Felix Würtz

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Felix Würtz , also Felix Wirtz and Felix Wirz (* between 1500 and 1510 in Zurich ; † around 1596 in Strasbourg ), was a Swiss surgeon who practiced and lived in Zurich and Strasbourg.

Life

Felix Würtz, son of the painter Conrad Würtz, did not have a university education, but probably did an apprenticeship with a barber or surgeon at the age of 14 and then worked as a clippers and probably also as a field clerk. From 1536 he was a member of the shearers guild in Zurich. Würtz was known or friends with the natural scientist and senior town doctor from Zurich, Conrad Gessner . Gessner is said to have advised him to write down his experiences and knowledge.

Würtz's main work Practika der Wundartzney first appeared in Basel in 1563 . In it, he describes his views on wound care and critically rethinks various medical traditions. Steinbrecher describes this book as "one of the most original and important medical works of the 16th century". In this, Würtz clearly and offensively differs from what he believes to be wrong forms of treatment; In particular , he criticizes the often counterproductive use of sutures and recommends a limited range of indications. Würtz emphasizes the role of one's own practical experience and point of view. This attitude is also shown in the children's booklet , which was added posthumously to the main work by his brother Rudolf in 1612. This book is an important pediatric work. In it Würtz deals in detail with the tight swaddling of babies and questions certain extreme forms of this practice:

Swaddled baby is given to wet nurse, 1549, title page of Bartholomäus Metlinger's Regiment of Young Children

«I also created real and straight children of God and saw them born into this world by people, who nonetheless became crooked and lame people who never got straight and healthy on their thighs. (...) But I also had a child put down again and tied so that I could see how they would have tied it. Then I saw where it was missing. (…) But when they want to tie it straight out of misunderstanding, they tie it crookedly and pull the straps tightly so that the child cannot rest, but instead squirms and turns until it becomes unmarried. »

Works

  • Wund-Artzney , Basel 1563
    • Further edition: Practica der Wundartzney: What harmful abuse by the Wundartzney in common fluctuations, and why they are to be abolished. How one should curate all sorts of wounds, they have been shot, hacked, stabbed, fallen, beaten, without some abuse, as well as broken legs. The same Of all sorts of accidents of wounds, how to recognize them, and before they come, how to meet them, and if they exist, how to abolish them. Sampt a thorough report of the ointments, plasters, oils, blood positions, etc. especially from the wound trackers [...]. Sebastian Henricpetri, Basel 1596.
  • Children's booklet. In: Felix Würtz: Wund-Artzney. (Printed 1675, first published 1612), pp. 674–730.

See also

literature

  • Peter M. Dunn: Felix Wurtz of Basel (1518-75) and clubfeet. In: Archives of Disease in Childhood , Volume 67, 1992, pp. 1242-1243.
  • Hermann Frölich:  Würtz, Felix . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 44, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1898, pp. 352-354.
  • Ralph Frenken: Bound Children: History and Psychology of Swaddling. Badenweiler 2011.
  • E. Gurlt : Felix Wirtz. In: E. Gurlt (Ed.): History of surgery and its practice. Popular surgery, ancient times, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance. Volume 3. Berlin 1898, pp. 238-263.
  • Aline Steinbrecher: Würtz (Wirtz, Wirz), Felix. In: Werner E. Gerabek , Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil , Wolfgang Wegner (eds.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , p. 1503.
  • August Hirsch (Ed.): Biographical Lexicon of Outstanding Doctors of All Times and Nations , Volume 5. Berlin / Vienna 1934
  • Josef Lorenz: The surgeon Felix Wirtz, his life and his work. Dissertation. Düsseldorf 1940.
  • Walter Martin Manzke: Remedia pro infantibus. Medicinal therapy for children in the 15th and 16th centuries, presented on the basis of selected diseases. .Dissertation. Marburg 2008; DNB (PDF)
  • John Ruräh: Pediatrics of the Past. New York 1925.
  • Gustav Wolzendorff: The field surgery of Felix Würtz: A historical study. In: Military doctor , Volume 11. Vienna 1877, pp. 47–52, 59–62, 66–68 and 81–84.

Web links

Commons : Wrap  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ The dates of birth and death are uncertain: Aline Steinbrecher in Gerabek et al. (2005), p. 1503, names 1500–1510 as dates of birth and 1590–1596 as dates of death. Manzke (2008), p. 17, gives Würtz's death date as 1598, Ruräh (1925) with 1574 or 1576, Dunn (1992) on the other hand 1575. According to Lorenz (1940), p. 4, Würtz dealt with the year 1580 .
  2. ↑ See Lorenz (1940), p. 2.
  3. ↑ See Hirsch (1934), p. 1001.
  4. ↑ See Lorenz (1940), p. 3.
  5. ↑ See Lorenz (1940), p. 6.
  6. ↑ Steinbrecher in Gerabek et al. (2006), p. 1503.
  7. ↑ See Manzke (2008), p. 17.
  8. ↑ See Frenken (2011), pp. 231–240.
  9. ↑ Würtz (1612), p. 714 f. (New High German transmission from Frenken (2011), p. 236 f.)
personal data
SURNAME Würtz, Felix
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wirtz, Felix; Wirz, Felix
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss surgeon
DATE OF BIRTH between 1500 and 1510
PLACE OF BIRTH Zurich
DATE OF DEATH around 1596
Place of death uncertain: Strasbourg