Research Article

Locating the Hand and Sense of Touch in Sixteenth-Century Surgical Writings of Ambrose Paré and Hans von Gersdorff

Volume: 13 Number: 3 September 28, 2023
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Locating the Hand and Sense of Touch in Sixteenth-Century Surgical Writings of Ambrose Paré and Hans von Gersdorff

Abstract

Objective: This article offers two case studies of sixteenth-century surgical approaches to the hand and definitions of the sense of touch in works by Frenchman Ambrose Paré and German Hans von Gersdorff. Method: Through comparative analysis, this article studies references to and treatments of hand ailments in the sixteenth-century surgical manuals printed by Ambrose Paré and Hans von Gersdorff. Research was conducted between 2012-2014, updated in 2023, and focuses specifically on digital versions of Ambrose Paré’s vernacular French “Ten Books of Surgery” collected in his Opera Omnia (1575) held at the Bibliothèque nationale de France and Hans von Gersdorff’s Feldtbuch der Wundartzney (1517) held at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. Results: The human hand in the sixteenth century was both a natural and symbolic object whereby the hand offered individuals the immediacy of the sense of touch, established the boundary between those that exercised their hands (manual practitioners), and those who abstained from manual labor in favor of intellectual pursuits (theoreticians). Through discussions of limb amputation, Ambrose Paré located the sense of touch in the soul and not an amputated limb. In contrast, Hans von Gersdorff located the sense of touch in the hand itself, which retained a special power after amputation. Conclusion: The increased reliance on dissection and anatomy, visual arts, personal experience, and publishing in sixteenth-century Europe offers historians a series of divergent surgical rituals and interpretations of the body, specifically the hand and sense of touch. Contemporary theories of embodied cognition mirror the problem of the location of the sense of touch in the mind or in the organ itself found in Paré and Gersorff’s writings.

Keywords

References

  1. 1. Pouchelle MC. The body and surgery in the middle ages. Morris R, translator. New Brunswick (NJ): Rutgers University Press; 1990.
  2. 2. Gurlt EJ. Geschichte der Chirurgie. Berlin: Hirschwald; 1898.
  3. 3. Gersdorff Hv. Feldtbuch der Wundartzney. Strassburg: Schott; 1517.
  4. 4. Paré A. Ten books of surgery with the magazine of the instruments necessary for it. Linker RW, Womack N, translators. Athens (GA): University of Georgia Press; 2010.
  5. 5. Paré A. The works of that famous chirurgion ambrose parey translated out of latine and compared with the french. Young R, translator. London: Thomas, J; 1634.
  6. 6. Paget S. Ambroise paré and his times: 1510-1590. New York (NY): Putnam’s Sons; 1897.
  7. 7. Siraisi N. Medieval and early renaissance medicine. Chicago (IL): University of Chicago Press; 1990.
  8. 8. Panse M. Hans von gersdorffs “feldbuch der wundarznei”: production, präsentation und rezeption von wissen. Wiesbaden: Reichert; 2012.

Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

Clinical Sciences

Journal Section

Research Article

Early Pub Date

September 28, 2023

Publication Date

September 28, 2023

Submission Date

April 19, 2023

Acceptance Date

August 7, 2023

Published in Issue

Year 2023 Volume: 13 Number: 3

APA
Kısmet Bell, J. (2023). Locating the Hand and Sense of Touch in Sixteenth-Century Surgical Writings of Ambrose Paré and Hans von Gersdorff. Lokman Hekim Dergisi, 13(3), 592-599. https://doi.org/10.31020/mutftd.1285933
AMA
1.Kısmet Bell J. Locating the Hand and Sense of Touch in Sixteenth-Century Surgical Writings of Ambrose Paré and Hans von Gersdorff. Lokman Hekim Dergisi. 2023;13(3):592-599. doi:10.31020/mutftd.1285933
Chicago
Kısmet Bell, Jameson. 2023. “Locating the Hand and Sense of Touch in Sixteenth-Century Surgical Writings of Ambrose Paré and Hans Von Gersdorff”. Lokman Hekim Dergisi 13 (3): 592-99. https://doi.org/10.31020/mutftd.1285933.
EndNote
Kısmet Bell J (September 1, 2023) Locating the Hand and Sense of Touch in Sixteenth-Century Surgical Writings of Ambrose Paré and Hans von Gersdorff. Lokman Hekim Dergisi 13 3 592–599.
IEEE
[1]J. Kısmet Bell, “Locating the Hand and Sense of Touch in Sixteenth-Century Surgical Writings of Ambrose Paré and Hans von Gersdorff”, Lokman Hekim Dergisi, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 592–599, Sept. 2023, doi: 10.31020/mutftd.1285933.
ISNAD
Kısmet Bell, Jameson. “Locating the Hand and Sense of Touch in Sixteenth-Century Surgical Writings of Ambrose Paré and Hans Von Gersdorff”. Lokman Hekim Dergisi 13/3 (September 1, 2023): 592-599. https://doi.org/10.31020/mutftd.1285933.
JAMA
1.Kısmet Bell J. Locating the Hand and Sense of Touch in Sixteenth-Century Surgical Writings of Ambrose Paré and Hans von Gersdorff. Lokman Hekim Dergisi. 2023;13:592–599.
MLA
Kısmet Bell, Jameson. “Locating the Hand and Sense of Touch in Sixteenth-Century Surgical Writings of Ambrose Paré and Hans Von Gersdorff”. Lokman Hekim Dergisi, vol. 13, no. 3, Sept. 2023, pp. 592-9, doi:10.31020/mutftd.1285933.
Vancouver
1.Jameson Kısmet Bell. Locating the Hand and Sense of Touch in Sixteenth-Century Surgical Writings of Ambrose Paré and Hans von Gersdorff. Lokman Hekim Dergisi. 2023 Sep. 1;13(3):592-9. doi:10.31020/mutftd.1285933

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                                                                  This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

  

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