De recta curandorum vulnerum ratione, et aliis sius artis praeceptis libri II

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  • Amsterdam: Petri vanden Berge, 1658
By ARCEO, Francisco
Amsterdam: Petri vanden Berge, 1658. SECOND EDITION. Illustrated engraved title, woodcut on general title, full-page engraved plate. Half-morocco and marbled boards. Second edition of this rare and valuable treatise by Spain’s most outstanding surgeon of the sixteenth century. First printed by christophe Planin in 1574, this work on curing wounds in the head and other parts of the body was notable in improving the conditions, as well as educating and reforming the technique and ethics, of his profession.

In treating wounds and physical deformities, the author provides information on fevers and various treatments for illnesses, including drug-related remedies. Arceo “believed in healing by first intention, described an operative technique for removal of the breast for cancer, and discusses the treatment of talipes with a special shoe of his design” (Leonardo). In addition, he describes a new rhinoplastic method and was the inventor of a special balm.

Of particular interest is the chapter devoted to what was later called clubfoot. Arceo provides the details of a case in which he operated on a child’s lame foot by dislocating it and replacing the foot in the correct position. Following the operation the foot is placed in a specially-designed boot which the author invented and which is pictured in the engraved plate. Apparently the procedure worked.

Arceo (1493-1575) of Fregenal was so highly esteemed as a surgeon, that patients visited him from foreign countries. His name is preserved to us today in the ‘Balsamun Arcaei’ that he invented. The translation of this book into English by John Read in 1588 (entitled A most excellent and compendious method of curing woundes in the head, and in other partes of the body, London, Thomas East) is notable for containing the first printing of the Hippocratic Oath in English. The book was also translated into German and Dutch.

For the 1st edition, seed Durling, 240; see Garrison & Morton, 1757.90; Leonardo, History of Surgery, p. 147; Palau, 15444; Waller, 449; Wellcome, I, 370.

Details

Title

De recta curandorum vulnerum ratione, et aliis sius artis praeceptis libri II

Author

ARCEO, Francisco

Condition

Unknown

Publisher

Petri vanden Berge: Amsterdam

Date

1658

Edition

SECOND EDITION


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