"It is necessary that a surgeon should have a temperate and moderate
disposition. That he should have well-formed hands, long slender fingers,
a strong body, not inclined to tremble, and with all his members trained
to the capable fulfilment of the wishes of his mind. He should be well
grounded in natural science, and should know not only medicine but every
part of philosophy; should know logic well, so as to be able to understand
what is written; to talk properly, and to support what he has to say by
good reasons." He suggests that it would be well for the surgeon to have
spent some time teaching grammar and dialectics and rhetoric, especially
if he is to teach others in surgery, for this practice will add greatly to
his teaching power. (What a desideratum for the modern time is thus
outlined!) Some of his expressions might well be repeated to young
surgeons in the modern time. "The surgeon should not love difficult cases,
and should not allow himself to be tempted to undertake those that are
desperate. He should help the poor as far as he can, but he should not
hesitate to ask for good fees from the rich."
Lanfranc was himself a scholar well read in the literature of his
profession, but who had well digested his reading. He quotes altogether
more than a score of writers on surgery who had preceded him, and
evidently was thoroughly familiar with general surgical literature. He is
a particular favourite of Gurlt, the German historian of surgery, who has
devoted more than twenty-five closely printed large octavo pages to the
discussion of this old Paris professor and his work. Lanfranc's discussion
of wounds of nerves is of itself sufficient to show the character of his
work. Many generations after his time have used the word nerves for
tendons, and mistaken the function of these two structures, but Lanfranc
distinguished very clearly between them. He declared that since the nerves
are instruments of sense and motion, wounds of them should be carefully
treated, especially as the sensitiveness of these structures is likely to
cause the patient much subsequent pain if they are neglected. Longitudinal
wounds of nerves are much less dangerous than those across them. When a
nerve is completely divided in cross section Lanfranc was of the opinion,
though Theodoric and some others were opposed to it, that the nerve ends
should be stitched together. He says that the suture insures the
reintegration of the nerve much better. Besides, after this operation the
restoration of the usefulness of the member is more assured and is
commonly more complete.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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