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422 RECENT TIMES.
of operations.* What care the Dutch surgeons devoted to
anatomical dissection is shown by the already mentioned
pictures of the painters of the Netherlands. The students.
had the opportunity of observing patients and seeing
surgical operations in the private practice of their teachers.
and in the service of the hospital.
The German surgeons as a general rule occupied the
position of barbers; only a few rose above this and,
were capable of regarding the treatment of wounds in a
scientific spirit. Whoso adopted this callingf learned in.
the first place from a master of the art, how to shave and
cut hair, to spread plasters, to cup and to bleed. After
this he was shown how wounds and ulcers are treated,.
dislocations reduced and fractures set and cured. Only
such surgeons as had been matured in the school of experi- '|
ence, or specialists who had attained conspicuous skill in
very limited fields of work, ventured upon the higher _'_
surgical operations. The town-surgeon of Zurich was.
ordered in 1716 to invite young surgeons to the operations |
which he performed " that they might have the opportunity. |
of gaining further knowledge in such methods of cure."t
At Wiirzburg the chief surgeon at the Julius Hospital
was commissioned, in 1725, to give instruction in his art at.
the bedside.
In the treatise entitled " The Bold Surgeon of the Trusty '
ECKHART" (Augsburg, 1698) the students of. surgery were \.
advised to study anatomy thoroughly, and, should human subjects
fail, on the bodies of the lower animals, for if learned.
doctors were not ashamed to pursue this study " a saucy
barber's or bathman-fellow's honour will be unscathed."
Further, the advice was given them to visit hospitals and
to attend operations which famous surgeons performed, \
even after their student-life was passed. The remaining
* A. CORRADI op. cit. Ser. ii, Vol. vi, p. 638.
t O. BUCHNER: Aus Giessens Vergangenheit, Giessen 1885, S. 27.
X MEIER-AHRENS : Geschichte des Ziircherischen Medicinalwesens, Basel
1840.