Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 49

OF AMIDA AETIUS (502-575) Contractae ex veteribus medicinae tetrabiblos. [Impensis Hier. Frobenii et Nic. Episcopii] 1542 [10] 932 [30] pp. 31.9 cm.

Aëtius studied in Alexandria and lived in Byzantium where he was court physician under the Emperor Justinian I. He was held in great repute by Renaissance physicians and his translator here, Janus Cornarius (1500-1558), regarded him as the greatest of the medical writers. His Tetrabiblos (so called because the text, as here, is divided and subdivided into four parts each) is a compilation which remains the chief source of knowledge for the works of Rufus of Ephesus and Leonides in surgery, and of Soranus and Philumenos in gynecology and obstetrics. Aëtius gives his own description of diseases of the eyes, ears, nose, throat, and teeth and includes good accounts of goiter, rabies, diphtheria, and various surgical procedures, such as tonsillectomy, urethrotomy, and the treatment of hemorrhoids.

Cited references: Durling 46; Garrison-Morton 33 (1534 ed.); Waller 238; Wellcome 50

Gift of John Martin, M.D.