An Interactive Annotated World Bibliography of Printed and Digital Works in the History of Medicine and the Life Sciences from Circa 2000 BCE to 2022 by Fielding H. Garrison (1870-1935), Leslie T. Morton (1907-2004), and Jeremy M. Norman (1945- ) Traditionally Known as “Garrison-Morton”

15961 entries, 13944 authors and 1935 subjects. Updated: March 22, 2024

HESSLER, Franz

2 entries
  • 11
  • 6485.93

Suśrutas. Áyruvédas. Id est medicinae systema a venerabili d'hanvantare demonstratum a Suśruta discipulo compositum. Nunc primum ex Sanksríta in Latinum sermonem vertit, introductionem, annotationes et rerum indicem adjecit Dr. Franciscus Hessler. 3 vols.

Erlangen: Ferdinand Enke, 18441850.

First translation of the Suśruta Samhitā into Latin, and the first publication of this text in the West. Suśruta is said to have lived in the 6th or 5th centuries, BCE. The principal medical contribution of the ancient Hindus was in the field of surgery, and the greatest early Hindu surgeon was Suśruta, a quasi-legendary character about whose dates there is some confusion. His collection, or "Samhitā," is one of the two foundation works of ancient Indian medicine, the other being the Charaka Samhitā, a work devoted to medicine.

The Suśruta Samhitā includes the earliest description of plastic surgery; this is contained in chapter XVI of the first volume, which is devoted to the repair of torn earlobes and damaged noses, and includes the first recorded description of the pedicle flap method, subsequently named the "Indian" method. Suśruta is also credited with the description of 127 surgical instruments, and his descriptions of the operative techniques for abscesses, lithotomy, amputation, treatment of fractures and dislocations, hernia reduction and removal of foreign bodies were especially useful.

"The Suśruta-samhitā, in its extant form, in 184 chapters contains descriptions of 1,120 illnesses, 700 medicinal plants, 64 preparations from mineral sources and 57 preparations based on animal sources. The text discusses surgical techniques of making incisionsprobingextraction of foreign bodiesalkali and thermal cauterizationtooth extractionexcisions, and trocars for draining abscessdraining hydrocele and ascitic fluidremoval of the prostate glandurethral stricture dilatation, vesicolithotomy, hernia surgerycaesarian sectionmanagement of haemorrhoidsfistulaelaparotomy and management of intestinal obstructionperforated intestines and accidental perforation of the abdomen with protrusion of omentum and the principles of fracture management, viz., traction, manipulation, apposition and stabilization including some measures of rehabilitation and fitting of prosthetic. It enumerates six types of dislocations, twelve varieties of fractures, and classification of the bones and their reaction to the injuries, and gives a classification of eye diseases including cataract surgery" (Wikipedia article on Sushruta, accessed 05-2017).

The Sanskrit text was published as: Suśruta Samhita. The system of Hindu medicine taught by Dhanwantari. Compiled by Suśruta. Edited by Pandit-Kulapati Jibananda Vidyasagara. 5th ed. Calcutta: Vidyasagara, Pandit-Kulapati Jibananda Vidyasagara, 1909.

 

 



Subjects: ANCIENT MEDICINE › India, Medicine: General Works, OPHTHALMOLOGY › Ocular Surgery & Procedures › Cataract, PHARMACOLOGY › PHARMACEUTICALS › Materia medica / Herbals / Herbal Medicines, PLASTIC & RECONSTRUCTIVE SURGERY, SURGERY: General
  • 7168

Commentarii et annotationes in Suśruta Āyurvedam. 2 vols.

Erlangen: Ferdinand Enke, 18521855.

Hessler, editor and translator of the first edition of Suśruta published in the West (3 vols., 1844-50) followed that edition with two separate volumes of commentary.



Subjects: ANCIENT MEDICINE › India, COUNTRIES, CONTINENTS AND REGIONS › India, PLASTIC & RECONSTRUCTIVE SURGERY, SURGERY: General