[Illustration: _SIR WILLIAM OSLER (born in Ontario, Canada, in 1849)
Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford and one of the world's leading
medical authorities; distinguished not merely as investigator,
teacher, and practitioner, but also as essayist and ethical teacher of
singular grace and humanity, as shown in the volumes entitled
"Aequanimitas" and "Counsels and Ideals." The present address,
delivered in London at the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Jewish
Historical Society of England, is here given its first publication in
this country, with Sir William's special authorization._]
In estimating the position of Israel in the human values we must
remember that the quest for righteousness is Oriental, the quest for
knowledge Occidental. With the great prophets of the East--Moses,
Isaiah, Mahomet--the word was, "Thus saith the Lord"; with the great
seers of the West, from Thales and Aristotle to Archimedes and
Lucretius, it was "What says Nature?" They illustrate two opposite
views of man and his destiny--in the one he is an "_angelus sepultus_"
in a muddy vesture of decay; in the other, he is the "young
light-hearted master" of the world, in it to know it, and by knowing
to conquer. Modern civilization is the outcome of these two great
movements of the mind of man, who to-day is ruled in heart and head by
Israel and by Greece. From the one he has learned responsibility to a
Supreme Being, and the love of his neighbor, in which are embraced
both the Law and the Prophets; from the other he has gathered the
promise of Eden to have dominion over the earth on which he lives. Not
that Israel is all heart, nor Greece all head, for in estimating the
human value of the two races, intellect and science are found in
Jerusalem and beauty and truth at Athens, but in different
proportions.
_Medicine in the Talmud_
It is a striking fact that there is no great Oriental name in
science--not one to be put in the same class with Aristotle, with
Hippocrates, or with a score of Grecians. We do not go to the Bible
for science, though we may go to Moses for instruction in some of the
best methods in hygiene. Nor is the Talmud a fountain-head in which
men seek inspiration to-day as in the works of Aristotle. I do not
forget the saying:
"_In uns'rem Talmud kann man Jedes lesen,
Und Alles ist schon einmal dagewesen_."
With much of intense interest for the physician, and in spite of some
brave sayings about the value of science, there is not in it the
spirit of Aristotle or of Galen. It is true we find there one of the
earliest instances in literature of an accurate diagnosis confirmed
_post mortem_. A sheep of the Rabbi Chabiba had paralysis of the hind
legs. Rabbi Jemar diagnosed ischias, or arthritis, but Rabbina, who
was called in, said that the disease was in the spinal marrow. To
settle the dispute the sheep was killed, and Rabbina's diagnosis was
confirmed.
_The Role of Jewish Physicians in the Middle Ages_
In the early Middle Ages the Jewish physicians played a role of the
first importance as preservers and transmitters of ancient knowledge.
With the fall of Rome the broad stream of Greek science in western
Europe entered the sud of mediævalism. It filtered through in three
streams--one in South Italy, the other in Byzantium, and a third
through Islam. At the great school of Salernum in the tenth, eleventh
and twelfth centuries, we find important Jewish teachers; Copho II
wrote the Anatomia Porci, and Rebecca wrote on fevers and the fœtus.
Jews were valued councillors at the court of the great Emperor
Frederick. With the Byzantine stream the Jews seem to have had little
to do, but the broad, clear stream which ran through Islam is dotted
thickly with Hebrew names. In the eastern and western Caliphates and
in North Africa were men who to-day are the glory of Israel, and
bright stars in the medical firmament. Three of these stand out
preëminent. The writings of Isaac Judæus, known in the Middle Ages as
Monarcha Medicorum, were prized for more than four centuries. He had a
Hippocratic belief in the powers of nature and in the superiority of
prevention to cure. He was an optimist and held strongly to the
Talmudic precept that the physician who takes nothing is worth
nothing. Rabbi ben Ezra was a universal genius and wanderer, whose
travels brought him as far as England. His philosophy of life Browning
has depicted in the well-known poem, whose beauty of diction and
clarity of thought atone for countless muddy folios.
_Maimonides: Prince Among Physicians_
But the prince among Jewish physicians, whose fame as such has been
overshadowed by his reputation as a Talmudist and philosopher, is the
Doctor Perplexorum--_dux, director, demonstrator, neutrorum
dubitantium et errantium!_--Moses Maimonides. Cordova boasts of three
of the greatest names in the history of Arabian medicine: Avenzoar,
Albucasis, and Averroes (Avenzoar is indeed claimed to be a Jew).
