PAUL OF AEGINA

born c. 625, , Aegina, Greece died c. 690 Latin Paulus Aegineta Alexandrian physician and surgeon, the last major ancient Greek medical encyclopaedist, who wrote the Epitomes iatrikes biblio hepta, better known by its Latin title, Epitomae medicae libri septem (Medical Compendium in Seven Books), containing nearly everything known about the medical arts in the West in his time. Based largely on the works of such earlier Greek physicians as Galen, Oribasius, and Atius, the Epitome greatly influenced the medical practice of the Arabs, who considered Paul among the most authoritative of Greek medical writers. The Persian master physician ar-Razi (Rhazes) drew extensively from the work in writing his Kitab al-Mansuri (Book to al-Mansur) and Abu al-Qasim, one of Islam's foremost surgeons, borrowed heavily from the Epitome's sixth, or surgical, book in compiling the 30th chapter (On Surgery) of his at-Tasrif (The Method). Thus Paul's work exercised a lasting influence on Western medieval medicine when the Arabic works were adopted as primary references in medieval Europe. Besides his descriptions of lithotomy (surgical removal of bladder stones), trephination (removal of a disc of bone from the skull), tonsillotomy (removal of part of the tonsil), paracentesis (puncture of a body cavity in order to drain fluid), and amputation of the breast, Paul also devoted much attention in the Epitome to pediatrics and obstetrics. He dealt extensively with apoplexy and epilepsy, distinguished 62 types of pulse associated with various diseases, and rendered one of the first known descriptions of lead poisoning.