[Curing by cutting. Surgical patients in the consulting correspondence of Lorenz Heister (1683-1758)].

The consultation letters of Lorenz Heister (1683-1758) are kept in the University Library Erlangen-Nürnberg. Heister was not only a famous physician, but also a renowned surgeon. This double qualification gave a unique character to this correspondence: The letters allow not only a glimpse on the phenomena of "medicine-by-post", but of "surgery-by-post" as well. To those "surgical patients-by-post" belong four men and one woman presented in this study. All of them suffered from a surgical treatable malady, but their decision for or against the surgical therapy was strikingly different, ranging from definite refusal to ardent desire. In spite of their inhomogeneous attitude towards the prospect of a surgical intervention, however, they had one feature in common: they decided by themselves. The frequently cited "informed consent" of our days was a matter of course with the patients of Heister's time.