Some Byzantine physicians, dimly seen through the obscurity of the darker ages, we may shortly mention. Nanus, who lived near the end of the tenth century, by the command of Constantine Porphyrogenetus, wrote an Epitome of Medicine, chiefly taken from AEtius, Alexander, and Paulus; and near a hundred and fifty years afterwards, Symeon Lethius, who held some office in the palace of Antiochus, wrote a Syntigma de Ciba-riorum Facultate, in which he copied chiefly the work of Psellus, who was his cotemporary. Both treatises still remain, but are of little value. Demetrius Pepa-gomenus, near the- end of the thirteenth century, was a distinguished author on hawking; but he was the physician of Michaeelis Palseologus, and left also a Treatise on Gout. Somewhat later lived Myrepsus, the author of the Antidotdrium; and the scene closes with John, the son of Zachariah, honoured with the title of Actua-rius, nearly answering to what we mean by physician in ordinary, in the court of Andronicus Palaeologus. His six books on the Methodosmedendi,and his Treatise De Urinis, have been commended by some practical authors; and the latter was thought, by H. Stephens, worthy of a place, in his valuable work, among the Principes Artis Medicae. All his works are in a great measure compilations from his predecessors, but there are some original observations respecting the palpitation of the heart, in which Actuarius seems first to have recommended bleeding and purging. He is also the only Greek physician who speaks of the milder purgatives, as senna, manna, cassia, and myrobolans. The pods of the senna were then only employed, and it was brought from Syria under the name of a fruit. These medicines were professedly borrowed from the Arabians, whom he calls barbarians. He mentions sugar, also, and what seems to have been distilled water of roses, derived from the same source. Indeed distillation appears to have been known prior to the era of Actuarius, which was probably about the end of the eleventh century.

We have greatly regretted, in this long career of the Grecian medicine, that no author has connected the revolutions of this science with those of the Grecian philosophy. We perceive, in every step, how greatly they would illustrate each other; and, but for the extent to which our article would be thus drawn, we should have enlarged a little on the connection. We have, in this part of our history, traced, with anxious care, the succession of the different sects, the influence of prevailing opinions, their alternate fashion or decline, and while these, with some neglected portions of the history, have detained us, we have certainly omitted, not without design, what may be found in every common author. We ought not to conceal that the history of medicine has not hitherto been that of a science. We have seen the scattered limbs: we wished to see them connected, so as to form an entire body; and of this connection we have endeavoured to give the outline.

While we have less anxiously detailed the medical opinions of philosophers, we must not omit some observations of Dr. Friend, whose history is chiefly filled with discussions on different portions of ancient medicine. He remarks, that the historian Procopius was probably a physician, from his minute and scientific description of wounds, and of the plague. He adds, too, that the professional character of St. Luke is obvious, not only from his more polished language, but from his expressions relating to diseases. The curiosity of the subject has led us to pursue it, and we certainly find, in the relations of the cures effected by the miraculous power of our Saviour, the elegant terseness of Aretaeus.

When science declined in the west it again rose in the east. In pursuance of the plan just mentioned, we have not omitted to notice the gradual steps by which medical knowledge gradually approached its former cradle, seeking, in its decline, the protection it had received in its commencement. In the later ages of Grecian medicine wc perceive a strong predilection for an education at Alexandria, and we have already traced its progress in Asia, as we catch transitory glances of its occasional appearance. Alexandria, once the receptacle of the famous library, burnt by accident during Caesar's attack, received, in return, by the bounty of Anthony, the famous collection of Mithridates, already mentioned as a legacy to the Roman people; and even at the commencement of the ninth century its professors were highly celebrated. Other circumstances favoured the progress of medicine in the east. When Valerian was conquered by Sapor, the king of the Persians, and carried captive to his new city, Grandisapora, he was followed by many Greek physicians. So early as the sixth century a medical school was founded in that city, and an hospital established in it. Hospitals were, indeed, not unknown in the latter ages of the Roman empire, and seem to have been first established before the reign of Justinian Its school was highly celebrated, and much frequented by the Arabian physicians, even at the time of Mahomet; but Persia was conquered by the Saracens in the year 460, and medicine was scattered by their means through the wide extent of their tributary regions, even to the confines of Spain. Previous, however, to the conquest of Valens, Sapor had married the daughter of the emperor Aurelian, and probably the medical knowledge of Greece had already attracted the attention of the Persians. They left, indeed, no traces of their acquisitions; for the earliest eastern medical authors were Syrians. Aaron, the presbyter first collected what he called the Pandects of Medicine, from the Greek, about the time of Mahomet, A. C. 622, which were only translated into Arabic by Masergawaihus, in 683. Near a century afterwards we find Alexander, the second caliph of the house of Abbas, requiring the assistance of Bactishua, who resided at Grandisapora; so that this city still retained its character for the acquisition of medical science, and the family of Bactishua continued famous for many succeeding generations. To them the eastern nations were indebted for many translations of the Grecian authors into Syriac and Arabic.