Book Reviews Christian faith and took the name of Petrus Alfonsi. His Disciplina clericalis was widely known throughout medieval Europe in Latin and in translations, and consists of proverbs, poetry, fables, anecdotes, and tales of men's fates. A translation by Eberhard Hermes into German appeared in 1970 and Mr. P. R. Quarrie has now prepared an English version ofthe original Latin text, with reference to Hermes' work. He has also translated Hermes' lengthy introduction (pp. 3-99), which describes 'The author and his times', and also the position of Jews in medieval Spanish society. Of interest to historians of medicine and science is the part dealing with medieval attitudes to scientific investigations, and there are also a number of references in the text to medicine, which supplement our limited knowledge of it in this period. In view of this and of its wide influence Dr. Quarrie's excellent and scholarly translation should be carefully studied by all those concerned with medieval medicine and science. ARTEMIDORUS, The interpretation of dreams. Oneirocritica, with translation and commentary by Robert J. White, Park Ridge, N. J., Noyes Press, 1975, 8vo, pp. ix, 259, $15.00. Written in the second century A.D. by a professional dream-interpreter, this book appears here in English for the first time. There is a lengthy introduction to the five constituent books, each with lengthy commentaries. Literally hundreds of dreams are related and interpreted, and no doubt the psycho- analyst will find all these data of overwhelming interest. Its value to the less romantic is not so obvious, and the statement on the dustjacket that interest in dreams and their meaning "is one of the hallmarks of the intellectual life of this century" can hardly be taken seriously. However, as far as classical studies are concerned, it is important to have an accurate and scholarly translation of a well-known author's writings on a theme of interest and concern to the Ancient World. Thus, the great significance of the dream in the Classical and pre-Classical era makes this a note- worthy contribution, and it opens up a new area for the non-Greek reader. On these grounds it can be warmly recommended. PETER SHARRATT (editor), French Renaissance studies, 1540-70. Humanism and the encyclopedia, Edinburgh University Press, 1976, 8vo, pp. ix, 976, £8.00. In this collection there are fourteen essays, three in French, on highly specialized topics, all presented at a conference in Edinburgh in 1974. Each is a scholarly produc- tion and together they illustrate a variety of approaches and attitudes to the central theme of the meeting, which was French Renaissance education, 1540 to 1570. Historians of medicine and science will be particularly interested in the papers by M. A. Screech on 'Medicine and literature: aspects of Rabelais and Montaigne (with a glance at the law)' and by W. P. D. Wightman on 'Cosmological and technological trends in the French Renaissance'. Others on meteorology and French poetry, the scientific poetry of Guy Lef6vre de la Boderie, and on the teaching of mathematics in France, 1540 to 1570, will also be found useful, as will be the remainder, to those studying Renaissance medicine or science. These are concerned mainly with the liberal arts, but also with the encyclopedia, ethics, and law. 209 https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025727300032385 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Carnegie Mellon University, on 06 Apr 2021 at 01:07:16, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025727300032385 https://www.cambridge.org/core