Renaissance Surgery

• Andreas Vesalius


  • studied medicine at Paris and Padua
  • was a professor of anatomy
  • carried out own dissections
  • believed anatomy was key to understanding how body worked
  • 'De Humani Corporis Fabrica' in 1543 which changed attitudes to medicine
• Ambroise Pare

  • apprentices to a barber surgeon
  • learned lots of skills as an army surgeon
  • used ligatures to seal a wound
  • considered as a father of modern surgery
• John Hunter

  • assistant to a successful physician
  • served as army surgeon in Seven Years War, dealing with gunshot wounds and amputations
  • known as the father of scientific surgery
• To what extent did surgery become safer?

  surgeons skills improved with methods and advice being shared in books thanks to the printing press

  William Cheselden was renowned for his speed and dexterity to remove a stone from the bladder in less than a minute
• How did the training of surgeons change?

  in the 18th century, more than half practising doctors had served an apprenticeship

  increasing amount of qualifications and medical degrees

  in 1811, to be a surgeon you had to attend one course in anatomy and one in surgery

  in 1813, to be a surgeon you must have 1 year minimum experience in a hospital