Hugh of Lucca

Hugh of Lucca or Hugh Borgognoni (also Ugo) (1160–c. 1259) was a medieval surgeon. He and Theodoric of Lucca, his son or student, are noted for their use of wine as an antiseptic in the early 13th century.

Hugh of Lucca

Hugh of Lucca, also known Ugo de Borgognoni, was born in 1160, around the time the teaching of corpus juris was said to be common where the University of Bologna had included the "healing art" of medicine into its subjects of grammar, dialectic, rhetoric, and the free subjects of music and astronomy. He was a physician at the end of the period where medicine was a profession transmitted from father to son via observations.

It is assumed that he arrived in Bologna and continued his profession as a surgeon until his death there. Some regard him as the founder of the surgical school of Bologna as he was the pioneer of a new wound treatment and the starter of a new era. Although it is also declared in some sources that in the early 13th century the Salernitan surgical traditions of the Medical School of Salerno had been brought to Bologna by Roland of Parma, at the time Hugh of Lucca was employed by the city as military surgeon.

He is also said to have been a man of action, since he accompanied the Bolognese army on the Fifth Crusade, visiting both Syria and Egypt, and being present at the Siege of Dammietta in 1219. He is thought to have gained rich experience with not only the wounds of the soldiers but also with the Black Death, which was ravaging the opposing armies during the lengthy conflict he witnessed. The vast usage of wine by others during operations through history of medicine suggests it was used mostly mixed together with various herbs or numerous oils.

Hugh of Lucca used wine, directly on wounds, primarily for its antiseptic properties. There is no record stating the exact date he discovered his technique. His method of treating fresh wounds, followed by soaking lint in boiled wine, was used to clean the wound of any foreign materials as well as to disinfect the area. After this operation was successfully accomplished, he would cover the cleaned wound with a compress that had also been soaked in boiled wine. He tried to prevent the wine from potentially being contaminated through air.