RT Journal Article
T1 Ambroise Pare
A1 Elena Berger
A1 Sergey Glyantsev
YR 2019
VO 11
IS Spring 2019
K1 history of surgery
K1  gunshot wounds
K1  Ambroise Paré
K1  Giovanni da Vigo
K1  wound dressings
K1  cauterisation
AB By the fifteenth-century firearms had spread all over Europe, but surgeons had no idea how to cure gunshot wounds. It was generally accepted that high mortality from gunshot wounds could be explained by some kind of ‘gunshot poison’ entering the body with the bullet, but information and practical advice on managing gunshot wounds varied enormously across Europe. There were no appropriate instructions for such a new kind of wound in the ancient medical tradition and more recent ideas were unevenly distributed. Although known in Germany, Hieronymus Brunschwig’s Buch der Wund Artzney (1497) seems to have been unfamiliar in France and instead French surgeons focused on Giovanni da Vigo’s La Practique et chirurgie (1542), which was translated into several languages. Ambroise Paré also followed da Vigo, but in the battlefield he had to revise the generally accepted method of gunshot wound treatment. In response to his experiences he proposed a new version of wound care where cauterisation was replaced with a ligature of the vessels and the use of a healing balm dressing. In his treatise Des Playes faicts par haquebutes et autres bastons à feu (1545) he described the main stages of healing and the principles of wound care he finally adopted. As Paré fell out of fashion, the idea of ‘gunshot poison’ was rejected by the medical authorities, but the technique of cauterising gunshot wounds, abandoned by Paré, was still practiced.
Opponents of Paré argued that only a few people were cured by him and that those who were, were not seriously injured. It is of course impossible to know how many soldiers were cured with the help of Paré’s method but it nevertheless served as a basis for a new surgical paradigm. Perhaps most importantly, Paré’s method centred on the wish to reduce pain in the treatment process – an idea that was entirely new and ahead of its time.
NO This term ‘digestive’ should not be misunderstood: according to traditional ancient medicine, an open wound was ‘cooking’, creating so-called benign pus (pus benignus), which would contribute to purification and healing of the wound.
NO Paré seems to use the Lyons edition of 1515 in French; for the given paper, the authors use the Paris edition which appeared later than his study years. The authors of the given article used the edition of 1542: (Vigo, 1542)
NO The Harquebus is a portable long-barrelled gun dating from the fifteenth century.
NO A theriac was an ointment or other medicinal compound used as an antidote to snake venom or other poison.
PB The Science Museum Group
SN 2054-5770
LA eng
DO 10.15180/191105
UL http://journal.sciencemuseum.org.uk/browse/issue-11/ambroise-pare/
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WT Science Museum Group Journal
OL 30