Lifetime works of N.I. Pirogov as sources for studying his life, work and contribution to surgery, anatomy and pedagogy (On the 215th Anniversary of his birth)

In total, from 1832 to 1881, N.I. Pirogov published more than 100 works devoted to medical and pedagogical activity. However, there is no historical-genetic and comparative analysis of the content of these works. The aim of the study was the content analysis of the lifetime works of N.I. Pirogov as sources for studying his life, work and contribution to medicine and pedagogy. For this purpose, 40 works by N.I. Pirogov were studied. The analysis of the circumstances of the publications and the content analysis were carried out using historical, genetic and comparative methods. It was shown that from 1832 to 1840, the experimental, clinical and anatomical works by N.I. Pirogov were published in Latin and German and were not widely accessible to doctors. Russian-language clinical and anatomical works appeared in 1842. Some of them were duplicated in German and French. The most popular atlas was “Surgical Anatomy of Arterial Trunks and Fasciae,” which went through several editions from 1837 to 1881. This is explained by the fact that ligation of arteries for aneurysms in the 19th century required a good knowledge of anatomy. N.I. Pirogov’s clinical works touched on issues of general, hospital, reconstructive and plastic surgery, traumatology and orthopedics, vascular surgery and general anesthesia, deontology, etc. Their number is large, so not all of them are mentioned in the article. A large place in the lifetime bibliography of N.I. Pirogov is occupied by works on military field surgery, military medical and sanitary affairs, published in 1849-1879. The socio-political works of N.I. Pirogov, published in 1856–1868, left a deep mark on Russian pedagogy, and his unfinished diary, published after his death, became the moral testament of the great physician-humanist. Thus, the lifetime bibliography of N.I. Pirogov allows not only to study his life and work, but also to evaluate his contribution to medicine and pedagogy.