MILITARY MEDICINE CHAMBERLAIN. 245 



of the femur, and was the first to suggest syphilis as a cause of 

 aneurysm — a goodly contribution for one who began his career as 

 an apprentice to a rustic barber. His first military patient was a 

 captain shot in the ankle. Pare says of this case, " I dressed him and 

 God healed him." As he passed through campaign after campaign 

 his reputation became more firmly established among both soldiers 

 and physicians. When he entered Metz, which was being besieged 

 by Charles V in 1552, and was dramatically presented to the officers 

 by the Duke of Guise, he was received by the soldiers with sh©uts of 

 triumph and the exclamation, " We shall not die even though 

 wounded, for Pare is among us." 



John Hunter, the erudite scholar and great surgeon, was a staff 

 surgeon in 1761, when he gained his unique knowledge of gunshot 

 wounds. His contributions to surgery are too well known to need 

 mention. He was made deputy surgeon general in the British Army 

 and introduced a system of promotion in the medical service. 



The name of Baron Larrey is ever associated with the campaigns of 

 Napoleon, and he was one of the great Emperor's intimate friends 

 and most trusted advisors. His energy on the battle field and his 

 genius for organization have never been surpassed. His flying am- 

 bulance corps and mounted surgeons often passed through showers of 

 bullets in bringing aid to the wounded. At Aboukif Bay he ampu- 

 tated General Sully's leg above the knee under fire, and carried this 

 officer to safety on his own back just in advance of a charge of British 

 cavalry. He was an able surgeon and the first, in spite of strong op- 

 position by civil surgeons, to advocate the employment of plaster 

 splints in the treatment of gunshot fractures. In fractures of the 

 leg, he used them to allow the patient to leave his bed as soon as 

 possible. His military service extended over 50 years, and he par- 

 ticipated in 26 military expeditions in three continents. Probably 

 under no circumstances did the ability and courage of this remark- 

 able man show to better advantage than during Napoleon's retreat 

 from Moscow. After the battle of Borodino, Larrey made 200 am- 

 putations, practically with his own hands, with no bed or shelter, 

 cold so intense that the instrument often fell from the benumbed 

 fingers, and with the Cossacks hovering around equally ready to 

 kill patient and surgeon. At the battle of Waterloo, he was sabred 

 by Prussians and left for dead. Recovering consciousness and try- 

 ing to make his way across France he was captured, robbed, and 

 sentenced to be shot. A Prussian surgeon, who had attended Lar- 

 rey's lectures several years before, recognized him, and the order of 

 execution was stayed by Marshal Blucher, whose son had been saved 

 through Larrey's exertions when wounded by the French in the Aus- 

 trian campaign. 



136650°— 20— ^-17 



