d
to the microscopic anatomy of the teeth since Eustachius' time. He had
the advantage, of course, of being intimately in contact with the great
group of Renaissance anatomists,--Vesalius, Columbus, Varolius,
Fallopius, and the others, the great fathers of anatomy. Besides, his
position as Papal Physician and Professor of Anatomy at the Papal
Medical School at Rome gave him opportunities for original
investigation, such as were not easily obtained elsewhere.

Arculanus can scarcely be blamed, therefore, for not having anticipated
the Renaissance, and we must take him as merely the culmination of
medieval knowledge with regard to anatomy and surgery. Medieval medical
men did not have the time nor apparently the incentive to make formal
medical science, though it must not be forgotten, as has been said, that
they did use the knowledge they obtained by their own and others'
observation to excellent advantage for the practical benefit of ailing
humanity. The sciences related to medicine are conscious developments
that follow the evolution of practical medicine, nor must it be
forgotten that far from always serving as an auxiliary to applied
medical science, often indeed in the history of medicine scientific
pursuits have led men away into side issues from which they had to be
brought back by some genius medical observer. As might be expected,
then, it is with regard to the practical treatment and general
consideration of ailments of the teeth that Giovanni of Arcoli is most
interesting. In this some of his chapters contain a marvellous series of
surprises.

Arculanus was probably born towards the end of the fourteenth century.
The date of his death is variously placed as either 1460 or 1484, with
the probability in favor of the former. From 1412 to 1427 he was
professor at Bologna, where in accordance with the non-specializing
tendencies of the time he did not occupy a single chair but several in
succession. He seems first to have taught Logic, then Moral Philosophy,
and finally Medicine. His reputation in medicine drew many students to
the university, and his fame spread all over Italy. The rival University
of Padua then secured him, and he seems to have been for some twenty
years there. Later apparently he accepted a professor's chair at
Ferrara, where the D'Estes were trying to bring their university into
prominence. It was at Ferrara that he died. He was a man of wide
reading, of extensive experience, both of men and