[Ambroise Paré (1510-90)--and features of the history of surgery]

For six centuries the barbers of Europe practiced surgery. In 1215 a papal edict forbade members of the clergy (physicians) from performing surgical procedures as contact with blood was felt to be contaminating to men of the church. Bloodletting and minor surgery was now turned over to the barber-surgeons and this was in agreement with the medical doctors who felt that these procedures were beneath their dignity. The barber-surgeons were sometimes called "doctors of the short robe" to distinguish them from the medical doctors and surgeons who were called "doctors of the long robe", although university status was hardly given to the surgeons. Ambroise Paré started as a barber-surgeon and his eminence was honoured by the long robe. It was his experience at the Hôtel Dieu that permitted him to serve as a surgeon to the French army and through his open mind Paré made many innovations during his career. Paré abolished the painful practise of cautery to stop bleeding and used ligatures and dressings instead. A multitude of subjects were included in his writings such as military surgery, aneurysm, hernia, obstetrics and plague, and through his techniques he guided the development of the gentle art of surgery. Paré became the founder of modern surgery, a restorative process that heals the body with minimal suffering.