Enrique Ferrer i Viñerta (Valencia, 1830 - Valencia, 28/12/1891)

Ferrer y Viñerta was one of the most outstanding figures in Valencian surgery of his time. He studied medicine in Valencia, graduating in 1852, and in his training as a surgeon his teacher was José Romagosa y Gotzens, whom he would replace after his death as professor of Clinical Surgery at the University of Valencia, after having held the chair of Therapeutics at the University of Granada for four years, a period in which he became friends with the prominent histologist of the time, Aureliano Maestre de San Juan.

At the Universitat de València he would hold the post of professor until almost his death, and was also its rector for two non-consecutive periods, from 1881 to 1884 and from 1885 to 1890. Along with the university, the other institution in which he was very active was the Valencian Medical Institute, of which he was also president, and in whose Bulletin he published several articles.

Although of conservative ideas and a follower of vitalism, which advocated that living organisms were not subject to general physico-chemical laws, he assimilated for surgery the novelties discovered in the laboratory. This openness to innovations was also reflected in the adoption of many of them in his teachings and interventions, such as inhaled anaesthesia, microscopic analysis of surgical specimens, Esmarch's haemostatic procedure using an elastic bandage or Lister's antiseptic surgery; He also disseminated or made known others, such as Billroth's first larynx removal, Voillemier's method of bladder puncture, Galezowski's cataract removal technique, etc.
He was also an advocate of active teaching, having his students examine the patients and draw up their clinical histories, some of which were included in the memoirs, programmes and courses of the surgical clinic that he published annually.

In 1874 he joined the Histological Society founded by Maestre de San Juan, and published several works on the subject of tumours, such as Del diagnóstico clínico de los tumores (1878) (On clinical diagnosis of tumours). Other of his works were the development of a total mammectomy technique and the removal of axillary nodes in breast tumours or the improvement of the leg amputation procedure of his teacher Romagosa.

More biographic information

• Website of the former Institute for the History of Science and Documentation

Donation

In his will, Ferrer y Viñerta established the donation to the University of Valencia of 911 works (totalling 1475 volumes). This donation was integrated into the new Library of Medicine, which had been created with funds from the university library the same year of his death. Subsequently, most of the donation would pass to our library.

The works (mostly 19th century books, except for a couple from the 17th century and some from the 18th century) deal mainly with surgical subjects, but there are also books on pathology, pharmacology, public hygiene, apologetic pamphlets or speeches, etc. in both Spanish and French.

Works at the University of Valencia Library Catalogue

Follow the links to see what works we have in the University of Valencia Libraries:

• Works in which he appears as an author
• Works aboaut him

Bibliographic selection as author

Monographs

• Discurso leído en la Universidad Central … en el acto de recibir la investidura de Doctor. Madrid: Imp. de Diaz y Compañía, 1853
• Discurso pronunciado el dia 1º de octubre de 1869 en la Universidad Literaria de Valencia... en la solemne apertura del curso de 1869 a 1870 : [El trabajo influye en la salud del hombre y en la civilización de los pueblos]. València: Imp. de José Rius, 1869
• “Reflexiones sobre el estado sanitario de Valencia en el otoño de 1870”. En: Discursos pronunciados en la inauguración de las sesiones de la Academia de Medicina de Valencia en el año 1871. València: Imprenta de Ferrer de Orga, [1871?]
• De la amputacion de la pierna : sus indicaciones, sitio y proceder operatorio preferibles para practicarla. València: Imprenta de Ferrer de Orga, 1872
• Reflexiones sugeridas por la enmienda presentada á la Asamblea Española por el señor Somolinos, pidiendo la creación de una cátedra de Histología ... València: Imprenta de Ferrer de Orga, 1873
• Programas y Cursos de Clínica quirúrgica (1873-1880)

Journal articles

• “Del diagnóstico clínico de los tumores”. La Crónica Médica: revista quincenal de Medicina y Cirujía prácticas. 1879, vol.2, n. 44 (jul. 1879), p. 611-617, vol.2, n. 46 (ag. 1879), p. 675-680, vol. 2, n. 47 (ag. 1879), p. 707-713, vol. 2, n. 48 (set. 1879), p. 739-745