Humble, compassionate, and visionary are the words that describe this amazing 16th century surgeon – Ambroise Paré. Born in a rural part of France in 1510, Paré went on to become the personal surgeon to four kings of France. But Paré had to battle the medical establishment of his day in order to bring needed innovations and cures to his patients.
At the young age of 15 he became an apprentice to a nearby barber-surgeon. You see back in those days the barbershop was the town’s first-aid station. In addition to cutting hair and trimming beards barbers pulled teeth and bandaged wounds. Fortunately for society Paré became interested in the medical side of the barber business. He tried to pass the exam to get into medical school but since the exams were in Latin and Greek, which he didn’t know, he couldn’t get into medical school. So instead, according to Tiner: “Paré found a job as a barber-surgeon at the Hotel-Dieu, a charity hospital. For three years, Paré gained experience taking care of the sick and suffering at the hospital.”1 In addition, he had plenty of cadavers to practice his surgical skills.
In 1537, France went to war. And it was on the battlefield that Paré began his amazing rise to fame. Cherry Chapman shares that it was on the battlefield that Paré made his first medical discovery. She writes: “While treating the multitude of soldiers, he revolutionized the care of gunshot wounds, which were at that time cauterized with boiling oil.”2 Needless to say pouring boiling oil on a gunshot wound was horribly painful and often led to high fevers and inflamed wounds in the soldiers. But as providence would have it one day during a major battle Paré ran out of oil. So, without oil he devised an ointment of egg yolk, oil of roses, and turpentine which he gently rubbed into the wounds. The next day Paré discovered to his delight that those who received his ointment had little pain and were doing much better than those who received the boiling oil.
As a result of this and other innovations, such as using a spool of silk tread to tie closed bleeding blood vessels as a result of the amputation of a limb, instead of sealing the blood vessels closed with a red-hot iron as was common practice, Paré gained great acclaim with all the fighting men. In addition, Paré was one of the first surgeons to not just treat the wound, but the entire patient by instituting rehabilitation protocol afterward. For example, for amputee patients he devised clever artificial limbs so not only could a patient recover but function too. His success continued to grow with each new technique but always the humble surgeon, Paré always pointed to God for his skills. His famous saying was: “I bandaged him and God healed him.” Paré was a sincere Christian who practiced his compassion on paupers and kings alike.
Again, Chapman shares: “He was a phenomenal writer who published multiple volumes concerning his treatments and care of wounds, fractures, dislocations, and on illnesses such as smallpox, measles and the plague.”3 Scripture quotations can be found throughout his writings. Sadly, there were attempts to block his writings from established physicians, I believe out of jealousy, but God intervened to ensure that his works made it into print. Paré was always seeking to soften the pain of his patients; which was rare in his day. He was a truly holistic surgeon in every sense of the word. He always credited God for the healing – he was just the instrument that God used.
Ambroise Paré lived a rich full life dying in 1590, at the age of 80. His wonderful legacy can be summed up by the words of Cherry Chapman: “His heart was his guide and the spirit of God anointed his practice to save thousands of men, women and children in his lifetime.”4
1 John Hudson Tiner, For Those Who Dare (Green Forest, Arkansas: Master Books, Inc. 2002), p. 31.
2 Ambroise Paré ; Surgeon to Paupers and Kings – (cherrychapman.com)
3 Ambroise Paré ; Surgeon to Paupers and Kings – (cherrychapman.com)
4 Ambroise Paré ; Surgeon to Paupers and Kings – (cherrychapman.com)
This is very good Curt…more complete and interesting than what’s in our book.
Thanks!