Marcin Lyskanowski "Testament of a master surgeon"

Author: Marcin Łyskanowski Genre: Fiction First edition: 1974 Medical topic: History of medicine Description: *The Testament of the Master Surgeon* is a novel that serves both as a biography—primarily of Rafał Czerwiakowski and other famous Polish pioneers of medicine—and as a vivid panorama and history of 18th-century Kraków. Dr. Czerwiakowski, who spent most of his life at the then-Krakow Academy, was a reformer of medicine and was named the father of Polish surgery by Łysakowski himself. Initially a monk belonging to the Piarists, he later cast aside his monastic robes for the sake of science and knowledge, and subsequently married twice, leading a rich and colorful life. The book contains descriptions of anatomy lessons on cadavers, difficulties in obtaining materials for study, information on obstetrics and why women’s reproductive organs were lubricated during childbirth, as well as many other surprising and fascinating facts. I highly recommend this book!