo-sciences Maimonides wrote. Astrology was to him not based on science, but on superstition; and in his works he warns against its use.

—In Modern Times:

Human anatomy, the basis of all medicine, had not been studied scientifically by the physicians of the Talmud (they seem only to have boiled human bodies as the physicians of other countries had done, and, counting the bones, to have come to erroneous conclusions), by Hippocrates, by Galen (who used monkeys for his subjects), by Avicenna, or by their respective followers. The Jewish and Mohammedan religions and the Christian Church were all opposed to a desecration of the human body such as proper anatomical investigations would have required. The German emperor Frederick II. (1212-56) permitted dissection; but Pope Boniface VIII. prohibited it.

Luigi Mondino de' Luzzi, professor at Bologna (d. there 1326), dissected three female bodies. From that time anatomy received, with little interruption, the attention it deserved, and medicine, from being a more or less pseudo-science, commenced to be a real science, although half a millennium had still to pass before it was entirely liberated from superstition.

While the popes, such as Eugenius IV., Nicholas V., Calixtus III., and the temporal sovereigns promulgated decrees against the Jews, they still employed Jewish physicians themselves. Many of these Jews became converts to Christianity, among them Josiah Lorki of Spain, physician to Benedict XIII.Josiah took the name of "Hieronymus de Santa Fé," and became a great enemy of his former coreligionists, who gave him the name "the Calumniator." He persecuted especially Jewish physicians and apothecaries.

Italy.

There were, however, some important Jewish physicians in Italy, namely: Elijah DELMEDIGO (1460-97), professor at Padua and Florence; Obadiah Elias ben Judah at Tivoli; Isaac d'Albadi (1450) at Barletta; Joseph ha-Levi of Naples; Messer Leon of Mantua; his son Messer David of Naples; JUDAH (3) (Laudadeus) de Blanis at Perugia (c. 1520); Abraham de Balmes (d. 1523) at Padua; Solomon Vidal of Venice at Corfu; Vidal Balso at Reggio; Vitale (c. 1550) and Bonajuto (c. 1610) ALATINO at Spoleto; and Teodoro de Sacerdoti at the court of Julius III. Popes Paul II. and Alexander VI. favored Jewish physicians through privileges, e.g., Samuel Ẓarfati and Isaac Ẓarfati (c. 1530), physicians to Pope Clement VII., whom Isaac saved from burial alive; Joseph ha-Kohen, physician to the doge Andrea Dorea of Venice (c. 1540); Obadiah Sforno (d. 1550 at Bologna), the Hebrew teacher of Reuchlin; Judah ibn Yaḥya at Bologna; Benjamin, also at Bologna; Raphael at Sarzena. Several important physicians were included in the PORTALEONE family, e.g., Benjamin at Naples, his grandson David of Pavia, his great-grandson Abraham (1542-1612) at Mantua, and Isaac Cohen at Sienna. From these names it may be seen that while Jewish physicians were more or less prohibited by the popes from practising in the east of Europe, in Italy they flourished.

BONET DE LATES of Provence, when the Jews were expelled from that district in 1498, went to Rome as physician to Pope Leo X. He is well known also through the part he took during the Pfefferkorn persecutions. From Spain emigrated Judah Abravanel and Jacob Mantino. Judah Abravanel (Leo Hebræus) was minister at the court of Ferdinand and Isabella; expelled from Spain in 1492, he went to Italy. His brother lived as physician in Ferrara about 1549. Jacob Mantino settled in Rome as court physician to Pope Paul III. He acted also as ambassador of Charles V. at Venice. Paul IV. (1558) was a great persecutor of the Jews, enacting laws against them, some of which were repealed only in the nineteenth century, and on account of which many Jews emigrated to Turkey. During this period lived JUAN RODRIGO DE CASTEL-BRANCO, surnamed "Amatus Lusitanus" (1511-68), at Ancona and Salonica; David d'Ascoli, who defended the Jewish physicians in an essay published at Strasburg in 1559; David de Pomis (b. 1525 at Spoleto; d. at Venice 1588), also a great defender of his colleagues ("De Medico Hebræo Enarratio Apologica," Vienna, 1588). These were succeeded by the following: Moses ben Samuel CASES (c. 1600); KALONYMUS BEN JUDAH (c. 1575), Joseph Ḥameẓ, and Jacob Lombroso at Venice; Samuel Meldola at Mantua; David Ḥayyim Luria and three Cantarinis at Padua (Kalonymus, 1593-1631; Isaac Ḥayyim, 1644-1723; Judah, 1650-94); Ezekiel de Castro at Verona; Moses ben Jacob Cordovero at Leghorn; Jacob ben Isaac Zahalun at Ferrara, celebrated through his "Oẓar Ḥayyim" ("Thesaurus Vitæ") at Venice (1683); Hananiah ben Menahem CASES at Florence (c. 1700); Isaac Cardoso, emigrated to Italy from Spain, where he had lived as a Marano; Manuele di Cesena, physician to Pope Sixtus V.

