Die Aufhebung des Wundarztberufs

Dominik Groß has written an impressive book about the abolition of barber surgeons. Die Aufhebung des Wundarztberufs highlights the decline of a group of healers who played a leading role as health-care providers from the Middle Ages through to the early modern period. Groß exploits the rich store of documents in the archives of the kingdom of Württemberg, where the barber surgeons still existed when they had already been abolished in other parts of Germany. The ground for his work was prepared by a number of publications on the social history of medicine in Württemberg, of which two from the late eighties were especially important: my study of the artisan surgeons under the ancien régime, 1 and Annette Drees's monograph on nineteenth-century physicians. 2 These studies provided Groß with a number of stimulating hypotheses to be examined, supplied his research with questions and methodology, and made comparisons possible. Thus, he should be praised for his attentive elaboration of existing approaches rather than for the originality of his work. He diligently collected sources from no fewer than eighty-three archives and evaluated them carefully. Combining such a wealth of archival material with a bibliography of about 550 titles, Groß provides more than ample documentation for an analysis that is generally quite readable, although sometimes a little too exhaustive. For example, instead of following a chronological order in the discussions between barber surgeons, university-educated physicians, and government on the professional status of barber surgeons, he might have systematized his information and put the emphasis on aspects of particular importance. An eight-page summary, some illustrations, and many tables supplement the text, which is made accessible by cross-referenced indexes. [End Page 612]

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