Exhibition Themes > Health Sciences > 145. Giovanni Andrea dalla Croce
145. Giovanni Andrea dalla Croce (1509?-1580). Chirurgiae...libri septem . Venice: Giordano Ziletto, 1573. Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library, Archives & Special Collections, Jerome P. Webster Library of Plastic Surgery
Croce's Chirurgiae is notable for its description of all the surgical instruments used before and during his own time. It also has the earliest known illustration of neurological surgery in progress. Shown here is a trephination, the drilling into the skull to relieve pressure. It accurately depicts the operation taking place in a private home, with family members and servants (as well as the family cat and a mouse) present.
Bequest of Jerome P. Webster, M.D., 1974
