Ambroise Pare (1510-1590)

Essay by smokeonthewaterJunior High, 9th grade February 2004

download word file, 2 pages 3.0

Downloaded 14 times

Ambroise Pare (1510-1590)

Turin, France 1537- It was a day of discovery and advancement for medicine and science today, in the midst of a terrible war, as Ambroise Pare, an apprentice of a doctor tended to a group of horribly wounded men. The usual practice of pouring boiling oil over wounds to prevent future damage to the wound, but Pare, to his horror found that he had no remaining oil to speak of and went looking for other possible solutions that might save these young men's lives. He saw on the table by him some random ingredients used in his practice: some eggs, oil of roses and turpentine. He hastily threw them in his pot and stirred. He then applied the mess to the soldiers not yet treated to the usual solution. Ten days later while he continued his treatment of burning oil, he visited some of the casualties that were given the strange substance.

To his amazement, they were doing better then the rest and were healing with more speed and were not suffering from the regular pains and marks other patients usually felt.

" I was thrilled," said Pare, "it was my lucky break. Every day, I see men dying from very shallow wounds that should not be dying, but are exposed to many evils in this environment, but this new concoction seems to really help to maintain and in the long run, totally heal these poor men"

When asked about his decision to initially become a doctor, he said, "in this town, people were dropping dead every day from the wars that go on so often, and I saw this a s a little boy and I wanted to save a few lives and stem the flow of blood which runs so sickly in

France so...