Pare, Ambroise, pa RAY, ahm BRWAZ (1510?-1590), a French surgeon, made important contributions to the use of surgery in medicine. Pare stopped treating gunshot and surgical wounds by pouring boiling oil over them, which was the practice at that time. Instead, he came to rely on the power of nature to heal his patients. His motto was, "I bandaged him, God healed him." In Pare's day, doctors considered surgery beneath their dignity, and most operations were performed by barber-surgeons. Pare's work helped to raise the standing of surgery.