He was one of the first physicians to recognize the utility of spectacles, and recommended them in cases not amenable to treatment with lotions and eye-waters.

In some of his surgical operations, such as trephining for fracture of the skull, his technique has been little improved upon even in modern times.

In one of these operations he successfully removed a portion of a man's brain.
Surgery was undoubtedly stimulated greatly at this period by the constant wars.

Lay physicians, as a class, had been looked down upon during the Dark Ages; but with the beginning of the return to rationalism, the services of surgeons on the battle-field, to remove missiles from wounds, and to care for wounds and apply dressings, came to be more fully appreciated.

In return for his labors the surgeon was thus afforded better opportunities for observing wounds and diseases, which led naturally to a gradual improvement in surgical methods.
FIFTEENTH-CENTURY MEDICINE The thirteenth and fourteenth centuries had seen some slight advancement in the science of medicine; at least, certain surgeons and physicians, if not the generality, had made advances; but it was not until the fifteenth century that the general revival of medical learning became assured.