Page:The Hunterian Oration,1838.djvu/24

16 THE HUNTERIAN ORATION. a main step toward civilization, for which the profession is indebted to Ambrose Paré. But the ligature of the arteries after amputation, suggested by his aversion to the actual cautery—the greatest discovery ever made in practical surgery—forms the key-stone of his reputation, and would of itself immortalize his name.

He advocated the ligature on the ground of its greater security than the cautery of any description. The practice was stoutly assailed by his successors on account of its tediousness and difficulty, and the great effusion of blood during its performance: and if we call to mind the disadvantage attending the want of an efficient tourniquet, and the total ignorance of the circulation then prevailing, which would lead them to include the veins as well as arteries in their ligatures, we may conceive it open to these objections under the most skilful hands. The courage and firmness indeed then requisite, as qualifications for an operating surgeon, must have been of a higher quality than now, when the knowledge of anatomy, and its elucidation by that of physiology, has armed us against surprises from unforeseen sources, and, in this department especially, afforded the surgeon a calm vantage ground over the results of casualty and disease.

Paré, the surgeon of four successive reigns, the companion of princes and the friend of Sully, has