ŁYSKANOWSKI Marcin - Testament of a master surgeon

A biographical novel about Rafal Jozef Cherviakovsky (1743 - 1816).

He was the first organizer of the education of surgeons in Poland. He became professor of Anatomy, Surgery and Obstetrics at the Cracow Academy, reformed by Hugo Kołłątaj. He began working as a surgeon at St. Lazarus Hospital, establishing the first university Department of Surgery and Obstetrics in Krakow (also anatomy until 1785). At that time, through the intercession of Primate Michał Poniatowski, he was released from his monastic vows by the Pope. In 1785 King Stanislaw August Poniatowski granted him the title of "court consigliere. "
During theKosciuszko Uprising he served as chief surgeon of the Polish army (he became chief physician at the Main Lazaret in Krakow)[5]. In 1803, he left the chair due to illness and began to write a work entitled "The organ of surgical dressing," which became the first textbook of theoretical and practical surgery in the Polish language. He was the inventor of several surgical instruments, e.g., the gnips (a knife ending with a head used for cutting wounds) and the extractor for treating bone fractures. He was a forerunner oforthopedics in Poland. Thanks to his contributions to Polish surgery, he was called the "father of Polish surgery."
He was also involved in charity work. He was a doctor for students living in boardingschools, and treated the poor free of charge. He had a large collection of books and surgical instruments, which he bequeathed to the Krakow Academy in his will.Currently (2022), such instruments as iron navigators (cautery) and crutches from the collection of Rafal Czerwiakowski are among the exhibits in the Museum of the History of Medicine of the Jagiellonian University Collegium Medicum, which since 1992 has had its headquarters in the House of the Krakow Medical Society at 4Radziwillowska Street.

A treat for those interested in the history of medicine.

Publisher: Czytelnik, 1979

Format: 200 x 125 mm, 213s.

Very good condition, slight rubbing of paper wrapper, tiny stamp on back of title page.