may think as we will of the worth of these works, but
this much is sure, that in many ways they brought about a broadening and
an improvement of Greek knowledge, especially from the pharmacopeia
standpoint."

Probably the best evidence that we have for Constantine's influence on
his generation is to be found in what was accomplished by men who
acknowledged with pride that he was their master, and who thought it a
mark of distinction to be reckoned as his disciples.

Among these especially noteworthy is Johannes Afflacius, or Saracenus
(whose surname of the Saracen probably means that he, too, came from
Africa, as his master did). He was the author of two treatises on
"Fevers and Urines," and the so-called "Cures of Afflacius." Some of
these cures he directly attributed to Constantine. Then there is a
Bartholomew who wrote a "Practica," or "Manual of the Practice of
Medicine," with the sub-title, "Introductions to and Experiments in the
Medical Practice of Hippocrates, Constantine, and the Greek Physicians."
Bartholomew represents himself as a disciple of Constantine. This
"Practica" of Bartholomew was one of the most commonly used books of the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries throughout Europe. There are manuscript
commentaries and translations, and abstracts from it not only in the
Latin tongues, but especially in the Teutonic languages. Pagel refers to
manuscripts in High and Low Dutch, and even in Danish. The Middle High
Dutch manuscripts of this "Practica" of Bartholomew come mainly from the
thirteenth century, and have not only a special interest because of
their value in the history of philology, but because they are the main
sources of all the later books on drugs which appeared in very large
numbers in German. They have a very great historico-literary interest,
especially for pharmacology.

To Afflacius we owe a description of a method of reducing fever that is
not only ingenious, but, in the light of our recently introduced bathing
methods for fever, is a little startling. In his book on "Fevers and
Urines," Afflacius suggests that when the patient's fever makes him very
restless, and especially if it is warm weather, a sort of shower bath
should be given to him. He thought that rain water was the best for this
purpose, and he describes its best application as in rainy fashion,
_modo pluviali_. The water should be allowed to flow down over the
patient from a vessel with a number of minute perforations in the