Jan Palfijn (name sometimes spelled Jean Palfyn or Jan Palfyn) (28 November 1650 – 21 April 1730) was a Flemish

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

and

obstetrician Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgi ...

who was a native of

Kortrijk Kortrijk ( , ; vls, Kortryk or ''Kortrik''; french: Courtrai ; la, Cortoriacum), sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray ( ), is a Belgian City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Regio ...

in the

County of Flanders The County of Flanders was a historic territory in the Low Countries. From 862 onwards, the counts of Flanders were among the original twelve peers of the Kingdom of France. For centuries, their estates around the cities of Ghent, Bruges and Ypr ...

. He practiced medicine in

Ypres Ypres ( , ; nl, Ieper ; vls, Yper; german: Ypern ) is a Belgian city and municipality in the province of West Flanders. Though the Dutch name is the official one, the city's French name is most commonly used in English. The municipality co ...

and

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, and in 1697 moved to

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded in ...

, where he remained for the rest of his career. Palfijn is remembered for introducing the

obstetrical forceps Obstetrical forceps are a medical instrument used in childbirth. Their use can serve as an alternative to the ventouse (vacuum extraction) method. Medical uses Forceps births, like all assisted births, should only be undertaken to help pr ...

(''Main de Palfijn'') into medicine in the early 1720s. Palfijn's

forceps Forceps (plural forceps or considered a plural noun without a singular, often a pair of forceps; the Latin plural ''forcipes'' is no longer recorded in most dictionaries) are a handheld, hinged instrument used for grasping and holding objects. Fo ...

initially had a problem because the two separate halves occasionally shifted during use. Later the two halves of the forceps were linked by a

hinge A hinge is a mechanical bearing that connects two solid objects, typically allowing only a limited angle of rotation between them. Two objects connected by an ideal hinge rotate relative to each other about a fixed axis of rotation: all other ...

to correct the problem. Jan Palfyn 1650-1730 Schouwburgplein Kortrijk

In 1718 Palfijn published an influential work for surgeons called ''l'Anatomie du corps humain'' (Anatomy of the human body). Reportedly, this book was still in use in Japan in the latter part of the 19th century. The Palfijn Medical Museum, the Jan Palfijn Hospital in Merksem and the Jan Palfijn Hospital in

are named after him.

References

Article on Palfijn's forceps
* ''This article is based on a translation of an article from the French Wikipedia.'' 1650 births 1730 deaths Physicians of the Spanish Netherlands Physicians of the Austrian Netherlands {{Belgium-med-bio-stub