Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 1050.5

ANTOINE PORTAL (1742-1832) Précis de chirurgie pratique : contenant l’histoire des maladies chirurgicales, & la manière la plus en usage de les traiter : avec des observations & remarques critiques sur différens points. Vincent 1768 1st edition. (xxx, 860, 29 p., xvi folded leaves of plates) : ill. 21 cm.

Perhaps best known for his six-volume history of anatomy and surgery (Paris, 1770-1773), Antoine Portal (1742-1832) was an ambitious young man from Montpellier who arrived in Paris in 1764 and was soon named physician to the crown prince. He had a long and successful career as a physician and medical writer. After the Restoration, he was physician to both Louis XVIII and Charles X, and he penned works on many maladies, from liver complaints to smallpox, publishing a study of epilepsy when in his eighties. The present straightforward clinical work on surgery – the author’s second published work – focuses on practical examination of patients. The work gives a good idea of what procedures were possible before the use of anesthetic, including amputations and mastectomies. This book is seldom seen in the marketplace.

See Related Record(s): 865

Cited references: Waller 7573; Wellcome IV p.418

John Martin M.D. Endowment