by Charles Sorbie, MB, ChB, FRCS(E), FRCS(C)
We have been aware of the clinical work and innovation of Roman Army surgeons if only by the example of immediate fitting of pylons on leg amputation stumps, to get soldiers back to the battlefields, without delay. The innovative brand of Army surgeons reached a high point in Dominque-Jean Larrey, Napoleon’s man in the field.
D.-J. (1766-1842) was born in Beaudéan, a small village in the Haute Pyrenees. Orphaned at 13, he was raised by his uncle, a surgeon in Toulouse. After a 6- year apprenticeship in surgery, he continued his training in Paris, which he completed in 1789 at age 23. That year on July 14th, he took part in the storming of the Bastille.
It was while he worked at the famous hospital, Les Invalides as a young man when he first met Napoleon, then the commander of only a military brigade. He followed Napoleon’s armies into many battles and fearlessly entered the fray to treat wounded combatants on both sides. He noted that 18- year-old legs could not stand the rigors of forced marches and persuaded Napoleon to raise the age of conscription to 20. Larrey was present at 60 of Napoleon’s battles, injured 3- times and captured once.
During the retreat from Moscow in 1812 at the Battle of Berezina, he performed 300 leg amputations, made less painful for the wounded by their limbs being already frozen or packed around with snow by Larrey to make them so. A spectacular innovation for the time was his “ambulance volante” (flying squad, swoop and scoop) which got the wounded out of the battle almost as they fell. The personnel on the flying squad included a doctor, a quartermaster, a noncommissioned officer, 24 infantry men, and a drummer boy.
Eventually made a Baron, Napoleon said of him – “he is the worthiest man I have ever met.”
Blue Notes Editor:
Charles Sorbie, MB, ChB, FRCS(E), FRCS(C)
Dr. Charles Sorbie is Professor of Surgery at Queen’s University and a member of the Attending Staff at the General and Hotel Dieu Hospitals in Kingston, Ontario.A former chairman of the Department of Surgery at Queen’s University, Dr. Sorbie has been President of the Canadian Orthopaedic Research Society, the Canadian Orthopaedic Association, and the Societé Internationale de Chirurgie Orthopédique et de Traumatologie (SICOT).