COOL BLOG ALERT! And before anyone says anything, the above is NOT a spelling mistake! ;o)

Surgeons are amongst the highest paid professionals in the medical world today. They are the ‘miracle-workers’ of the 21st century, providing blood transfusions, heart transplants and prosthetic limb replacements in order to save and transform the lives of their patients.

Nevertheless, the place of the surgeon amongst today’s medical elite was not always guaranteed. At the beginning of the 17th century, ‘chirurgeons’ [surgeons] were closely related to barbers and other craftsmen who learned their trade through apprenticeships. After the Restoration, however, chirurgeons broke from their medieval role and began participating in important medical debates. Their advocacy of ‘practical’ medicine and experimentation distinguished them from their university-educated counterparts, the physicians, and helped elevate their role in the medical marketplace.