BEfore we come to treat of Chirurgery it self , there are several Praecognita fit to be known by him , that would be a Proficient therein . For these Praecognita are Introductory , and will clear the Way for the better Understanding of what shall afterwards be discoursed : And they are these : 1. Of the Antiquity and Dignity of Chirurgery . 2. Of such Authors as have written of it . 3. Of the Definition of it . 4 Of the Division or Parts of it .

And then my Intent is to pass through all the Parts of Chirurgery methodically , that so the Reader 's Memory may more easily Retain what he peruses : And I shall give you nothing but what is warranted by the Authority of the most Learned and best Experienced Men in all Ages .

As for the Antiquity of Chirurgery , its Pedegree is as old as Adam . But if any Gentleman doubt it , I dare tell him , I can produce more probability for it , than perhaps he can for his Descent from his Great Grand-father , though he would oblige the World with a Genealogy elder and stouter than the Conqueror . For can we think , that Adam and Cain , after Fratricide committed upon Abel , would not both contrive how to ward a Blow , yea , and to cure a Wound , if need were ? Certainly , when their knowledge of Evil had , through amazement and horrour at the first obliterated all recognition of Good , Prudence must needs take care to redress such Disasters ; and Adam especially , if he were so good an Herbarist , as most Divines hold him to have been , must from his knowledge of Vulnerary Herbs , naturally proceed to the use of Plasters . Indeed concerning the Antediluvian Transactions Moses gives us but short Remarques ; yet we find by those , that Lamech committed Murder , and gloried in it : And the Earth being filled with Violence , there must of necessity be Work for the Chirurgeon . And it cannot be imagined , but that when Men had received Wounds and Hurts , they would try to cure them . As for profane History , in it we find Chirurgery as ancient as any Records of that sort . Podalirius and Machaon , sons of Aesculapius , were Chirurgeons to the Grecian Camp before the Walls of Troy ; yea , Cicero de nat. Deor. tells us , That Aesculapius himself drew Teeth , and dressed Wounds . Apollo was an Oculist ; Mercury cut Aesculapius out of his Mother Coronis her belly ; and Venus her self sometimes plaid the good old Woman in dressing the Wounds of her dear Diomed , and their Boy Aeneas , when Virgin Pallas had in these Heroes chastised the tricks of that wanton Goddess her Youth .

But secondly , to leave these more obscure and antique Times , and that we may come to the Men , who have left us the Monuments of their Skill in Chirurgery , let us descend a little lower , and we shall find Hippocrates , the seventeenth in a lineal descent from Aesculapius , to have been the first and the skilfulest of all who have written of this Subject , as his Books De Officin● Medici , De Articulis , De Vulneribus , &c. do testifie . From which Treatises it is plain , that Hippocrates not only understood Chirurgery , but also practised it . Several other Grecians have writte● of it , as Galen , Oribasius , Paulus , Aegineta , Aëtius , Alexander Tralianus , Actuarius , and others . Among the Latins Celsus has writte● skilfully , and expressed his Skill i● most elegant Latin : and he indeed is the only Latin Author among the Antients . But after the Partition of the Empire into th● Eastern and Western , when War and Devastations had made way so an inundation of Barbarism into these Parts , Learning began to flourish among the Arabians ; and the Chief of them in Chirurgery i● Albucasis . After this some ski●ful Men arose , who having derive their Skill from the Arabians , a● well as the Greeks and Latins wrote in a most barbarous Style Amongst these Guido de Cauliac● is the most Eminent : for Fallopius ( the great Anatomist , and Glory of his Age ) makes no scruple to parallel Guido , notwithstanding his barbarous Style , with Hippocrates . There were several others , who wrote in a barbarous Style , who deserve to be read , as Brunus , Theodoricus , Rolandus , Lanfrancus , Bartepalia , R●gerius , and Gulielmus à Saliceto Placentinus , also Johannes de Vigo , but he had taken what he wrote from Guido ; and Tagaultius turned him into more elegant Latin. Marianus Sanctus Barolitanus was one of Vigo's Scholars , who afterwards published a Compendium of Chirurgery . Constantinus Africanus , who lived , An. 1080. wrote something in Chirurgery . And Petrus de Argillata of Bononia wrote about 1490. But of Guido , Fallopius confesses ingenuously , that excepting Hippocrates and Galen , he not only excelled all the Grecians , Latins , and Barbarians , especially considering the barbarism and obscurity of Physick at the time when he lived , but that he added many useful & learned Things of his own to Chirurgery : He lived about the year 1363.

