The growth of medicine from the earliest times to about 1800Buck, Albert H. (Albert Henry)
History
The growth of medicine from the earliest times to about 1800
Buck, Albert H. (Albert Henry)
Medicine -- History
From the account given by Nicaise it appears that no regular
instruction in anatomy was given in the University of Paris until after
the fourteenth century, and then only from three to five times a year,
when the body of a person who had been hung was publicly dissected.
“Such a dissection lasted seven days and was a veritable scientific
festival.” No official cliniques were held and the only way in which
the student of medicine could obtain some practical acquaintance with
disease and with the methods of treatment was by attaching himself to a
physician or a surgeon, or to a barber.
From the preceding brief and very incomplete account the reader will, I
trust, be able to form some idea of the condition of affairs, medical
and surgical, in Paris at the time when Lanfranchi arrived in that city.
Lanfranchi, says Neuburger, was born in Milan, Italy, and was
undoubtedly the most distinguished among the pupils of Saliceto at
Bologna. After leaving the medical school he practiced both medicine
and surgery for a certain length of time in his native city; but
finally, becoming involved in the quarrels between the Guelphs and
the Ghibellines, he--like many other Italian physicians--was obliged
to take refuge in France. In Lyons, which was his first place of
residence, he engaged for a short time in the practice of medicine and
also wrote his first treatise on surgery--“_Chirurgia Parva_.”
Then, after traveling from one place to another in the provinces, he
finally (1295 A. D.) settled permanently in Paris. In that city he very
soon acquired a large practice, and, at the same time, built up for
himself a great reputation as a teacher of medicine. The _Collège de
St. Côme_ elected him a member of that organization and profited
greatly from the fame which his teaching brought to the institution.
It is said that Jean Passavant, who was at that time the Dean of the
Medical Faculty of Paris, aided Lanfranchi in his work by every means
in his power. As a result Paris, during a considerable period of time,
was one of the few places in which genuine clinical instruction was
given to all those who desired to acquire a practical acquaintance
with disease. His larger treatise, the “_Chirurgia Magna_,” was
completed in 1296. It was dedicated to the King of France, Philip
IV., commonly called “_Phillippe le Bel_,” and its intrinsic
merits assured him a permanent reputation as a surgeon. This work,
which was translated years ago into English and has recently (1894)
been published by the “Early English Text Society,” under the title
“Lanfrank’s Science of Cirurgie,” consists of five separate fasciculi
or parts. A few extracts from the text of this celebrated work may
prove of interest to the reader. Not having access to the English
version just mentioned, I shall have to translate from the version
(partly Latin and partly German) supplied by Neuburger.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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