[Cranial surgery in XVIIth century Vienna: a case from Evliya Celebi's Book of Travel].

Abstract

Book of Travel (Seyâhatnâme) of Evliya Celebi has always been an invaluable resource for history and ethnography researchers. And it is found out via our paper about "neurosurgical operation" that the above mentioned work can be studied for researches concerning the history of medicine. It is seen that Evliya Celebi reports a neurosurgical operation for curing a gunshot wound, and that he is very well aware of medical paradigm of his era. And he reports the situation without departing from the work and the dominant literary language of the work and without passing over the technical details, and he also does not get lost in the details. He also reports all the general stages of the operation by giving all the techniques and methods of his era. This work can also be considered as an evidence for the origins of western medicine and surgery in the east. Because it is observed that eastern scientists such as Ibn Sina and Zehravi have been referenced for the situation the surgeon took care of, the methods the surgeon used and the stages during the operation.