A HISTORY OF MEDICINE
was the first to recognize typhus fever.1 In 1546 he published
the great work, De Contagione, in which he described the three
methods of infection : infection by direct contact, infection by
" fomites," a word which he was the first to apply to infected
clothing, utensils, etc., and infection at a distance, as in smallpox
or plague. The description is wonderfully modern, and although
bacteria were as yet unknown, Fracastorius presumes the existence
of imperceptible particles or " seminaria, the seeds of disease
which multiply rapidly and propagate their like." Centuries
elapsed before any practical use was made of such enlightened
views, nevertheless Fracastorius must be regarded as the founder
of modern epidemiology. A more genial arid friendly character
than either Paracelsus or Cardan, his contribution to medicine
was entirely positive. His death was much lamented, and a
few years later there was erected a statue to his memory, a monu-
ment which still adorns one of the principal squares of Verona.
Early Physicians of England
The new learning, born in Italy, grew slowly, Some years
elapsed before it reached England* It is doubtful whether the
physicians whose names will be mentioned presently were direct
products of the Renaissance, They certainly revived an interest
in the classics, but they remained followers of Galen, and it was
not until the Elizabethan age that men like Francis Bacon,
Descartes, and Galileo pointed the way to the inductive method
of reasoning, and so guided science into fruitful fields. It needed
the genius of William Harvey to integrate the knowledge of the
past, and to fashion, step by step, the wonderful idea of the cir-
culation of the blood- Mention has already been made of the
men who raised the level of surgery in England and in Scotland
to a status worthy of royal recognition. Now we must turn to
those who performed a similar service for medicine*
The Royal College of Physicians
THOMAS LINAC&E (1460-1524) was bora in Canterbury, and
after taking his degree in Oxford went to travel in Italy** At
1 A. Teisoa, " Star Ftacastor, son Icoaographk et fea Trait& de la Contagion,**
JEW. Sw. de FHist, de M£, 1933, vol xxvi. p* 171
* J, AiMn, Bfagraphicd Mmm tf Mtdkb* in Qmt JMMt, 1780* p, a8
l66