Amputation
Prior to the aseptic era, by far the most commonly performed major surgical procedure was an amputation, which was also one of the earliest operations depicted in medical literature.
Prior to the aseptic era, by far the most commonly performed major surgical procedure was an amputation, which was also one of the earliest operations depicted in medical literature.
Surgical procedures have been recorded from the earliest of times and art continues to be an important way of documenting the history of this specialty.
Alas! How could I declare the weakness of a sense which in me ought to be more acute than in others...
Ludwig van Beethoven (1802)
Ophthalmology and otolaryngology are fairly modern medical specialties, though physicians have always been faced with the challenge of treating patients with disorders of the head and neck. Early therapy for the loss of vision and hearing was largely ineffective, and barber-surgeons did their best to repair the consequences of trauma in battle. It was not until the middle of the nineteenth century and the discoveries of anesthesia and aseptic techniques that physicians began to take a special interest in this area of the body since they could finally offer their patients a reasonably painless experience with some hope of survival.
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Where they save one, they murder many.
Dr. William Hunter (1718-1783)
It was only within the last several hundred years that the study and treatment of conditions affecting women were considered appropriate for review by the established medical community. Even into the 19th century, Victorian prohibitions and gender bias prevented an accurate and thorough evaluation of women’s diseases.
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Vertigo, vomiting, stupidity, haemorrhage, loss of sense, either partial or total, are the symptoms of this kind of mischief...
Percival Pott (1778)
Warring nations have always given physicians both the obligation and the opportunity to find new ways in which to treat trauma. Despite the fact that invasive surgery was not possible prior to the nineteenth century discovery of anesthesia, many important surgical innovations resulted from the desperate efforts made by military physicians whose wards were suddenly overrun with battered troops.
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He must begin first in youth with good learning and exercise in thys noble arte, he also must be clenly, nimble handed, sharpe sighted, pregnant witted, bolde spirited, clenly apparailed, piteful harted, but not womanly affectionated to wepe or trimble, when he seeth broken bones or bloodies woundes, neither muste he geve place to the cries of his sore patiente, for soft chyrurgians maketh fowle sores. Of the other side, he maie not plaie the partes of a butcher to cutte, rende or teare the bodie of mannekynde. For although it be fraile, sore, and weake, yet it is the pleasure of God, to cal it his Temple, his instrument, and dwelyng place.
William Bullein (1579)
For thousands of years, those who practiced surgery were perceived more as craftsmen than as professionals, and it was not until the last few hundred years that surgeons were considered “physicians.”
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