SURGERY. 
Surgery and physic were then, and for 
many ages afterwards, practised by the 
same individuals. These, however, in course 
of time, began to consider the manual and 
operative pait of the profession as too me- 
chanical and low for persons of their seien- 
tiiic education, and consequently resigned 
them to an inferior class of uneducated 
men, who generally combined with them 
the trade of the barber. Hence arose in 
most countries of Europe the calling of 
barber-surgeon ; which included, besides 
shaving, hair-dressing, «&c. tooth-drawing, 
bleeding, dressing of ulcers, and other of the 
more common and easy parts of operative 
surgery. While contaminated by so de- 
grading an alliance, and practised by per- 
sons wholly illiterate, we cannot be sur- 
prised to find that surgery and its pro- 
fessors met with neglect and contempt, and 
that the latter were considered as merely 
subordinate to the physicians. The barber- 
surgeons must still have had opportunities 
of seeing and learning disease ; they began 
to get an insight into the structure of the 
human body ; and they acquired a respec- 
tability by being employed in wars in the 
cure of the wounded. The physicians, who 
were still the only regularly educated and 
scientific class of men practising the art of 
healing, wished to retain their old and long 
enjoyed superiority ; and hence arose in many 
countries long and sharp disputes with the 
barber-surgeons, which ended at last, as the 
progress of civilization and improvement 
would naturally lead us to expect, in the 
separation of the barbers and surgeons, and 
tire elevation of the latter to their proper 
jank and consideration in society. 
Whatever part of the subject we may 
contemplate, we shall find that the art of 
surgery requires, no less than that of physic, 
all the advantages that can be derived from 
the most liberal education ; that it demands 
still more imperiously a familiar knowledge 
of anatomy and physiology, i. e. of the 
structure and functions of that machine, 
whose derangements it proposes to re- 
medy ; and consequently, that although 
prejudice still assigns to the physician a su- 
perior rank to that of the surgeon, they 
must be considered in modern days, as 
equals, whether we regard the reason of the 
thing, or proceed to an actual comparison 
of individuals. 
Our opinions concerning the education 
and qualifications of tlie surgeon will be ea- 
sily collected from the foregoing observa- 
tions. Instead of spending seven years of 
VOL. VI. 
the most valuable part of his life in the> 
drudgery of an apothecary’s shop, the 
youth destined for the profession of surgery 
should receive a learned and liberal educa- 
tion. The Latin language among the dead, 
and the French of the living, are indispensi- 
hly necessary ; and the German w’ould 
form a very useful addition to these. 
Anatomy and physiology are the next 
objects of attention, and demand the most 
assiduous cultivation ; these sciences are- 
the foundation on which the art of surgery 
rests. The study of chemistry and natu- 
ral philosophy will be pursued at the same- 
time. When prepared by these previous 
steps, the student may commence the prac- 
tical part of his education in the large hos- 
pitals of the metropolis ; carefully studying 
diseases themselves, taking notes of the 
most interesting cases, and omitting no op- 
portunity of observing the alterations occa- 
sioned by disease in the structure of tlio 
body. Lectures on surgery, on the mate- 
ria medica, and the practice of medicine 
must also be attended. The performance 
of surgical operations on the dead body 
will be highly beneficial, as leading to tlie 
study of those parts of anatomy, which are 
more particularly concerned in operations, 
and as imparting the manual skill necessary 
to the operator. 
Of systenatic works on Surgery there is 
none, which unites the recommendations of 
clearness, shortness, and comprehension, to 
so great a degree, as the “ First Lines of the 
Practice of Surgery,” by Mr. S. Cooper, to 
which we therefore refer the reader. The 
larger systems are by no means unexcep- 
tionable ; we may mention that of Latta ; 
the “ Systema Chirurgiae hodiernae ” of 
Callisen; and the “ Anfangs-griinde der Wim> 
darzney kunst” of Richter. Generally, how- 
ever, the works tliat treat of particular sub- 
jects are to be preferred to the systems of 
surgery. The writings of Mr. Pott, and the 
“ Memoirs of the French Royal Academy 
of Surgery,” contain a great deal of valuable 
information ; as also do those of John 
Hunter, Home, Abernethy, and Astley 
Cooper ; Le Dran, Sharp, Bertrandi, and 
Sabatier, inay be read on the operations. 
The numerous other sources of surgical 
knowledge will be discovered by the stu- 
dent in iris progress. The following sketch 
will be divided into general surgical sub- 
jects, or such disorders as are common toi 
several situations in the body, including 
also the constitutional derangements which 
accompany or cause lo(^l disorders j and 
U 
