the slightest evidence of knowledge of such a treatise. On the whole then I am inclined to agree in this question with Dr. Payne, and to consider the Ricardus of Gilbert identical with Ricardus Salernitanus, the famous professor of the School of Salernum. This conclusion is further justified by the fact, generally accepted by all modern writers, that Gilbert was himself a pupil of Salernum.

Singularly enough, both Dr. Payne and Mr. Kingsford profess to find in the Compendium some evidence that Gilbert sojourned in Syria for a certain period, though the circumstances of this sojourn are viewed differently by the two biographers. Dr. Payne thinks that the physician, after completing his education in England, proceeded to the Continent and extended his travels as far as Syrian Tripoli, where he met Archbishop Walter and became attached to his staff. As the prelate returned to England in 1192, this sojourn of Gilbert in Syria must have been about 1190-91, when, according to Dr. Payne's chronology, Gilbert could have been not more than about twenty years of age. Dr. Payne bases his story upon a certain passage in the Compendium, in which Gilbert says that he met in Syrian Tripoli "a canonicus suffering from rheumatic symptoms." I have been entirely unable to find the passage referred to in this story, in spite of a careful search of the text of the edition of 1510. But, admitting the existence of the passage in question, it proves nothing as to the date of this alleged Syrian sojourn. Tripoli was captured by the Crusaders in 1109, and continued under their control until its recapture by the Saracens in 1289, a period of nearly two hundred years. Gilbert's travels in Syria may then have occurred at almost any time during this long period, and his fortuitous meeting with Archbishop Walter has very much the appearance of a story evolved entirely from the consciousness of the biographer.

On the other hand, Mr. Kingsford bases his theory of Gilbert's sojourn in Syria upon a story adopted, I think, from Littré and found in the Histoire litéraire de la France. The Compendium of Gilbert contains (f. 137a) a chapter giving the composition of a complex collyrium with which he professes to have cured the almost total blindness of Bertram, son of Hugo de Jubilet, after the disease had baffled the skill of the Saracen and Christian-Syrian physicians of his day. Now Littré avers that a certain Hugo de Jubilet was involved in an ambuscade in Syria in the year 1227, and that he had a son named Bertram. It is very natural, of course, to conclude that this Bertram was the patient recorded in the book of Gilbert. Kingsford says that Gilbert "met" Bertram in Syria, but the text of the Compendium says nothing of the locality of their meeting, which might have taken place almost anywhere in Europe, perhaps even at Salernum, a favorite resort of the invalided Crusaders in these times. Finally, Dr. Payne disposes effectually of the authenticity of the entire story by calling attention to the fact that the chapter referred to in the Compendium is marked plainly "Additio," without indicating whether this addition is from the pen of Gilbert or some later glossator.

Finally, I may suggest another line of argument, which, so far as I know, has not yet been advanced for the determination of the period of Gilbert.

The Compendium Medicinae of Gilbert is, of course, a compendium of internal medicine. But the book is also something more. Not less than fifty chapters are devoted to a comparatively full discussion of wounds, fractures and dislocations, lithotomy, herniotomy, fistulae and the various diseases on the border line between medicine and surgery. Not a single surgical writer, however, is quoted by name. Nevertheless the major part of these surgical chapters are either literal copies, or very close paraphrases, of the similar chapters of the "Chirurgia" of Roger of Parma, a distinguished professor in Salernum and the pioneer of modern surgery. The precise period of Roger is not definitely settled by the unanimous agreement of modern historians, but in the "Epilogus" of the "Glosulae Quatuor Magistrorum" it is said that Roger's "Chirurgia" was "in lucem et ordinem redactum" by Guido Arietinus, in the year of our Lord 1230. This date, while perhaps not unquestionable, is also adopted by De Renzi, the Italian historian of Medicine. The original MS. of Roger's work is said to be still in existence in the Magliabechian Library in Florence, but it has never been published in its original form.⁵ Roland of Parma, however, a pupil of Roger, published in 1264 what purports to be a copy of Roger's "Chirurgia" with some notes and additions of his own, and it is from this MS. of Roland that all our copies of Roger's work have been printed. Roger's "Chirurgia" was popularly known as the "Rogerina;" the edition of Roland as the "Rolandina." They are frequently confounded, but are not identical, though the additions of Roland are usually regarded as of little importance. In the absence of Roger's manuscript, however, they lead often to considerable confusion, as it is not always easy to determine in the printed copies of the "Rolandina" just what belongs to Roger and what to his pupil and editor. Now a careful comparison of the surgical chapters of Gilbert of England with the published text of the "Rolandina" leads me to the conviction that Gilbert had before him the text of Roger, rather than that of Roland, his pupil. If such is the fact, Gilbert's Compendium must have been written between 1230 and 1264, the dates respectively of the "Rogerina" and "Rolandina."

From a careful review of the data thus presented we may epitomize, somewhat conjecturally, the life of Gilbert substantially as follows: He was probably born about 1180 and received his early education in England. On the completion of this education, about the close of the 12th century, he proceeded to the Continent to complete his studies, and spent some time in the school of Salernum, where it is probable that he enjoyed the instruction of Roger of Parma, Ricardus Salernitanus, and may have had among his fellow-students Aegidius of Corbeil. Probably after his return to England he served for a brief period on the staff of Archbishop Hubert Walter, after whose death in 1205, but at an unknown period, Gilbert returned once more to the Continent, where it seems probable he spent the remainder of his life. This comports best with his extensive European reputation, his surname "Anglicus" and the comparative dearth in England of any facts relating to his life. The date of the Compendium I am inclined to place about 1240, prior to the literary activity of Ricardus Parisiensis or Richard of Wendover, Roland of Parma, Roger Bacon and Theodorius of Cervia. We may place his death, conjecturally, at about 1250.

The first edition of the Compendium is a small quarto of 362 folios (724 modern pages), five by seven inches in size, printed in double narrow columns, in black letter, perfectly legible and clear. The pagination shows some errors, but the text itself is remarkably accurate, though the presence of a multiplicity of contractions and ligatures renders the reading somewhat difficult to the modern student. On the last page we find the following colophon:

Explicit compendium medicine Gilberti Anglici correctum et bene emendatum per dominum Michaelem de Capella artium et medicine doctorem: ac Lugduni Impressum per Jacobum Saccon: expensis Vincentii de Portonariis. Anno Domini M.D.x. die vero vigesima mensis Novembris.

The second edition (which I have not seen)