PIETRO D?ARGELATA.

Cirurgia.

      [Colophon:] Venetiis [Venice]: [no printer], 1499. - Folio, 131 leaves (of 132, lacking the last blank). Gothic letter, double column, 70 lines plus headline, woodcut initials. Old repair to upper corner of C8 with loss of folio number, old repairs to a wormhole in the lower corner of 14 leaves, a few pale dampstains in the margins, last (blank) page a bit soiled and ragged in the upper corner, corners of last few leaves a little worn. Eighteenth century sheep-backed boards, spine repaired at head. Annotated in an early hand in the margins of about 68 pages (some cropped by the later binder). Fourth edition. Pietro d?Argelata (d. 1423) was the most distinguished pupil of Guy de Chauliac, and the principal surgeon between Guy and John of Vigo. He was professor at Bologna, and his Cirurgia was first published in 1480, edited by Matthaeus Moretus. He "taught the dry treatment of wounds, but powdered them; was skilled in dentistry, used sutures and drainage-tubes in wounds, trephined the skull, incised the linea alba in post-mortem Caesarean section, and sometimes operated for hernia, stone, and fistula in ano" (Garrison). He recommended compressing bandages in chronic ulcers, did not sew up wounds of nerves, cauterised varicose veins, and accomplished the removal of teeth by medicine rather than by pulling them out. The work contains a careful review of earlier literature with numerous references. The various chapters cover wounds in general and of particular parts, and ulcers in general and of particular parts, with other chapters on specific disorders such as hernia and scabies, and parts of the body including the eyes, ears, teeth and gums, skin, nerves, spine, etc. It contains a post-mortem carried out on the body of Pope Alexander V, who died suddenly and mysteriously in Bologna in 1410 (Long, p. 62). The annotations in this copy range from a brief note or just a single word to much longer notes occupying a whole margin. They are most extensive in the chapters on wounds. Klebs 777.4. BMC V, 588. GKW 2324. Wellcome I, 398. See Stillwell III, 481. [Attributes: Hard Cover]