Ambodik

AMBODIK, Nestor Maximovich, outstanding Russian physician of the 18th century (1748-1812). A., after completing the course at the Kiev Spiritual Academy, entered the medical school at the St. Petersburg General Land Hospital, where he stayed for a short time, as he received the opportunity to go abroad. In Strasbourg, A. stayed for five years and defended his dissertation "De hepate humano". Upon returning to Russia, A. served for several years as "lecturing doctor" at the Kronstadt Hospital in the department of "materia medica, physiology and medico-surgical practice," and from 1781 he transferred to St. Petersburg and became a teacher of obstetrics at the Midwifery School (later an institute) and at both St. Petersburg hospitals. A. significantly changed and improved the teaching of obstetrics at the school by introducing phantom demonstrations, which had not existed before him. He was also the first in St. Petersburg to introduce obstetrical forceps into everyday practice. For his services, the Medical Collegium in 1782 named A. "Professor of the Art of Midwifery." This activity of A. continued until 1800. A. was one of the most learned physicians of his time. His activities proceeded in diverse directions, and in addition, A. found time for numerous compositions, translations, and especially for botanical studies, which he loved greatly and knew well. A. published a whole series of original and translated works, but his greatest importance is his guide to obstetrics: "The Art of Delivery or the Science of Midwifery" (1784-1786). This excellent guide for its time—the first original in the Russian language—gives A. the right to be called the "father of Russian obstetrics."