The Medieval Surgery

by Ruggero, Tony Hunt

All 50 illustrations of consultations in a medieval surgery, accompanied by a modern commentary, from Roger of Parma's Surgery (c. 1180) the first original treatise on surgery to be written in the medieval west. A fascinating compendium of treatments for a variety of conditions confronting doctors and patients in the middle ages.

Genres: History

Hardcover

First published December 31, 1992

Reviews

[April Munday]

If you ever need reminding that you're fortunate to live in the twenty-first century, this is the book to read. There are pictures of things (such as a barbed arrow) being removed from a body, wounds being cauterised with a red hot rod of iron and a drill boring into a skull. All were procedures carried out in the Middle Ages without the benefit of anaesthetic.

It's an interesting little book, but it's more about the pictures than the surgical procedures. I would have prefered to know a bit more about the text illustrated by the drawings, but the illustrations are an education in themselves.

[Autumn Kelly]

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