Ambroise Paré's accounts of new methods for treating gunshot wounds and burns.

In 1537, France was at war with the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, for the third time. The French expedition into Piedmont went to relieve the siege of Turin and occupy territory whose title was disputed by François I, the French king. The commander of the French infantry sent into northern Italy was the Marshal de Montejan, and he was accompanied by a young French surgeon, Ambroise Paré. Paré was about 27 years old and had recently been practising as a surgeon in the Hôtel Dieu in Paris. He had not yet been ‘sworn’ (registered) as a surgeon; still less did he have any academic qualifications. His origins were relatively humble and he could read neither Greek nor Latin. Over the course of his long life (1510–1590) Paré published several accounts of his discoveries about how best to treat gunshot wounds (in 1545, 1552, 1564, 1575 and later editions of his Oeuvres). These accounts differ in minor details but not in any essentials. The passages discussed here are from the first edition of his Oeuvres (works), which he published in 1575 in his native French. His discoveries are recorded in a separate chapter in this first edition entitled ‘Commentary on the book about wounds made by hackbuts and other firearms’, and at the beginning of the Third Book of the Oeuvres, which is devoted to the treatment ‘. . .. of wounds made by the arquebus and firearms, arrows and darts’ [a hackbut/arquebus is a portable gun fired from a stand]. In this introductory chapter Paré details how he discovered methods that were better than those used by his contemporaries for treating gunshot wounds and burns – particularly those caused by gunpowder. Later in the chapter he describes how he discovered the greater efficacy of a paste of onions for treating burns, particularly those made by gunpowder, rather than the then conventional ‘cooling remedies’. Treatment of gunshot wounds without cauterization