a word, I failed to find any trace of Papal opposition to true
science in any form. On the contrary, I found abundant evidence of
their having been just as liberal and judicious patrons of science as
they were of art and education in all forms. I found also that those
who write most emphatically about Papal opposition to science, know
nothing at all of the history of science, and above all of medicine
and of surgery, during three very precious centuries. Because they
know nothing about it they think there was none, and go out of their
way to find a reason for its absence, while all the time there is a
wondrous series of chapters of science for those who care to look for
them. This is the story that I have tried to tell in this book.

This material is, I think, gathered into compact form for the first
time. No one knows better than I do how many defects are probably in
the volume. What I have tried to do is to present a large subject in a
popular way, and at the same time with such references to readily
available authorities as would make the collection of further
information comparatively easy. I am sorry that the book has had to
take on a controversial tone. No one feels more than I do that
controversy seldom advances truth. There are certain false notions,
however, which have the prestige of prominent names behind them, which
simply must be flatly contradicted. I did not seek the controversy,
for when I began to publish the original documents in the subject I
mentioned no names. Controversy was forced on me, but not until I had
made it a point to meet and spend many pleasant hours with the writer
whose statements I must impugn, because they so flagrantly contradict
the simple facts of medical history.

{vii}

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION. 1

May Catholics dissect?
Supposed prohibition of dissection.
Twenty medical schools in Catholic Europe.
Medieval universities and medical education.
Allbutt on medicine down to the sixteenth century.
William of Salicet and Lanfranc, the great medieval surgeons.
The nearer to Rome the better the medical school.
The state of medical teaching and discovery.
The relation of the Popes to medical progress.
Supposed Papal prohibitions.
Ignorance of medieval medicine the reason for misrepresentation.
The Popes did not hamper medicine nor any other science.
Galileo's case an incident, not the index o