To the eighteenth century belong: Shabbethai Vita Marini of Padua; Isaac Lampronti (d. 1756); Isaac Borgo. Mordecai Zahalun; Jacob Heilprin; Aaron CASES (d. 1767); Israel Gedaliah CASES (d. 1793), all of Ferrara; Solomon Levi and Isaac Levi Vali, of Verona; at Mantua, the Konia family: Joseph, Solomon, Moses Benjamin, Wolf, and Israel; at Leghorn, Isaac Foa, known also as a printer; Elias Concile; Adam and his sons Jacob and Azariah Ḥayyim Bondi; at Friaul, Isaac Luzzatto, 1730-1803; his brother Ephraim (b. 1729), who practised for more than thirty years in London, and died (1799) while traveling in Lausanne; Graziado Nepi (1759-1836), rabbi and physician at Cento, who belonged to the great French Sanhedrin of 1806.

France.

In France are to be found very few Jewish physicians during this period, as unbaptized Jews were allowed only in papal Avignon: Pierre de Notre Dame (a baptized Jew) at Arles (1500); Joseph Colon at Perries; Mordecai Nathan and Joseph de Noves at Avignon; Elias Montalto (d. at Paris 1615), court physician to Maria de Medici, by whose order his body was embalmed and sent to Holland for burial in a Jewish cemetery; his son Isaac, at Paris; at Bordeaux, John Baptist de Silva (1686-1742), who had the best consulting practise in Europe, and was physician to Louis XIV., by whom he was knighted; at Nancy, Isaac Assur and Jacob Beer (c. 1775).

Though Jewish physicians were not allowed to practise in France, their skill was so well known that Francis I. (1515-47) during a severe sickness asked the Emperor of Germany for a Jewish physician. When one arrived the king, thinking he was a Christian, sent him back. The king then asked the Sultan of Turkey for another Jewish physician, who cured him (Cabanis, "Révolution de la Médecine," p. 128, Brussels, 1844).

In the Turkish Dominions.

While the Mohammedans lost Spain, they captured Constantinople (1453), and Jewish physicians were allowed to practise in Turkey, as in the other Mohammedan possessions. From Spain, Portugal, Italy, and France Jews emigrated to Turkey. Among them were the following: in Constantinople, Solomon Almoli (c. 1517); Joseph HAMON; his son Moses (1490-1567), physician to Sulaiman the Magnificent; and his grandson Joseph (d. 1578); Ibn Yaḥya; Abraham ha-Levi ibn Migas; Abraham Nahmias; Leo Siaa (c. 1636); Israel CONEGLIANO (c. 1680); Ephraim Penseri; Abraham ben Yaish; Abraham Samuel Solomon; and Isaac Jabez (c. 1700); at Salonica, Samuel Uzziel (c. 1550); Abraham Cohen (c. 1700); at Jerusalem, Elijah of Ferrara (c. 1460); David ibn Shoshan, head of the Sephardic yeshibah in 1552; Jacob ibn Amram; Jacob ABOAB; and Samuel ha-Levi (c. 1625); the physician Jacob Ḥayyim Ẓemaḥ was chief rabbi in 1645. In Corfu lived Samuel Valerio (c. 1550); in Zante, Jacob ben Uzziel (c. 1600); Abraham Cohen (1670-1722).

In the Netherlands and England.

In the Netherlands, which during this period was mostly under Spanish rule, Jewish physicians were few: Abraham Zacuto (Zacutus Lusitanus), an emigrant from Portugal about 1600; at Amsterdam the Bueno family (Abraham, Ephraim Hezekiah, Jacob, Joseph, and Solomon); Balthazar de Castro (1620-87); somewhat later Joseph Israel MENDES; Samuel de Silva; Samuel Jeshurun; and Samuel de Mercado (c. 1650); Samuel de Misa (c. 1725); Johanan van Embden and Naphtali Herz (c. 1750).

