William of Saliceto

William of Saliceto, also written William of Salicet and known in Italian as Guglielmo da Saliceto, lived from about 1210 to 1277 and was an Italian surgeon and cleric. He broke with the tradition of Galen by arguing that the formation of pus was bad for wounds and bad for the patient. He was a professor at the University of Bologna, and in 1275 he wrote the Chirurgia, which promoted the use of the surgical knife over cauterizing. He also wrote the Summa conservationis et curationis, a work on hygiene and therapy. His pupil Lanfranc of Milan carried his methods into France. William lectured on the importance of regular bathing for infants and on special care for the hygiene of pregnant women, which makes him a notable figure in medieval surgery and in early thinking about hygiene.