COLLECTION

Amputation Surgical Cased Set, Carriére á Paris / COLLIN & Cie, France, about 1880
Amputation Surgical Cased Set, Charriére, France, XIX c.

France, 19 C. 2 half

Amputation instrument case by Charrière/COLLIN & Cie, dating from around 1880. The case is complete with its set of eight knives, two curved needles on handles, one large curved needle without a handle, large bow amputation saw with a spare blade, smaller metacarpal saw, powerful detachable bone forceps, small clamping forceps and red haemostatic band, a pair of forceps and a curved needle. All the instruments including saws have ebony handles. All instruments have markings of the house of Charrière: Charrière á Paris or COLLIN & Cie. 

Shepard and Dudley Amputation and Trepanation Set, American, 19th century

USA, 19 C. 2 half

American Amputation and trepanation cased set, by Shepard & Dudley NY, late XIX century. The wooden case contains the typical instruments of a trauma surgeon, such as amputation saw, trephine head with handle, screw tourniquet. The amputation saw and three amputation knives have ebony handles, the rest hand instruments like scalpels and hook have ivory handles. The case has two compartments lined with violet velvet. On the cover of the upper compartment, the inscription "SHEPARD & DUDLEY * NEW YORK". 

LIBRARY

Paracelsus Philippus Theophrastus. Opera. Strassburg, volume 1, title, 1603
Opera, Bücher und Schrifften, so viel deren zur Handt gebracht...

Germany, 18 C.

Paracelsus, Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim

Paracelsus, Philippus Theophrastus. Opera, Bücher und Schrifften, so viel deren zur Handt gebracht ...Strasbourg, Lazarus Zetzner, 1603. With: Opera ... Ander Theyl. Strasbourg, Lazarus Zetzner, 1603. 2 works in 2 volumes. 

Der rechte und wahrhafftige Feldscher / Oder/ Die rechte und warhafftige Feldschers-Kunst ... (The Right and True Field Surgeon/ Or / The Right and True Art of the Field Surgeon) by Matthaus Gottfried Purmann. Edition 1708
Der rechte und wahrhafftige Feldscher

Germany, 18 C.

Purmann, Matthaeus Gottfried

Der rechte und wahrhafftige Feldscher / Oder/ Die rechte und warhafftige Feldschers-Kunst ... (The Right and True Field Surgeon/ Or / The Right and True Art of the Field Surgeon) by Matthæus Gottfried Purmann, surgeon and city physician in Breslau... Frankfurt and Leipzig, published by Michael Rohrlach, bookseller in Liegnitz, 1708

Fifty remarkable and extraordinary cures of gunshot wounds and other injuries in Pomerania, which occurred during the sieges of Wolgast, Anklam, Demmin, Stettin, Greifswald, Stralsund, and the capture of the island of Rügen... Matthaeus Purmann, 1693
Fünfftzig Sonder und wunderbahre Schuß- und Wunden-Curen

Germany, 17 C.

Purmann, Matthaeus Gottfried

Fifty remarkable and extraordinary cures of gunshot wounds and other injuries in Pomerania, which occurred during the sieges of Wolgast, Anklam, Demmin, Stettin, Greifswald, Stralsund, and the capture of the island of Rügen, and how these were treated according to the most proper and reliable therapeutic methods and successfully cured... by Matthæus Gottfried Purmann, surgeon and city physician in Breslau... Frankfurt and Leipzig, published by Michael Rohrlach, bookseller in Liegnitz, 1693.

PEOPLE

Paracelsus. The 17th cent. copy of the lost original portrait by Quentin Matsys, Flemish painter (1466–1530). Louvre, Paris. Source: wikipedia
Paracelsus, Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim

Paracelsus, also known by his full name Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim (1493–1541), was a Swiss-German physician, alchemist, natural philosopher, and one of the most controversial medical reformers of the Renaissance. He became famous because he challenged the authority of Avicenna, Galen, and Celsius, and the contemporary university medicine, argued that physicians should learn from direct experience, and promoted the use of chemical and mineral remedies. His importance lies especially in the connection he made between medicine and chemistry, which helped prepare the way for iatrochemistry, pharmacology, toxicology, and modern ideas about dosage. Britannica describes him as a physician and alchemist who “established the role of chemistry in medicine” and notes his famous surgical work Der grossen Wundartzney of 1536. 

Part of the title from the book "Fünfzig sonder- und wunderbare Schußwundencuren..." Frankfurt/Leipzig, 1693 by Matthaeus Gottfried Purmann (1648–1711)
Purmann, Matthaeus Gottfried

Matthaeus Gottfried Purmann or Matthäus Gottfried Purrmann (1648–1711), Silesian surgeon and city doctor (Stadt-Physicus) of Breslau. He is known for his detailed study of moxibustion, in 1668, he performed the first in Germany blood transfusion from a lamb to a human (xenotransfusion), and was very active author of German-language surgical manuals.

Trepanation by Andrea Della Croce. AI-imagination based on the engraving from the Chirurgiae Ioannis Andreae a Cruce ... libri septem, 1573
Croce, Giovanni Andrea Della

Giovanni Andrea Della Croce (1515–1575), Italian Renaissance surgeon, neurosurgeon and traumatologist. Venetian surgeon published his landmark seven-volume surgical compendium in Latin (1573) and Italian (1574), bringing cutting-edge knowledge to physicians and barber-surgeons alike. Grounded in battlefield experience and rich in illustration, his work transformed surgery from a craft into a teachable science — earning him comparison with France's Ambroise Paré.

Lorenz Heister German surgeon and anatomist 18 century
Heister, Lorenz

Lorenz Heister, an 18th-century prominent German surgeon, Professor of Anatomy and Surgery at the University of Altdorf, Germany. He authored influential books translated into multiple languages, leaving a lasting impact on medical education, including famous "Chirurgie, in welcher alles was zur Wund Artzney gehöret, nach der neuesten und besten Art, gründlich abgehandelt wird." translated in all main European languages.

The field-surgeon performing leg's amputation. Illustration from the Feldtbuch Der Wundarzney by Hans von Gersdorff. Source: The Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard School of Medicine, USA
Gersdorff, Hans von

Hans von Gersdorff (1455-1529) was a German surgeon and medical writer who lived during the 15th and early 16th centuries. He is best known for his military surgical experience and his influential medical manual, the Feldtbuch der Wundarzney (Field Book of Wound Medicine), which became one of the most widely used surgical textbooks in medieval Europe. His work played a crucial role in shaping the field of surgery, particularly in the treatment of battlefield injuries, amputations, and wound care.

 

 

FIRM

Logo of the company Gebrüder Martin, ca. 1950
KLS Martin (Gebrüder Martin), Tuttlingen

Germany, Tuttlingen

KLS Martin (founded in 1923) is a renowned German manufacturer of high-precision surgical instruments and implants, surgical lights, high-frequency coagulators, and lasers.

Articles

Tourniquet, core instrument haemorrhage control by wound or amputation
Tourniquet, principal instrument for bleeding control

The tourniquet is considered by many to be one of the most significant inventions in the history of surgery, having saved millions of soldiers and trauma victims. The earliest documented methods of blood control emerged in ancient India, as evidenced by Sushruta's ligatures, and referenced by Roman medici for vessel tying and cauterisation, in addition to external limb binding. Medieval and Renaissance barber-surgeons utilised tight bands, and in the 18th century, Jean-Louis Petit developed the screw tourniquet. The evolution of emergency care has been characterised by significant developments, with innovations ranging from Esmarch's elastic bandage to modern C-A-T devices.