pdf - Roger Gaskell Rare Books

First published as The surgions Mate in 1617, this was the Wrst textbook written
for naval surgeons and has been called ‘the Wrst good medical textbook of
its kind in English’ (ODNB). It is famous for Woodall’s early advocacy of
the use of lemons and limes to prevent scurvy.
Woodall’s other writings are included in this
second edition which is the Wrst collected edition
of his works. The work reXects Woodall’s support
of Paracelsian chemistry and chemical medicines.
There is also a section on alchemy (expanded
from the Wrst edition) and an essay entitled
‘Certain fragments concerning chirurgerie and
alchymie,’ published in this edition for the Wrst
time with a table of alchemical symbols and a
glossary of alchemical terms (Debus, The English
Paracelsians pp. 99–101).
One of the most prominent surgeons of his
generation, Woodall played a leading role in the
Company of Barber­Surgeons, becoming master
in 1632. He was involved in the building of the
company’s anatomy theatre, designed by Inigo
Jones and modelled on the anatomy theatre
at Padua. In 1613 he was appointed the Wrst
surgeon­general of the East India Company.
‘The instruments and medicines for a
surgeon’s chest, with their uses, are clearly described, followed by sections
on acute surgical problems, potentially lethal medical conditions, a discourse
on scurvy, and a treatise about alchemy and chemical medicines. Woodall’s is
also the earliest comprehensive clinical account of scurvy to prescribe lemon
juice for its prevention and cure. Between 1626 and 1628 the Barber­Surgeons
were authorized to supply surgeons’ chests for the navy, merchant marine, and
the army, which prompted Woodall to publish in 1628 his Viaticum, the Path-
Way to the Surgeons Chest; specializing in the treatment of gunshot wounds it
was mainly designed to instruct young surgeons with the English troops who
attempted to relieve Huguenots blockaded in the Atlantic port of La Rochelle.
This short work and Woodall’s Treatise... of... the Plague and a Treatise of
Gangrene and Sphacelos were incorporated with separate title­pages in a revised
and extended edition of The Surgions Mate... in 1639. Dedicated to Charles I,
it contains an equestrian portrait of the king engraved by William Marshall and
a Wne plate illustrating Woodall’s own invented hand trephine, safely used for
cutting holes in skulls for the next three centuries. His detailed description of
the amputation of sphacelos, or dead tissue, at the upper limit of established
gangrene, enabling him to save more than a hundred lives, was long accepted
as a standard work on the subject.’ (John H. Appleby in ODNB.)
Bibliographical note. Signature G contains 8 leaves: G1,2 signed; G3 unsigned;
G4,5 signed G3,2; G6–8 unsigned. It is not clear from this copy which
leaves are conjugate. The contents of these leaves are as follows: G1–2, pp.
23–26; G3r–v, verses, ‘To his very worthy and entirely respected friend and
Brother’; G4r–G6r ‘Enema fumosum, or a Fumous Glister’; G6v blank;
G7r–8r pp. 27–29; G8v blank. In most copies the unsigned leaf containing the