John of Gaddesden and the Rosa Medicinae

OLD books, at any rate old medical books, may, as regards their contents, be divided into three classes: those intrinsically valuable as sources of more or less original knowledge—of such are the Hippocratic writings, Galen, Alexander of Tralles, some of the Salernitan treatises, the greater medieval Italian and French surgeons, Sydenham, Morgagni—names taken at hazard; secondly, those which, although not original sources, yet enshrine more or less admirably the works of great men or of schools which had otherwise perished—of such are Celsus, our chief resource for the doctrines of Alexandrian medicine, or Cælius Aurelianus, which preserves for us some of the: writings of Soranus, or Aretæus, or Oribasius—names again chosen at random, or smaller books which also, as rafts or broken pieces of the ship, may salve lesser fragments of ancient lore—books such as Aetius or Paul of Ægina; and, thirdly, old books which have no other value than the bibliophile may, in the fashion of the time, choose to confer upon them as I antiques. These books, for their quaintness, may arouse some interest, and of such is the book before us. John of Gaddesden and the Rosa Medicinae. By H. P. Cholmeley. Pp. 184. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1912.) Price 8 s . 6 d . net.