But to come to the Writers of the preceeding , and of this present Century , I think I may place the incomparable Fallopius in the first Rank . It were to be wished , that he had lived to give the finishing stroke to those excellent Pieces , that came out in his Name at Venice 1606. for then I know not what a Man could have wisht for more : for he discourses every thing , with that Candor , Judgment , Reason and Accuracy , that one may easily observe , he was no less a Physician and Chirurgeon , than that he was a most excellent Anatomist . Next to him comes Ambrosius Paraeus , Chirurgeon to the King of France , a Man who by his great experience in difficult Cases greatly enriched Chirurgery : But we must understand , that that huge Volume , which came out in his Name , was made by the Doctors in Physick of Paris , whom Paraeus furnished with an ample stock of Chirurgical Examples : They put them into Method , and to make the Work the bigger , they added many things superfluous and alien from the business of Chirurgery . But truly I think it had been more for this worthy Person 's credit , had he in a less Volume published his particular Cures , and Observations of rare Cures , and their Remedies , as he found them by infallible Practice , and so many years Experience : As Gulielmus Fabricius Hildanus , the Honour of the Germans , whose Fame Ages to come shall celebrate , has to his immortal Glory done . For , as Seneca says , Longum est iter per praecepta , breve & efficax per exempla ; and so in reality every man finds , what Impression is made in our Minds by particular Cases ( in which Diseases appear to us far otherwise , than what Authors make them to be in their Writings , so that it is no marvel , if he be miserably gravelled , who has all he knows from Books ) and the Cures , when the success of Remedies , as day by day they are used , the supervening Symptoms , and the good or bad Events , are faithfully related . And when all is done , if after the Patient's death , an accurate search of the Parts affected were made ( which I wish the Patient's Relations would give way to , though the Physicians are hindred from doing it by the vain superstition of the dead parties Friends ) the Business would be complete . Also Hieronymus Fabricius ab Aquapendente is a Learned Writer , and has done excellently well in his Books , entituled , De Chirurgicis Operationibus , wherein he endeavours to imitate Celsus , while according to the order of the parts of his Body , he accurately treats of the Names of Diseases incident thereto , the Signs , and the Cure which is performed by manual Operation , and so he frequently professes himself to be Celsus his Interpreter and Commentator . And with Aquapendent may be joyned Johannes Jessenius à Jessen , Stephanus Gourmelinus , and Vidus Vidius junior . And for a clear conception of the Operations , the Figures of . Scultetus with their Explications are excellent , in which the Manual Operations , used by others , are set before our eyes . In our English Tongue we have these , who have written well , Mr. Gale , Mr. Banister , Mr. Clowes , Mr. Woodall , Mr. Wiseman , and the Learned Dr. Reed ( who so far as he has gone shall be my Pattern and Precedent . ) And these have written of Chirurgery in general .

