Medical history of Malta / [Paul Cassar].

  • Paul Cassar
Date:
1964 [i.e. 1965]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Medical history of Malta / [Paul Cassar]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    preserved specimen in which the left transverse process of the first sacral segment was not fused with the rest of the bone on the same side; (b) two lumbar vertebrae found in another Roman grave showed marked lipping round the upper and lower margins of their bodies; (c) in two skulls, discovered in separate localities, there was evidence of a healed lesion involving nearly the whole thickness of the bone but sparing the internal surface. In each case the frontal bone was involved and the lesion formed a shallow conical depression the greatest diameter of which was about half an inch.29 In ancient days Malta was renowned for a breed of toy-terriers known as Maltese dogs. In Roman times this dog came into prominence for its alleged therapeutic virtues. According to Caius Plinius Secundus these animals were applied over the epigastric region in patients with stomach complaints to relieve the sufferers of their pains. It was believed that, through this contact with the animal, the malady passed from the patient to the dog which often sickened and died.30 The discovery of clay feeding bottles31 provided with a tapering spout below the neck and with a handle shows that the administration of nourishment to invalids and babies was a matter of solicitude to the in¬ habitants of our islands in Semitic and Roman days. An earthenware vessel identical in shape with the present-day male urinal shows clearly that they had tackled the problem of nursing wet patients on much the same lines employed by us to-day.32 To the Roman period belongs the first written document that throws some light on the presence of disease in Malta though the document is not so informative as one would wish it to be. Paul of Tarsus and his companions were shipwrecked on the Island in a.d. 60. We read in Luke’s Acts of the Apostles (XXVIII, 8) that one of the miracles wrought by Paul in Malta was the healing of the father of Publius who lay ‘sick of a fever and of a bloody flux’. Publius was the delegate of the Praetor of Sicily appointed to govern these islands.33 According to one tradition the cure of Publius’ father took place in the Praetor’s palace which is alleged to have stood upon the site which the Cathedral of Mdina now occupies. Another version has it that the patient was healed while living in his country house near Wardija Hill where a church was subsequently erected and dedicated to St. Paul.34 There were other persons afflicted 29 I am greatly indebted to the Director of the Museum, Capt. Charles Zainmit, tor allowing me to examine the bones. 30 Historia Naturalis, Lib. XXX. 31 Caruana, A. A., Ancient pottery from Ancient Pagan Tombs and Christian Cemeteries in the Islands of Malta, Malta, 1899, p. 33. Zammit, T., ‘The Maltese Rock Cut Tombs of a Late Pre-Christian Type’, Bulletin oj the Museum, Malta, 1931, i. 107. Museum Report for 1907-08, Malta, p. 3. 32 Caruana, A. A., op. cit., p. 29, fig. 23. 33 Galea, J., ‘A Chronological Series of the Bishops of Malta’, Scientia, 1944, x. 100. 34 Ferres, A., Descrizione delle cliiese di Malta e Gozo, Malta, 1866, p. 344.
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