In England during this period there were very few Jewish physicians, e.g., Sabot Elias (c. 1410); Rodrigo LOPEZ (b. 1525 in Portugal), court physician to Queen Elizabth 1580, for attempting to poison whom he was executed in 1594. When Cromwell permitted the Jews to settle openly in England there immigrated thither Abraham de Mercado about 1655; Joseph MENDES Bravo about 1675; Ephraim Isaac Abendana, in Cambridge and Oxford (d. 1710), and his brother Jacob (1630-95); David Nieto, in London (c. 1710); Jacob de Castro Sarmento, in London (1692-1762); Fernando Mendez (d. 1724); Isaac de Sequera Samuda (b. 1721); Israel Lyons (1739-75); Samuel Nunez (c. 1750); Joseph Hart Myers (1758-1823); Abraham Nonski (c. 1785; writer on vaccination); the three Schombergs (Isaac, d. 1781; Meïr Löw, d. 1761; and Ralph, d. 1792); Isaac Henriques Sequera (1738-1816); Abraham van Oven (d. 1778); Joshua van Oven (1766-1838); Solomon de Leon (c. 1775); George Gompertz Levisohn (d. 1797); Elias Friedberg; and a Doctor Jeremias (c. 1775).

Germany.

While before 1500 there had been very few Jewish physicians in the German-speaking countries, in the later centuries many were to be found, among whom were especially the under-mentioned—in Frankfort-on-the-Main: Joseph bar Ephraim Levi (d. 1532); Abraham ben Joseph Levi (d. 1581); Jacob ben Samuel and Aaron (c. 1600); Shelomoh (d. about 1631); his son Löw Leo Shelomoh; Isaac Heln (d. 1654); Joseph Solomon DELMEDIGO (b. 1591 at Candia; practised in Candia, Cairo, Lithuania, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Frankfort-on-the-Main, Worms, and Prague, where he died 1655); his son-in-law Solomon Bing (b. about 1615); Jonas ben Moses BONN; Abraham ben Isaac Wallach; Leo Simon; Abraham Heln (c. 1650); Benjamin Levi BUCHSBAUM (1645-1715); his sons Gutman Wolf (1678-1770) and Lipman (b. 1677); Amshel Gutman (d. 1743), son of Gutman Wolf; Issachar Bär Liebman (d. 1753); Anselm Schloss Beifuss (d. 1793); and Adolf Worms (d. 1812). In Hamburg are to be mentioned: Rodrigo de Castro (1550-1627), an eminent gynecologist; his sons Benedict de Castro (1597-1684), court physician to Queen Christina of Sweden, and Daniel (Andreas) de Castro (b. 1599), court physician to King Christian IV. of Denmark; Jacob Rosales, who practised in Hamburg from 1637 to 1645; and Benjamin ben Immanuel Musaphia (1606-75). At Schaffhausen lived the physician David (c. 1550); at Mühlheim, Solomon ben Boaz; at Colmar and Rappoltsweiler, Judah Carmoly (1700-85); at Colmar, Anshel Meyer (c. 1750); at Coblenz, Emanuel Wallich (c. 1750); at Bingen, Abraham Bing (c. 1550), father of Solomon Bing of Hamburg; at Mayence, Selkeles Grotwahl (c. 1675) and his son Meier; Lippmann Levi and Phoebus Cohen (c. 1775); at Bonn (also at Neuwied), Benjamin Croneburg (c. 1750); Wolf and his two sons Heinrich and Solomon (also at Düren); at Düsseldorf, Gottschalk Lazarus van Geldern (1726-95) and his son Joseph (1765-96), Heine's grandfather; at Cologne, Naphtali ben Joseph Levi (c. 1625); at Metz, Isaac (c. 1650); Naphtali Herz; Solomon ben Baruch; Mayer and Isaac Wallich (c. 1700); Jacob Wallich; Marcus Cosman Gompertz Wolf; and Enoch Levin (c. 1750); the two brothers Willstadt (c. 1775); Elkan Isaac Wolf; and Jacob Aronsohn (c. 1790); at Hanover, Meier Cohen and Jacob Marx (c. 1775); at Bamberg, Adalbert Friedrich Markus (1753-1816). In the principalities of the Hapsburg family were only a few Jewish physicians; at Innsbruck, Lazarus (c. 1560); at Vienna, Isaac (Günzburg?) and his son Judah Löb Winckler (c. 1625; both left Vienna 1670 and settled in Posen); Joseph Oesterreicher (1756-1832). At Prague were: Isaac ben Joshua (c. 1550); Abraham Kisch (1720-1803); Jonas Mischel Jeiteles (1735-1806) and his son Benedict (1762-1813); at Berlin, LIPPOLD (c. 1535), court physician to the elector Joachim II.; Hector, executed 1573 for having poisoned his master; Löbel (c. 1693); the dentist Veit Abraham (c. 1699); Marcus Eliezer Bloch (1723-99); Aaron Solomon Gumperz (1723-69); Markus Herz (1747-1803), husband of Henriette Herz; Georg Levison (d. 1797); at Königsberg, Isaac May and Michael Abraham (c. 1550); at Breslau, Zadok (c. 1775); at Lissa, Mordecai Rofe.

