- ricius ab Acquapendente. In the text to which reference
has just been made, I find a brief mention of a case which passed under Fallopius' observation and which, perhaps, is of sufficient interest to be recorded here. The patient's—a German student's—finger had been nearly severed by some cutting instrument, and the greater part of the member remained attached to the hand only by a narrow strip of flesh. "I stitched together the separated edges, and at the end of three or four days I was astonished to find that firm union between the separated parts had already taken place. This result seemed to me like something miraculous."
Carcano Leone was born at Milan in 1536, his parents being people of good social standing. After receiving a thorough classical education, he began his medical studies in his native city, under the guidance of Pietro Martire, a pupil of Vesalius. He next continued his studies at the University of Pavia, but eventually went to Padua, where he enrolled himself among the pupils of Fallopius. After a residence of two years in that city, he returned to Milan and opened a medical school of his own. Upon the occasion of the death of the Cardinal and Archbishop Carlo Borromeo, whose remains now rest in the cathedral of Milan, it was Carcano Leone who was invited to make the postmortem examination. He carried on the practice of his profession during a period of about twenty-eight years, his death occurring—so far as may now be learned—in 1606.
Carcano Leone's reputation as a surgeon rests mainly on the treatise which he wrote on the wounds of the head, and which was published at Milan in 1583. From among the numerous cases of this character which came under his observation, and of which a certain number are reported by von Gurlt, I have selected the very brief histories of three that seem to me well adapted to serve as examples of Leone's knowledge of surgery and also of his ability to cope with problems of so serious a character. They reveal the fact that he was a surgeon of excellent judgment, most persevering, and very resourceful. Briefly told, the