Great as is the fame of Averroes as the commentator and transmitter of
Aristotle to scholastic Europe, his fame is enhanced as the teacher
and inspirer of Moses ben Maimon. Exiled from Spain, this great
teacher became in Egypt the Thomas Aquinas of Jewry, the conciliator
of the Bible and the Talmud with the philosophy of Aristotle. He
remains one of Israel's great prophets, and while devoted to theology
and philosophy, he was a distinguished and successful practitioner of
medicine and the author of many works highly prized for nearly five
centuries, some of which are still reprinted. He says pathetically,
"Although from my youth Torah was betrothed to me and continues to
live by me as the wife of my youth, in whose love I find a constant
delight, strange women, whom I took at first into my house as her
handmaids, have become her rivals and absorbed part of my time." The
spirit of the man is manifest in his famous prayer, one of the
precious documents of our profession, worthy to be placed beside the
Hippocratic oath. It ends with: "In suffering let me always see only
my fellow creature."[A]
_Jewish Physicians and Medieval Popes_
In the revival of learning in the thirteenth century, which led to the
foundation of so many of the universities, Hebrew physicians took a
prominent part, particularly in the great schools of Montpelier and of
Paris; and for the next two or three centuries in Italy, in France,
and in Germany, Hebrew physicians were greatly prized. But too often
the tribulations of Israel were their lot. As one reads of the
grievous persecutions they suffered, there comes to mind the truth of
Zunz' words: "_Wenn es eine Stufenleiter von Leiden giebt, so hat
Israel die hochste Staffel erstiegen._" Their checkered career is well
illustrated by the relations with the Popes, some of whom uttered
official bulls and fulminations against them, others seem to have had
a special fondness for them as body physicians. Paul III was for years
in charge of Jacob Montino, a distinguished Jewish physician, who
translated extensively from the Arabic and Hebrew into Latin, and his
edition of Averroes is dedicated to Pope Leo X. In my library there is
a copy of the letter of Pope Gregory XIII, dated March 30th, 1581, and
printed in 1584, confirming the decrees of Paul IV and Pius V, which
he regrets were by no means held in observance, "but that there are
still many among Christian persons who desiring the infirmities of
their bodies be cured by illicit means, and especially by the service
of Jews and other infidels. . . ." It was at Mantua that a Jewish
physician, Abraham Conath, established a printing press, from which
the first Hebrew works were issued.
_Names of Distinction in Later Centuries_
Throughout the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries in
France, Germany, and Italy we meet many distinguished names in the
profession, and in his _Geschichte der Jüdischen Aertz_ Landau pays a
very just tribute to their work. Only a few are met with in England.
Isaac Abendana, a Spaniard, practised in Oxford and lectured on Hebrew
at Magdalen College. We have at the Bodleian Jewish almanacs which lie
issued at the end of the seventeenth century, and a great Latin
translation of Mishnah. He afterwards migrated to Cambridge. A more
important author was Jacob de Castro Sarmento, a Portuguese Jew, who
became licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians in 1725, and
Fellow of the Royal Society in 1730. There is in the Bodleian an
interesting broadsheet from the Register of the London Synagogues
respecting charges made when his name was proposed at the Royal
Society. He contributed many papers to the Philosophical Transactions,
and was the author of several works. In the eighteenth century Jean
Baptiste de Silva, of a Portuguese Jewish family, became one of the
leading physicians of Paris, consulting physician to Louis XV, and the
friend of Voltaire, who remarks, "_C'était un de ces médecins que
Moliere n'eut ni pu ni osé rendre ridicules_." One of the special
treasures of my library is a volume of the Henriade superbly bound by
Padeloup, and a presentation copy from Voltaire to de Silva, given me
when I left Baltimore by my messmates in "The Ship of Fools" (a dining
club). Voltaire's inscription reads as follows:
"_A Monsieur Silva, Esculape François. Recevez cet hommage de votre
frère en Apollon. Ce Dieu vous a laissé son plus bel héritage, tous
les Dons de l'esprit, tous ceux de la raison, et je n'eus que des
Vers, hélas, pour mon partage._"
_The Achievement of Recent Years_
In the nineteenth century, with the removal of the vexatious
restrictions, the Jew had a chance of reaching his full development,
and he has taken a position in the medical profession comparable to
that occupied in the palmy Arabian days of Cordova and Bagdad. In
Germany particularly, the last half of the century witnessed a
remarkable outburst of scientific activity. Traube, who may well be
called the father of experimental pathology; Henle, the distinguished
anatomist and pathologist; Valentin, the physiologist; Lebert, Remak,
Romberg, Ebstein, Henoch, have been among the clinical physicians of
the very first rank. Cohnheim was the most brilliant pathologist of
his day; to Weigert pathological histology owes an enormous debt, and,
to crown all, the man whose ideas have revolutionized modern
pathology, Paul Ehrlich, is a Jew. In America Hebrew members of our
profession for many years occupied a very prominent position. The
father of the profession to-day, a man universally beloved, is Abraham
Jacobi, full of years and honors; and the two most brilliant
representatives in physiology and pathology, Simon Flexner and Jacques
Loeb, carry out the splendid traditions of Traube and Henle.
I have always had a warm affection for my Jewish students, and the
friendships I have made with them have been among the special
pleasures of my life. Their success has always been a great
gratification, as it has been the just reward of earnestness and
tenacity of purpose and devotion to high ideals in science; and, I may
add, a dedication of themselves as practitioners to everything that
could promote the welfare of their patients. In the medical profession
the Jews had a long and honorable record, and among no people is all
that is best in our science and art more warmly appreciated; none in
the community take more to heart the admonition of the son of Sirach,
"Give place to the physician, let him not go from thee, for thou hast
need of him."
[Illustration: Signature: Wm Osler]