Medical Education of German Jews.

Although at the beginning of the eighteenth century conditions in Germany were not favorable for Jewish physicians, at the middle and end of the same century most of the Jewish practitioners received degrees from German universities. In 1700 the universities of Rostock and Wittenberg counseled Christians against employing Jewish physicians, who, they declared, were incompetent (meaning that they had not received a university education). In 1725 King Frederick William I. of Prussia prohibited Jews not having diplomas from practising medicine, and in 1745 appeared at Frankfort a book by Johann Helfrich Pfeil exposing the ignorance of Jewish physicians.

In Poland.

When the kings of Poland permitted Jews to settle in some parts of their dominions, physicians appeared there also. At Cracow lived Ezekiel (c. 1503); Isaac Jacob (d. about 1510), physician to King Sigismund I.; Solomon ben Nathan ASHKENAZI (1520-1602), physician to Sigismund II. and to the sultan Sulaiman II.; Solomon Luria in Lublin; Tobias Cohn (1652-1729), who practised in Poland, Adrianople, Constantinople, and Jerusalem, and was court physician to five Turkish sultans; Jonas Casal (c. 1675), physician to John Sobieski; Philipp Lubelski at Cracow (1788-1879); Elias Pinschow (c. 1775); at Thorn, Morgenstern (c. 1567); at Posen, the Wincklers (the father Leo [Judah Löb] emigrated from Vienna about 1670); his sons Jacob and Isaac and his grandson Wolf, all four important physicians and leaders of the community; Levi Elias HIRSCHEL (1741-72).

Russia.

In Moscow practised Magister Anton (Ehrenstein). The first Jewish physician in that city probably came from Rome. He was court physician under Ivan III. and was executed in 1485 by the servants of Prince Karakucza, whose son he had failed to cure. He was succeeded by LEO, who was executed in 1490, also for not having cured one of Ivan's sons. In the fifteenth century lived Solomon Calvaire; Stephan von Gaden, also court physician (executed in 1682). At St. Petersburg lived the court physician Antonio Ribeiro Sanchez (1699-1783). The greater number of Jewish physicians are found in the larger communities, e.g., at Hasenpoth, Issachar Falkensohn Behr (b. 1746), Judah ha-Levi Hurwicz, Jacob Löbschutz, David Abrahamson (c. 1775), Aaron Solomon Tobias (d. 1782), Lazar Isaac Kume (c. 1800); at Wilna, Löb Gordon (c. 1725); at Mitau, Elrich (d. 1809); at Bausk and Odessa, Eliezer Elias Löwenthal (c. 1775); also at Bausk, Lachmann.

Review (1495-1800).

The foregoing lists of physicians are certainly not complete. There probably lived many a good Jewish practitioner whose name has not been recorded. With very few exceptions the Jewish physicians of the period 1495-1800 did not excel. They were usually general practitioners, very often combining the offices of rabbi and physician. A few are cited as great consulting physicians, as the above-mentioned John Baptist de Silva of Paris and the gynecologist Rodrigo de Castro of Hamburg. Only a few left important medical works. As a rule their influence upon medicine was only slight. They suffered with their brethren expulsion from many countries. They were very often prohibited from practising among Christians and were allowed to follow their profession among their brethren only. The universities were often closed to them; and popes and princes issued edicts against them.

—In Recent Times:

The French Revolution brought a great change in the status of Jewish physicians. Jews were admitted to citizenship in nearly every country of western Europe, and were permitted to study at all universities and to practise their profession. Even in Russia to-day (1904) there are many Jewish physicians to be found; but it is especially in Germany, Austria, and the United States that Jews have become prominent as general practitioners, specialists, university professors of medicine (since 1848), and medical journalists. It is only possible to enumerate some of those who have obtained prominence in medical circles during the nineteenth century, beginning with those who have died.

General Practitioners.

