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and originally explained by Fabricins. But his principal fame arises from his merit as a surgeon, and hence Boerhaave, in comparing him with his cotemporaries, speaks of him in the following terms: "Superavit enim omnes chirurgos, et nemo illi hanc disputat gloriam."

As for Ambroise Pare,[1] his life forms an epoch in the annals of our profession; and the French assign to him the same rank in relation to surgery, which Hippocrates generally enjoys in respect to physic. This encomium can only be intended, however, to refer to his merit in the reform of ancient surgery, or, in other words, to the zeal and good sense. Avith which he promoted some of the valuable improvements, which followed the first due connexion of surgery with the correct anatomy established by Vesalius. To Ambroise Pare, the world is indebted for a just estimate of the superiority of the ligature, as a means of stopping hemorrhage; and, in particular, for a great number


  1. Ambroise Pare, horn early in the sixteenth century, and died in 1590.