title: The surgeon as medical practitioner: an historical appreciation of the role of surgery in the corpus medicum.
abstract: The present-day division between surgery and medicine, and between surgeons and physicians, is examined in its historical context. It is contended that from the earliest times up to the thirteenth century of the Christian era in Western Europe such a division was not recognized, and that the separation which then occurred was based, not in nature, but in clerical, feudal, and humanistic conceits. Five centuries then elapsed, up to the turn of the eighteenth, before surgery was able to regain public recognition as a grave, honourable, and scholarly profession.
mesh_terms: D004534:Egypt; D005060:Europe; D013502:General Surgery / Q000266:history*; D049668:History, 15th Century; D049669:History, 16th Century; D049670:History, 17th Century; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049690:History, Ancient; D010819:Physician's Role; D012380:Role