Physicians: Solomon Ludwig Steinheim (Altona, 1789-1866); Bernhard van Oven (London, 1797-1860); Martin Steinthal (Berlin, 1798-1892; at his death the oldest physician in Germany), reeditor of Hufeland's "Macrobiotik"; Daniel Peixotto (London, 1800-43); Hananeel de Leon (ib. c. 1825); J. L. Levinson (ib. 1800-74); Raphael Kosch (Berlin, 1803-72); Jonathan Pereira (London, 1804-53); Maximilian HEINE (St. Petersburg, 1805-79), brother of Heinrich Heine; Johann Jacoby (Königsberg, 1805-77); Jonas Grätzer (Breslau, 1806-89); Moritz Rapoport (Lemberg, 1808-80); Isaac A. Franklin (London, 1812-80); David Gruby (Paris, 1810-98), known through his free public lectures; Eleazar Meldola (London, 1810-79); Ludwig Güterbock (Berlin, 1814-95); Moritz Adolph Unna (Hamburg, 1813-88); Julius Barasch (Bucharest, 1815-63); Sigismund Sutro (London, 1815-86); Jacob Eduard Polak (Vienna, 1818-91), court physician at Teheran to the Shah of Persia; Ferdinand Falkson (Königsberg, 1820-1900), known through a lawsuit which was due to his marriage to a Christian woman; Samuel Kristeller (Berlin, 1820-1900); Hermann Hirschfeldt (Colberg, 1825-85), to whose memory a monument was erected at Colberg; Henry Behrend (London, 1828-93); Wilhelm Lubelski (Warsaw, 1832-90); Ernest Abraham HART (2) (London, 1836-1898); and L. G. Gold (Odessa, d. 1902).

Deceased Specialists.

Anatomists: Fiiedrich Gustav Jacob Henle (Göttingen, 1809-85), one of the leading anatomists of his time; Jacob Herz (Erlangen, 1816-71), whose monument is to be seen in Erlangen—one of the three monuments erected to Jews in Germany, the other two being those of Moses Mendelssohn at Dessau, and Hermann Hirschfeldt at Colberg; Ludwik Maurycy Hirschfeld (Warsaw, 1816-1876); Siegmund Spitzer (Constantinople, 1839-1894), physician to Sultan 'Abd al-Majid.

Physiologists: Simone Fubini (Palermo, 1841-98), friend and pupil of Moleschott; Ernst Fleischl von Marxow (Vienna, 1846-91); Moritz SCHIFF (Geneva, 1823-96); Gabriel Gustav Valentin (Bern, 1810-83), one of the leading physiologists of his age.

Microscopists: Gottlieb Gluge (Brussels, 1812-1898), one of the pioneers of microscopy; Ludwik Mandl (Paris, 1812-81).

Embryologists: Robert Remak (Berlin, 1815-65), the first Jewish privat-docent in Prussia, admitted to the Berlin faculty in 1847, and well known through his discoveries in neurology, embryology, and electrotherapy; Leopold Schenk (Vienna, 1840-1892), well known through his theory.

Pathologists: Karl Friedrich Canstatt (Erlangen, 1807-50), founder and editor of the well-known "Jahresbericht über die Fortschritte der Gesammten Medizin Aller Länder," begun in 1841 and continued after his death by Virchow; Julius Cohnheim (Leipsic, 1839-84), author of the theory of emigration of white corpuscles as the origin of pus and of inflammation, and demonstrator of "Cohnheim's areas"; Felix Victor Birch-Hirschfeld (Leipsic, 1842-99); Moritz Heinrich Romberg (Berlin, 1795-1873), the eminent neurologist; Simon SAMUEL (3) (Königsberg, 1835-99); Solomon Stricker (Vienna, 1834-98), the founder of microtomy; Karl Weigert (Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1845-1904).

Clinicians: Jonas Freund (London, d. 1880), founder of the German Hospital, London; Heinrich JACOBSON (Berlin, 1826-90); Hermann Lebert (Lewy) (Breslau, 1813-78); Ludwig Traube (Berlin, 1818-76), the father of experimental pathology; Daniel Maduro Peixotto (New York, about 1850).

Surgeons: Michelangelo Asson (Venice, 1802-77); Leopold von Dittel (Vienna, 1815-98), who performed over 800 operations for calculus; Joseph Gruber (ib. 1827-1900); Aaron Jeiteles (Olmütz, 1799-1878); Michel Lévy (Paris, 1809-72); Germain Sée (Paris, 1818-96); Lewis OPPENHEIM (2) (London, 1832-1895); Julius WOLFF (Berlin, 1836-1902); Paul Güterbock (Berlin, 1844-97).

Gynecologist: David Haussmann (Berlin, 1839-1895).

Pharmacologist: Hermann Friedberg (Breslau, 1817-84).

Aurists: Joseph Gruber (Vienna, 1827-1900) and Solomon Moos (Heidelberg, 1831-95).