As for such as have written of peculiar Parts of Chirurgery , I shall select some of the most approved . Of Tumors Ingrassias has written , no unlearned Man : But he is too much taken up in the reconciling the Greek and Arabick names , and confounds his Reader in enumerating the Species of Tumors . Saporta is but an ordinary Author . But among Authors to be prized are Julius Caesar Arantius and Marcus Aurelius Severinus , who wrote a Book De Recondita Abscessuum natura , a Work certainly full of recondite Learning established by many years Experience . He it was who left us that Excellent Work De Efficaci Medicina . Of Wounds of the Head Jacobus Berengarius Carpensis has written , or , who is the same , Jacobus Carpus , for whose excellent Work we are beholden to the famous Conringius . But because in so noble a Part too great diligence cannot be blamed . Jo. Bapt. Carcanus Leo his Book may be perused , as may Andreas Alcasar a Spaniard , and Ludovicus Queirats , a late French Writer : for there is an infinite number , who have commentated upon Hippocrates de vulneribus Capitis , as Arantius , Parma , and Petrus Paaw a Dutchman . Guillemaeus has written of Diseases of the Eyes ; but we owe the Chirurgical way of curing them to Durant Scach , and to Peter Franco , who both of them wrote also of the Stone in the Bladder , though the first Writer of that way of Cure was Marianus Sanctus Barolitanus : And Hildanus is to be preferred before all ; who wrote a peculiar Treatise of Lithotomy , and Dr. Groenevelt in his Dissertatio Lithologica , who wrote since Hildanus died . Taliacotius is the only Man that treats of curing Parts cut off by Incision . Of Ruptures we have Franco , Scacchi , and Geigerus . Of Wounds , besides Alcasar and others , who have designedly made it their business , there is Matthias Glandorpius an Excellent Man , and one that has shewn himself a Physician in his Speculum Chirurgorum . Magatus also in a peculiar Treatise commends a rare Inspection of Wounds : But of Inspection and Judgment of Wounds mortal and curable there have written Bernhardus Suevus , Melchior Sebizius and Hieron . Welschius , to whom we may add Fortunatus Fidelis his Treatise De Relationibus Medicorum . And a Physician indeed ought to be well versed in this Affair ; seeing usually according to his Judgment the injurious Party either loses his Life , or is acquitted . Although several have written of Gun-shot Wounds , yet they are most to be credited who have followed the Camp , such as Paraeus , Botallus , and Guillemaeus . But as particular Observations faithfully related do give a Man much Light , so they are to be abominated , who , when they communicate theirs to the Publick , either out of Envy or Malice conceal what Remedies were administred ; of which Gulielmus Losellus is guilty . But such as Riverius , Borellus , Barbette , Sculterus and others , who have candidly imparted their Secrets for the common benefit of the Sick , are to be commended . Besides , Johannes Van Horne in his Microtechne has given an admirable Introduction to Chirurgery . And Johannes Muys in his Praxis Chirurgica Rationalis has begun to cultivate this Part of Medicine according to the newest discoveries in Nature , as the other Parts have been by other hands . Out of these and such other Authors as these , I shall give you according to my Abilities , a perfect Systeme of Chirurgery .

Thirdly , Chirurgery by virtue of its Etymology 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , signifies , Manual Operation , and by Learned Men is defined to be the third Branch of the Curative Part of Medicine , which teacheth how sundry Diseases of the Body of Man are to be cured by Manual Operation . By this as well as by Diet and Pharmacy doth the Physician attain his End , which is , his Patients Health .

Fourthly , The parts of Chirurgery , must be assigned according to the main differences of Operations . Those are four in number , and consequently so many parts : for either by Chirurgery , Solution of unity is removed , and union restored ; or things unnaturally united are separated and disjoyned ; or things superfluous taken away ; or last of all defects are supplied . Now Solution of unity is either gathered by reason , or deprehended by sense . In Tumors , although the parts seem to the eye united ; yet reason teacheth us , that there is a divulsion of them .

The doctrine of Tumors therefore ought to be the first particular Treatise . Solution of unity apparent to the senses , to wit , sight and touch , is either in the soft parts , or in the more solid and hard . In the soft or fleshy parts there be two differences of Solution of unity : vulnus & ulcus , a wound , and an ulcer . In the hard parts there are found a fracture , and a luxation ; two distinct sorts of Solution of unity . This part may be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or parts compositrix , the part joyning together .