Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 666.5

MATTHIAS GOTTFRIED PURMANN (1649-1711) Chirurgia curiosa : or, The newest and most curious observations and operations in the whole art of chirurgery : regularly methodized, explained and rendered intelligible and easie to every practitioner : whether relating to manual operations, or the choice and application of proper remedies : not to be found in other authors Printed for D. Browne…R. Smith…and T. Browne 1706 18 unnumbered pages, 199 pages, 1 unnumbered page, 181-219, 300-337 pages, 3 unnumbered pages, V folded leaves of plates 32 cm

Matthaus Gottfried Purmann was a German surgeon who achieved great success as a writer in addition to his important work in the development of new surgical procedures. Purmann was born at the end of the Thirty Years War in Silesia, Lubin. His father, Michael, had studied in Wittenberg and was at the time of the birth of the son town clerk and later became princely court judge and mayor. Matthew Godfrey apparently enjoyed a good school education, because he was able to read Latin. Purmann did not go to a university, and instead began an apprenticeship as a wound surgeon at Paul Rumpelt in Great Glogau.

Cited references: Keynes 3500; NLM 18th (pg. 366); Waller 7678; Wellcome IV (pg. 449)

John Martin M.D. Endowment