Ophthalmologists: Isaac HAYS (Philadelphia, 1796-1879), editor of the "American Journal of Medical Science"; Ignaz Hirschler (Budapest, 1823-91); John Zechariah Laurence (London, 1828-70); Aaron FRIEDENWALD (Baltimore, 1836-1902); Max Landesberg (New York, 1840-95); Ludwig Mauthner (Vienna, 1840-94), to whose memory a monument was erected in the arcades of Vienna University, the only monument dedicated to a Jew in Austria.

Laryngologists: Jacob Gottstein (Breslau, 1832-1895); Abraham Kuhn (Strasburg, 1838-1900); Johann Schnitzler (Vienna, 1835-93); Elias Heyman (Stockholm, 1829-89); Karl Stoerk (Vienna, 1832-1899); Louis Elsberg (New York, 1836-85); Isaac MICHAEL (Hamburg, 1848-97); G. Ash (New York, d. 1902).

Neuropathist: Oscar Berger (Breslau, 1844-85).

Dermatologists: Moriz Kapósi (Kohn) (Vienna, 1837-1902); Oskar Simon (Breslau, 1845-82); Hermann von Zeissl (Vienna, 1817-84), defender of the dual theory of syphilis.

Psychiatrist: Ludwig Meyer (Göttingen, 1827-1900).

Hygienists: Nikolaus Heinrich Julius (Hamburg, 1783-1862); Michel LEVY (Paris, 1809-72); Levi Ali COHEN (2) (Groningen, 1817-89).

Electrotherapist: Moritz Meyer (Berlin, 1821-93).

Balneologist: Gottfried Schmelkes (Teplitz, 1807-1870).

Biologist: Ludwig Lewin Jacobson (Copenhagen, 1783-1843).

Encyclopedists: Friedrich Jacob Behrend (Berlin, 1803-89); Samuel Guttmann (Berlin, 1839-93).

Miscellaneous: Authority on forensic medicine: Johann Ludwig Caspar (Berlin, 1796-1864). Hydrotherapist: Ludwig F. Fränkel (Berlin, 1806-1872). Dental surgeon: Ludwig Heinrich Holländer (Breslau, 1833-97), one of the German pioneers of scientific dentistry.

Medical History and Journalism.

Historians of medicine: August Hirsch (Berlin, 1817-94), still an undisputed authority; Abraham Hartog Israels (Amsterdam, 1822-1883); Franz Romeo Seligmann (Vienna, 1808-79).

Journalists: Louis Posner (Berlin, 1815-68), editor of the "Berliner Klinische Wochenschrift"; Leopold Wittelshöfer (Vienna, 1818-89), editor of the "Wiener Medizinische Wochenschrift"; Paul Guttmann (Berlin, 1833-93), editor of the "Journal für Praktische Aerzte"; Julius Grosser (Prenzlau, 1835-1901), editor of the "Deutsche Medizinal-Zeitung"; Louis Waldenburg (Berlin, 1837-81), editor of the "Berliner Klinische Wochenschrift"; Johann Jacob (Joseph Isidor) Sachs (Nordhausen, 1803-46), publisher and editor of medical journals. The champion of homeopathy in Austria is Emil Altschul (Prague, 1812-65), who founded and published (1853) the first homeopathic magazine in Austria.

Of living physicians, the following list gives the names of some of the more important, especially of those who have held official positions:

Austria:

Living Physicians in Europe.

The alienist Arnold Pick; the physiologist Sigmund Mayer; the pathologists Philipp Joseph Pick and Alfred Pribram, all four of Prague; the aural surgeon Adam Politzer; the electrotherapists Moritz Benedikt and Gustav Gärtner; the pathologist Anton Weichselbaum; the pediatrists Alois EPSTEIN and Max Kassowitz; the clinicians Moritz Heitler, Leopold Oser, Alois Pick, Wilhelm von Winternitz, Emil Zuckerkandl; the dermatologist Isidor Neumann; the ophthalmologist Isidor Schnabel; Samuel von Basch, body-physician to the emperor Maximilian of Mexico; the journalist Alexander Fränkel; Leopold von Seligmann, retired colonel-surgeon of the Austrian army, all of Vienna; the balneologists Enoch Heinrich KISCH of Marienbad and Josef Seegen of Carlsbad.

Denmark:

The pathologist Karl Julius Salomonsen of Copenhagen.

England:

The ophthalmologist Richard Liebreich; the laryngologist Sir Felix Semon; the pathologist Bertram Abrahams, all three of London; to these may be added the bacteriologist Waldemar Haffkine of Calcutta, India.

