The treatment of compound fractures in the eighteenth century.

In the 18th century, the first international dispute of any dimension arose in the history of surgery. It concerned the question whether or not compound fractures, those sustained on the battlefield in particular, should be treated by immediate amputation. The Prussian army surgeon Bilguer showed himself a protagonist of conservative treatment, whereas many French authors as well as the Dutchman Van Gesscher, favoured prompt operation. Also forced by defective medical provisions on the field, primary amputation remained the treatment of choice for some time to come.

Historical notes on breast cancer, with emphasis on the Netherlands. I. Pathological and therapeutic concepts in the seventeenth century.

The history of carcinoma was for many centuries mainly the history of breast cancer. Only when in the second half of the 19th century anaesthesia and antisepsis had enabled surgery to treat certain internal carcinomas as well, interest in malignancies other than those of the breast sprang into being.