Saints Cosmas and Damian, twin brothers and converts to Christianity, dedicated their lives to the healing of the sick during the era of Diocletian. Cosmas was a physician, Damian a surgeon. Most well known among the deeds attributed posthumously to these holy men is the miracle of the black leg. According to legend, Cosmas and Damian removed the gangrenous limb of the aged sacristan of the church dedicated to them near the edge of the Roman Forum. Cosmas posed the question still being echoed today: "What are we going to use to replace the diseased flesh?" They used a cadaver. . . .
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Barry D. Kahan (1981) studied this question.
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