France:

The inventor of color photography Gabriel Lippmann; the bacteriologist Alexander Marmorek; the physician Anselme Weill; the surgeon Marc SÉE; the clinicians Julius Goldschmidt, Georges Hayem, and Louis Mandl; the laryngologists Benjamin Benno Loewenberg, Louis Lucien Dreyfus-Brisac, all of Paris; the neurologists Hippolyte Bernheim of Nancy and Max Nordau of Paris.

The number of Jewish physicians in Germany is very great: the anatomist Gustav Schwalbe of Strasburg; the physiologists Julius Bernstein of Halle, the brothers Hermann and Immanuel Munk and Nathan Zuntz of Berlin, Isidor Rosenthal of Erlangen; the histologist Gustav Jacob Born of Breslau; the pathologists Ludwig Brieger and Oskar ISRAEL (3) of Berlin; the clinicians Imar Boas and Wilhelm Ebstein of Göttingen, Albert Fränkel and Julius Lazarus of Berlin, Ludwig Lichtheim of Königsberg, Martin Mendelsohn of Berlin, Oscar Minkowski of Strasburg, Carl Posner, Ottomar Rosenbach, Hermann Senator, Georg Anton Solomon, all of Berlin; the dermatologists Gustav Behrend, Heinrich Köbner, Oskar Lassar, Georg Richard Lewin, all likewise of Berlin, Albert Neisser of Breslau, Paul Gerson Unna of Hamburg; the surgeons Robert Kutner, James ISRAEL (3), William Levy, all of Berlin; the pediatrists Adolf Baginsky and Livius Fürst of Berlin and Eduard Heinrich Henoch of Dresden; the gynecologist Ernst Fränkel of Breslau, Leopold and Theodor LANDAU of Berlin, Julius Schottländer of Heidelberg, Paul Zweifel of Leipsic; the neuropathists Hermann OPPENHEIM (2), Emanuel MENDEL, Albert Moll, and Ernst Julius Remak, all of Berlin; thebacteriologist Paul Ehrlich of Frankfort-on-the-Main; the orthopedist Leopold Ewer of Berlin; the ophthalmologists Julius HIRSCHBERG of Berlin, Hermann L. Cohn of Breslau, Ludwig L. Laqueur of Strasburg, Max Solomon of Berlin, Leopold Weiss of Heidelberg; the pharmacologists Max Jaffé of Königsberg, Oskar Matthias, Eugen Liebreich and Louis Lewin of Berlin; the otologists Ludwig Katz and Ludwig Löwe of Berlin; the laryngologists Paul Heymann and B. Fränkel of Berlin; the encyclopedist Albert Eulenburg of Berlin; the forensicist Adolf Lesser of Berlin; the hygienist Ernst Levy of Strasburg; the historian Julius Leopold Pagel of Berlin; the anthropologist Abraham Lissauer of Berlin.

Hungary:

The neuropathist Otto Schwartzer von Babarcz; the oculist Nathaniel Feuer; the clinician Friedrich Korányi, all of Budapest.

Italy:

The specialist of forensic medicine Salvatore Ottolenghi of Sienna; the clinician Beniamino Luzzatto of Padua; the great alienist Cesare Lombroso and the pathologist Pio FOA, both of Turin.

The Netherlands:

The clinician Samuel Siegmund Rosenstein of Leyden.

Rumania:

The physician Karpel Lippe.

Russia:

Isaac Dembo of St. Petersburg, author of "Ha-Sheḥiṭah weha-Bediḳah"; the ophthalmologist Max (Emanuel) Mandelstamm; the hygienist and court physician Joseph Vasilievich Bertensohn and his nephew Lev Bertensohn of St. Petersburg; the physician Joseph Chazanowicz of Byelostok, founder of the Abarbanel Library at Jerusalem; the clinician W. Manassein of Kasan; Isidorus Brennson at Mitau. Of the physicians at present practising in Courland 19.2 per cent are Jews.

Switzerland:

The pathologist Moritz Roth of Basel.

Turkey:

Elias COHEN (2) Pasha of Constantinople.

United States:

The first Jewish physician mentioned in colonial times in the United States is Jacob Lumbrozo, who practised about 1639 in Maryland.

In the United States.

