Fabricius, William

, an eminent surgeon and physician, was known also by his surname of Hildanus, from Hilden, a village of Switzerland, where he was born, July 25 t 1560. Like his predecessor of the same name, Fabricius of Aquapendunte, he became one of the most eminent surgeons of his age, and contributed not a. little to the improvement of the art. He repaired to Lausanne in 1586, where he completed himself in the art of surgery, under the instruction of Griffon, an intelligent teacher in that city. Here he pursued his researches with indefatigable industry, and undertook the cure of many difficult cases, in which he was singularly successful. He combined aknowledge of medicine with that of his own art, and began to practise both at Payerne in 1605, where he remained ten years, and in 1615 settled himself at Berne, in consequence of an invitation from the senate, who granted him a pension. Here he enjoyed the universal esteem of the inhabitants. But in the latter period of his life he was prevented by severe and frequent attacks of the gout from rendering his services to his fellow-citizens with his accustomed assiduity. At length, liowever, this malady left him, and he was seized with an asthma, of which he died on the 14th of February, 1634, at the age of seventy-four. His works were written in the German language, but most of them have been translated into the Latin. He published five “Centuries of Observations,” which were collected after his death, and printed at Lyons in 1641, and at Strasburgh in 1713 and 1716. These “Observations” present a considerable number of curious facts, as well as descriptions of a great number of instruments of his invention. His collected treatises were published in Latin, at Francfort in 1646, and again in 1682, | in folio, under the title of “Opera Omnia.” And a German edition appeared at Stutgard in 1652. ¹