ns with some
discomfort, and then some difficulty of swallowing, which is gradually
and continuously increased until finally there comes complete
impossibility of swallowing. It was in these cases that he suggested
rectal alimentation, but he went farther than this, and treated the
stricture of the esophagus itself.

The first step in this treatment is that a canula of silver or tin
should be inserted through the mouth and pushed down the throat till its
head meets an obstruction, always being withdrawn when there is a
vomiting movement, until it becomes engaged in the stricture. Then
_freshly milked_ milk, or gruel made from farina or barley, should be
poured through it. He says that in these cases the patient might be put
in a warm milk or gruel bath, since there are some physicians who
believe that through the lower parts of the body, and also through the
pores of the whole body, nutrition might be taken up. While he considers
that this latter method should be tried in suitable cases, he has not
very much faith in it, and says that the reasons urged for it are weak
and rather frivolous. It is easy to understand that a man who has
reached the place in medicine where he can recommend manipulative
treatments of this kind, and discuss nutritional modes so rationally,
knew his practical medicine well, and wrote of it judiciously.

AVERROES

Among the distinguished contributors to medicine at this time, though
more a philosopher than a physician, is the famous Averroes, whose full
Arabic name among his contemporaries was Abul-Welid Mohammed Ben Ahmed
Ibn Roschd el-Maliki. Like Avenzoar, of whom he was the intimate
personal friend, and Abulcasis and Maimonides, he was born in the south
of Spain. He was in high favor with the King of Morocco and of Spain,
El-Mansur Jacub, often known as Almansor, who made him one of his
counsellors. His works are much more important for philosophy than for
medicine, and his philosophical writings gave him a place only second to
that of Aristotle in the Western world during the Middle Ages. Averroism
is still a subject of at least academic interest, and Renan's monograph
on it and its author was one of the popular books of the latter half of
the nineteenth century in philosophic circles. In spite of his
friendship with the Moorish King and with Avenzoar, he fell under the
suspicion of free thinking and was brought to trial with a number of
personal friends, who occupied high positions in