The number of Jewish physicians in the United States to-day (1904) is very large, but only a few—mainly those who have acquired official positions—can be mentioned here: the general practitioners Mark Blumenthal, Simon Brainin, David A. D'Ancona, Julius Friedenwald, Boleslav Lapovski, Maurice T. Lewi, Samuel J. Meltzer, Alfred Meyer, William Moss, Max Rosenthal, Arthur F. Sampson, J. F. Schamberg, Lazarus Schöney, C. D. Spivak, Richard Stein, Jacob Teschner; the physiologist David Riesman; the pathologists Albert Abrams, Isaac Adler, Simon Flexner, and Bernard S. Talmey; the hydrotherapist Simon Baruch; the microscopist Isidore Berman; the surgeons G. W. Birkowitz, Nathan Jacobson, Howard Lilienthal, William Meyer, Joseph Ranschoff, and Lewis N. Steinbach; the jurisprudent N. E. Brill; the aurists William Cowen, M. D. Lederman, and Max Toeplitz; the gynecologists Joseph Brettauer, Louis Ladinsky, and S. Marx; the laryngologists Jacob da Silva Solis-Cohen, Max Freudenthal, and Emil Mayer; the clinicians Henry W. Bettmann, Solomon da Silva Solis-Cohen, Joseph and Julius Eichberg, Max Einhorn, A. A. Eshner, Joseph Oakland Hirschfelder, G. A. Knopf; the pediatrists S. Henry Dessau, Frederick Forchheimer, Henry Illoway, Abraham Jacobi, Henry Koplik, and Nathan Oppenheim; the dermatologists William Gottheil and Sigismund Lustgarten; the ophthalmologists Harry Friedenwald, Emil Gruening, Charles H. May, and H. Scharpringer; the neurologists Joseph Frankel, G. W. Jacoby, Bernhard Sachs, and William Leszynski; the biologist Jacques Loeb; the bacteriologist Milton Joseph Rosenau; and the dentists Leopold Greenbaum and John I. Hart.

Bibliography:
  • Carmoly, Histoire des Médecins Juifs, Brussels, 1844 (a book full of material, but often unreliable);
  • Hyrtl, Das Arabische und Hebräische in der Anatomie, Vienna, 1879;
  • Münz, Ueber die Jüdischen Aerzte im Mittelalter, Berlin, 1887;
  • M. Horovitz, Jüdische Aerzte in Frankfurt-am-Main, Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1886;
  • Landau, Gesch. der Jüdischen Aerzte, Berlin, 1895;
  • Hirsch, Biog. Lex.;
  • Pagel, Biog. Lex.;
  • Steinschneider, Wissenschaft und Charlatanerie Unter den Arabern im Neunten Jahrhundert, in Virchow's Archiv,;
  • idem, Constantinus Africanus und Seine Arabischen Quellen, ib.;
  • idem, Die Toxicologischen Schriften der Araber bis Ende des XII. Jahrhunderts, ib.;
  • idem, Ueber Medicin in Bibel und Talmud und über Jüdische Aerzte, in Wiener Klinische Rundschau, 1896;
  • idem, Hebr. Uebers.;
  • idem, Donnolo, Berlin, 1868;
  • idem, Hebr. Bibl.;
  • idem, Die Arabische Literatur der Juden, Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1902;
  • Wüstenfeld, Die Academien der Araber und Ihre Lehrer, Göttingen, 1837;
  • idem, Die Uebersetzungen Arabischer Werke in das Lateinische, seit den XI. Jahrhundert, ib. 1877;
  • idem, Die Geschichtsschreiber der Araber und Ihre Werke, ib. 1882;
  • Haeser, Lehrbuch der Geschichte der Medizin und der Epidemischen Krankheiten, Jena, 1882;
  • Aaron Friedenwald, Jewish Physicians and the Contribution of the Jews to the Science of Medicine, in Publ. of the Gratz College, 1897, Philadelphia, 1897;
  • Vogelstein and Rieger, Gesch. der Juden in Rom, Berlin, 1895-96;
  • Berliner, Gesch. der Juden in Rom, Frankfort-on-the-Main. 1893;
  • Joseph Jacobs, The Jews of Angevin England, pp. 114, 340, London, 1893;
  • idem, Jewish Year-Book;
  • Kayserling, Zur Gesch. der Jüdischen Aerzte, in Monatsschrift, 7:165;
  • Kaufmann, Un Siècle de l'Existence d'une Famille de Juifs de Vienne et de Posen, in R. E. J. 20:275;
  • Döllinger, Die Juden in Europa, in Akademische Vorträge, vol. , Nördlingen, 1890;
  • Revue des Eludes Juives, 41:77-97, 47:221-254, 48:48-81, 96:265-272.
J.
F. T. H.
Bibliography Information
Singer, Isidore, Ph.D, Projector and Managing Editor. Entry for 'Medicine'. 1901 The Jewish Encyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/​encyclopedias/​eng/​tje/​m/medicine.html. 1901.
 
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