whole cause of this
seems to be that every woman seems to think that her husband is not as
good as those of other women whom she sees around her." It would be
interesting to know how Mondeville was brought to a conclusion so
different from modern experience in the matter.

For those who are particularly interested in medical history one of the
sections of Henry's book has a special appeal, because he gives in it a
sketch of the history of surgery. We are little likely to think, as a
rule, that at this time, full two centuries before the close of the
Middle Ages, men were interested enough in the doings of those who had
gone before them to try to trace the history of the development of their
specialty. It is characteristic of the way that the scholarly Mondeville
views his own life work that he should have wanted to know something
about his predecessors and teach others with regard to them. He begins
with Galen, and as Galen divides the famous physicians of the world into
three sects, the Methodists, the Empirics, and the Rationalists, so
Mondeville divides modern surgery into three sects: first, that of the
Salernitans, with Roger, Roland, and the Four Masters; second, that of
William of Salicet and Lanfranc; and third, that of Hugo de Lucca and
his brother Theodoric and their modern disciples. He states briefly the
characteristics of these three sects. The first limited patients' diet,
used no stimulants, dilated all wounds, and got union only after pus
formation. The second allowed a liberal diet to weak patients, though
not to the strong, but generally interfered with wounds too much. The
third believed in a liberal diet, never dilated wounds, never inserted
tents, and its members were extremely careful not to complicate wounds
of the head by unwise interference. His critical discussion of the three
schools is extremely interesting.

Another phase of Mondeville's work that is sympathetic to the moderns is
his discussion of the irregular practice of medicine and surgery as it
existed in his time. Most of our modern medicine and surgery was
anticipated in the olden time; but it may be said that all of the modes
of the quack are as old as humanity. Galen's description of the
travelling charlatan who settled down in his front yard, not knowing
that it belonged to a physician, shows this very well. There were
evidently as many of them and as many different kinds in Mondeville's
time as in our own. In discussing the oppo