Ambroise Paré Changes How Wounds Are Treated

During the Italian campaign in Piedmont between 1537 and 1538, the French military surgeon Ambroise Pare confronted a critical shortage of medical supplies following an assault. Standard battlefield protocol at the time dictated treating gunshot injuries by pouring boiling oil of elder into the wounds, accompanied by cauterization. When his provisions of boiling oil ran out, Pare resorted to an impromptu mixture consisting of egg yolks, oil of roses, and turpentine to dress the remaining casualties overnight. Upon examining the patients the following morning, he observed that those treated with the soothing ointment were resting comfortably with relatively calm wounds, whereas the soldiers subjected to boiling oil suffered severe pain, swelling, and fever. This unintended clinical trial convinced Pare to abandon the agonizing practice of cauterizing gunshot injuries with scalded liquids.

Pare consolidated these practical observations into his first major text, published in Paris in 1545 under the title The Method of Curing Wounds Caused by Arquebus and Firearms. At the time, military medical care was largely guided by rigid tradition and untested assumptions regarding the toxic nature of gunpowder. Pare relied instead on direct empirical results gathered near the front lines, recognizing the benefits of gentler wound care long before the chemical antiseptic properties of ingredients like turpentine were scientifically understood. His publication offered military practitioners an accessible, vernacular alternative to conventional treatments, marking a notable departure from medieval surgical dogma.