A Century Of Surgery

An engaging account of the creation of the American College of Surgeons and the dynamic individuals who formed the organization written on the 100th anniversary of its founding. Drs. Nahrwold and Kernahan have devoted four years to researching and writing this work, and the authors vividly capture the complex personalities of the leaders of the American College of Surgeons throughout its first 100 years.

A beautifully illustrated look at the evolution of surgery, as revealed through rare technical illustrations, sketches, and oil paintings The nineteenth century saw major advances in the practice of surgery. In 1750, the anatomist John Hunter described it as “a humiliating spectacle of the futility of science”; yet, over the next 150 years the feared, practical men of medicine benefited from a revolution in scientific progress and the increased availability of instructional textbooks. Anesthesia and antisepsis were introduced. Newly established medical schools improved surgeons’ understanding of the human body. For the first time, surgical techniques were refined, illustrated in color, and disseminated on the printed page. Crucial Interventions follows this evolution, drawing from magnificent examples of rare surgical textbooks from the mid-nineteenth century. Graphic and sometimes unnerving yet beautifully rendered, these fascinating illustrations, acquired from the Wellcome Collection’s extensive archives, include step-by-step surgical techniques paired with depictions of medical instruments and depictions of operations in progress. Arranged for the layman (from head to toe) Crucial Interventions is a captivating look at the early history of one of the world’s most mysterious and macabre professions.

Ambroise Paré (1510–1590) was a French surgeon who specialized in battlefield medicine, especially wound treatment. He was the official royal surgeon for the kings Henry II, Francis II, Charles IX and Henry III. A humane and dedicated physician, Paré was intensely concerned with the dissemination of knowledge about medicine. He contributed to the development of artificial limbs and also spawned several significant advancements in obstetrics. His medical achievements led Paré to be regarded as the “Father of Modern Surgery.” This edition, published in 1969, is the first English translation of Ten Books of Surgery, and it contains records of many of the most advanced medical practices of the time. Paré describes procedures for the treatment of battle wounds and gangrene, and also deals with ordinary ailments such as bone fractures, contusions, and kidney stones. Paré's work provides valuable insight into an age when the practice of medicine was moved towards the discipline and order of science but was still considerably affected by superstition.

Written in a lively and engaging style, this book provides a fascinating introduction to the development of surgery through the ages. Heavily illustrated in colour, The Cambridge Illustrated History of Surgery is the only serious choice for a reader wanting a lively and informative single-volume introduction to surgical history.

Surgery as a medical discipline has from its beginnings appealed to the imagination of many. It is therefore not surprising to find that its colourful past has induced quite a few authors to take up their pens. The truth of this in the Netherlands is witnessed by a number of dissertations and monographs and especially by the numerous articles related to the history of surgery which have appeared in the medical weekly Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Geneeskunde, particularly during the two decades preceding the Second World War. The memorial volume, published in 1977 by the 'Nederlandse Vereniging voor Heelkunde' (Association of Surgeons of the Netherlands) has thoroughly covered the history of Dutch surgery since the tum of the century, but a chronological survey of the earlier events which led to these modem achievements is still wanting. This book has been written with a view to meeting this need. In it, Dutch surgery has by no means been taken as an isolated phenomenon, but considered in its context with European surgery as a whole. Foreign influences on the on surgery abroad are discussed Netherlands and, conversely, Dutch influences whilst contemporary medical thinking is set against a cultural and political back ground. It is hoped that this approach will allow the book to exceed the narrow boundaries of'campanilismo' and make it of interest to non-Dutch readers as well.

Written by an author with plenty of experience holding a scalpel, Dr. David Schneider’s The Invention of Surgery is an in-depth biography of the practice that has leapt forward over the centuries from the dangerous guesswork of ancient Greek physicians through the world-changing developments of anesthesia and antiseptic operating rooms to the “implant revolution” of the twentieth century.The Invention of Surgery is history of surgery that explains this dramatic, world-changing progress and highlights the personalities of the discipline's most dynamic historical figures. It links together the lives of the pioneering scientists who first understood what causes disease and how surgery could powerfully intercede in people’s lives, and then shows how the rise of surgery intersected with many of the greatest medical breakthroughs of the last century. And as Schneider argues, surgery has not finished transforming; new technologies are constantly reinventing both the practice of surgery and the nature of the objects we are permanently implanting in our bodies. Schneider considers these latest developments, asking “What’s next?” and analyzing how our conception of surgery has changed alongside our evolving ideas of medicine, technology, and our bodies.