FIG. 20. AMPUTATION OF THE LEG.
(From Hans von Gerssdorff’s Feldbuch der Wundarznei.)
Von Gurlt says that this is the earliest known pictorial illustration of the amputation of a limb.
Fabricius of Hilden.—Fabricius Hildanus—or Fabricius of Hilden, near Düsseldorf—was born in 1560 and received his early training in surgery from Cosmas Slotanus, a pupil of Vesalius and the first barber-surgeon of Duke Wilhelm of Guelich-Cleve-Berg (eighteen miles northeast of Aix-la-Chapelle). In 1585 he visited Geneva, Switzerland, and continued his studies in that city under the guidance of Jean Griffon, one of the most distinguished surgeons of that period. After leaving Geneva he practiced medicine at Cologne, and during that period (1591–1596) steadily increased his reputation as a skilful surgeon, particularly well versed in anatomy. But he appears to have acquired a strong liking for Switzerland and for the professional friends whom he had gained in that country; and consequently it is not surprising to learn that, during the later years of his life, he spent long periods of time in Geneva, Lausanne and Berne, in the last of which cities he filled the office of City Physician. He died in 1634, at the age of seventy-four, full of honors and greatly beloved by all who knew him.
Fabricius of Hilden laid great stress upon the importance, to the surgeon, of a thorough grounding in anatomy. He had been profoundly impressed by the fact that his instructor at Geneva, Jean Griffon, never undertook an important operation until after he had refreshed his memory by a dissection of the region involved. He was also much interested in pathological anatomy, and always availed himself of every possible opportunity for making a postmortem examination. As evidence of the slowness with which news of important scientific discoveries, particularly in the domain of medicine, traveled in those days I may mention here the fact that, up to the time of his death in 1634, Fabricius had not heard of Harvey’s great discovery of the circulation of the blood (1628). Although he gained distinction in more than one field of medicine his greatest reputation was unquestionably gained in that of surgery; and his success in this field was to be ascribed to his profound knowledge of anatomy, to his inventive genius, and to his great technical skill. He insisted very strongly upon the importance, for the surgeon, of possessing good instruments and well-constructed apparatus.
If we compare Fabricius of Hilden with Ambroise Paré we are obliged to admit that the latter, although decidedly inferior to his rival in scientific training, was the greater surgeon of the two. It is perhaps worth recording that Paracelsus and Wuertz were Fabricius’ bitter opponents.
Of his published contributions to surgical literature, the most important are to be found in the work entitled: “Observationum et curationum chirurgicarum centuriae VII.,” published at Lyons in 1641.
Felix Wuertz.—Felix Wuertz was born at Zurich, Switzerland, between the years 1500 and 1510 (the exact date is not known). As to his early life and surroundings I am only able to say that his father was a painter, that he himself took service under a barber, and that at the end of two or three years, after he had learned the details of this branch of work, he started out on his travels over Europe in the character of a barber’s apprentice, as was, in those days, the regular custom with apprentices of all trades or occupations. In this way he visited such cities as Bamberg, Pforzheim, Nuernberg, Padua and Rome, in each of which he spent a certain length of time as an aid to those surgeons who were willing to employ him. It is not unlikely that it was during this wandering period of his life that he gained some experience in the treatment of gunshot wounds. In 1536, after an absence of four or five years, he returned to his native city and was regularly enrolled as a member of the barbers’ guild. During the following twenty years he carried on the practice of medicine and surgery, but more particularly the latter, with ever-increasing success. In 1559, for reasons which are not mentioned by any of his biographers, he left Zurich and established himself in Strassburg; and then, at the end of another ten or twelve years, he again changed his residence, this time giving the preference to Basel, a Swiss city located at the boundary line between Germany and Switzerland. The exact date of Wuertz’s death is not known, but—from various facts which he mentions in his book—it may be inferred that it occurred in 1576, and that he was residing at the time in the house of his son, who had the same name as himself and was also a surgeon. The title of the treatise which he wrote and which passed through a number of editions between the years 1563 and 1651,—not to mention translations into the French and Dutch languages—was: “Practica der Wundarznei” (The Treatment of Surgical Affections).
Malgaigne—says von Gurlt, in his History of Surgery—does not hesitate to speak of Wuertz as one of the three greatest surgeons of the sixteenth century (Franco and Ambroise Paré being the other two); and von Gurlt adds that Wuertz’s “Practica” is rich in facts which he had gathered from his own experience in everyday practice, and upon which he makes comments that really represent his own views and not those of various other authors. The leading principles which guided Wuertz in his treatment of wounds of all kinds are thus formulated by him:—