VIII 



MEDICINE IN THE SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH 

 CENTURIES 



OF the half-dozen surgeons who were prominent in 

 the sixteenth century, Ambroise Pare (151 7-1590), 

 called the father of French surgery, is perhaps the 

 most widely known. He rose from the position of a 

 common barber to that of surgeon to three French 

 monarchs, Henry II., Francis II., and Charles IX. 

 Some of his mottoes are still first principles of the 

 medical man. Among others are: "He who becomes 

 a surgeon for the sake of money, and not for the sake 

 of knowledge, will accomplish nothing"; and "A tried 

 remedy is better than a newly invented." On his 

 statue is his modest estimate of his work in caring for 

 the wounded, "Je le pansay, Dieu le guarit" I 

 dressed him, God cured him. 



It was in this dressing of wounds on the battle- 

 field that he accidentally discovered how useless and 

 harmful was the terribly painful treatment of applying 

 boiling oil to gunshot wounds as advocated by John 

 of Vigo. It happened that after a certain battle, 

 where there was an unusually large number of casual- 

 ties, Pare found, to his horror, that no more boiling 

 oil was available for the surgeons, and that he should 

 be obliged to dress the wounded by other simpler 

 methods. To his amazement the results proved en- 

 VOL. ii. 13 181 



