Hieronymus Brunschwig

Hieronymus Brunschwig or Hieronymus Brunschwygk was a German surgeon ("Wundarzt"), alchemist and botanist. Around 1500, he published several works in German, including a plague treatise and two books on pharmaceutical distillation, aimed at non-academic practitioners. He was notable for his methods of treatment of gunshot wounds and for his early work on distillation techniques. His most influential book was the Liber de arte distillandi de simplicibus. These distillation books helped establish the genre of Destillierbücher, which became popular during the sixteenth century, especially among non-academic readers. He was also the author of the Buch der Cirurgia (1497), the first printed surgical treatise in German, which compiled ancient and medieval medical knowledge and included some of the earliest detailed discussions of gunshot wounds, fractures, dislocations, and surgical treatments.