Posted on 01/15/2016 11:03:01 AM PST by C19fan
Imagine having an operation without anaesthetic. Before 1846, when the first procedure using pain-numbing drugs was carried out, this was was the norm. Hamfisted and brutal, surgeons cut patients open, cracked bones and tied up arteries while they were completely conscious. Not for the squeamish, a new book contains detailed images from rare surgical textbooks discovered from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. The gruesome images show eyeballs pierced, brains being sliced and feet being hacked off – and all without anaesthetic. The book, called Crucial Interventions, was drawn from The Wellcome Collection’s library, and narrated by medical historian Richard Barnett.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
I have a customer that has this stuff all over his house including hanging on walls in the dining area.
And in the kitchen, I hope.
That Trek IV scene popped into my mind as well.
But also the old lady on dialysis that McCoy gives a pill to and a scene later is yelling “Doctor grew me a new kidney ... Doctor grew me a new kidney!”
Trying to learn versus applying that “knowledge” to cut people wide open. Morbid curiosity to say the least.
LOL. They show all these gruesome illustrations but pixelate the female nipples and pubic hair.
“I can fully understand why people get addicted to pain killers.
I have a ton of hydrocodone left over, in case I have to perform surgery on the kitchen table after TSHTF.
I will never use it all in my lifetime.”
Just don’t get busted or else you’ll be serving time on federal drug charges.
I have to suppose that if we had lived back then, we wouldn’t have considered surgical procedures without anesthetic especially horrifying.
As it is, it seems like medieval torture.
I find it hard going to the dentist even with novocain.....
My 4th Grandfather died in 1825 from complications of an extensive surgery of his abdomen. The description is quite chilling and amazing that he actually lived for several days after the operation.
I agree, especially chemo for cancer treatment.
It was a b*tch for sure. Had to sleep upright in a chair for two months.
Yeah, the scene in the John Adams miniseries where his daughter has a masectomy were chilling.
Thats true.
30 years ago I had my wisdom teeth out by my regular dentist with just NOX and novacane shots, followed by a week’s prescript of Tylenol3 (which I was ordered to discontinue as soon as I could) None had erupted yet, and two were impacted, one with an abscess. Those two had to be broken up in-situ and removed piece by piece.
I mentioned this a few years back at my first cleaning appointment with a new and younger dentist at the practice I go to. He was absolutely stunned that I hadn’t gone to an oral surgeon and rec’d general anesthetic.
Was this before or after they discovered sterile technique, also in the 19th century?
Theodoric of York! Medival barber.
Without anesthesia? Think they used rum or whiskey.
That sort of thing stays with you forever.
Wait a minute. Perhaps she’s right. Perhaps I’ve been wrong to blindly follow the medical traditions and superstitions of past centuries. Maybe we barbers should test these assumptions analytically, through experimentation and a “scientific method”. Maybe this scientific method could be extended to other fields of learning: the natural sciences, art, architecture, navigation. Perhaps I could lead the way to a new age, an age of rebirth, a Renaissance! ...........Naaaaaahhh!
I had all four wisdom teeth out at the same time. Believe me, they knocked me out!
(I had a black and blue mouth for a week...)
Alll my pharmaceuticals are prescribed to me by a doctor.
My herbs, not so much.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.