Page:The growth of medicine from the earliest times to about 1800.djvu/319

 His larger treatise, the "Chirurgia Magna," was completed in 1296. It was dedicated to the King of France, Philip IV., commonly called "Phillippe le Bel," and its intrinsic merits assured him a permanent reputation as a surgeon. This work, which was translated years ago into English and has recently (1894) been published by the "Early English Text Society," under the title "Lanfrank's Science of Cirurgie," consists of five separate fasciculi or parts. A few extracts from the text of this celebrated work may prove of interest to the reader. Not having access to the English version just mentioned, I shall have to translate from the version (partly Latin and partly German) supplied by Neuburger.

Part I. of the Chirurgia Parva mentions some of the characteristics which a surgeon should possess. He should, for example, have well-formed hands, with fingers that are long and slender; his body should be strong and firm in its movements; his hands and fingers should respond quickly to the workings of the mind; his mind should be of a subtle type; in character he should not be over-bold, but self-reliant and yet modest; he should have a good supply of common sense; he should be well-informed not only in medicine, but also in all the branches of philosophy; he should be a good logician; he should be familiar with the writings of medical authors; he should be virtuous and ethical; he should be trustworthy; he should not be avaricious nor envious; and, finally, he should be thoroughly familiar with all the diseases to which the human body is liable. In one place Lanfranchi refers to the fact that exposure to the air favors the production of pus in a wound. Among the methods which may be employed for arresting hemorrhage he mentions digital compression and ligaturing of the bleeding vessels. He recommends that a wounded individual should abstain from wine and from an over-nutritious diet. No attempt, he says, should be made to extirpate, with the knife or by means of the actual cautery, an ulcerated cancer, unless it appears probable that by such means complete destruction of the tumor may be effected. In traumatic tetanus dependent