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SURGERY AND MIDWIFERY. 273
4 the sexual organs refer most probably to syphilis and
-Venereal affections. The story that. YPERMAN healed
numerous " leprous '.' persons with a mercurial ointment
throws a strong light on the more ancient history of syphilis,
as to ,which it was erroneously assumed for a long, time
that it came into general prevalence only at the end of
the 15th century* Indeed this remedy was then generally
used for ulcers and skin diseases.t GuiDO DE CAULIACO
advised that intractable ulcers should be treated by laying
on them a plate of lead on which mercury had been rubbed.
In carcinoma he recommended the actual cautery and
sublimated arsenic!
.Surgery gained an important advantage by the revival of
plastic operations which, as has been stated previously, were
known in ancient times. At Norcia and Preci in Calabria the
members of several families gave constant attention to the
1 " performance of particular surgical operations for instance
herniotomy, lithotomy, the operations for cataract, etc.
Here arose the -first knowledge of the rhinoplastic operation.
The surgeon BRANCA, who practised at Catania in
Sicily at the commencement of the 15th century, excited
a legitimate astonishment by the art with which he
.replaced lost noses and lips by adaptation of neighbouring
parts of the skin of the face.§ His son ANTONIO, also,
possessed considerable skill in the same art; but, afterwards,
instead" of the skin of the face a suitable portion of
the skin of the arm was used to replace the loss of sub-
, Stance. This, procedure came by degrees to be known
among surgeons and even reached Germany, as is clear
t from PFOLSPRUNDT'S book.
Mention must not be omitted of the fact that already at
* BROEKX: YPERMAN op. cit. p. 145.
f Annals of Waverley in ALF. CORRADI: Nuovi documenti per la storia'
delle malattie veneree in Ann. univ. di med. Milano 1884, vol. 269, p. 289.
X G. DE CAULIAC. : op. cit. tr. iv, doctr. 2, c. 6.
BARTH. FACIUS: Devirisillustr. Florent. 1745^.38.—E. ZEIS: Geschichte
der plast.. Chirurgie, Leipzig 1863, S. 188 et seq.
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