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The Development of Surgery. By Mr Day Downloaded from SchoolHistory.co.uk. Lesson Objectives. To investigate the development of surgery focusing on anaesthetics, antiseptics and aseptic surgery. 3 Main Problems With Surgery. Pain Infection Bleeding
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The Development of Surgery By Mr Day Downloaded from SchoolHistory.co.uk
Lesson Objectives • To investigate the development of surgery focusing on anaesthetics, antiseptics and aseptic surgery.
3 Main Problems With Surgery • Pain • Infection • Bleeding • By the 1800s there were no decent anaesthetics. • People relied on alcohol, opium and hypnosis.
Development of Anaesthetics • In 1799 Humphrey Davey discovered that nitrous oxide (laughing gas) relieved pain. • His discovery was ignored by the medical profession who believed it unimportant. • In 1845 Horace Wells saw people inhaling the gas at a fair. He observed that they failed to feel the effects of pain. • He set up a demonstration but it failed miserably!
Development of Anaesthetics • In 1846 William Morton removed a tumour from a patients neck using ether as an anaesthetic. • In December of the same year Robert Liston removed a patients leg in 26 seconds! The medical profession began to sit up and take notice. • In 1847 James Simpson experimented with chloroform. He administered it to over 50 women and the results were impressive.
Opposition • There were various reasons why people were opposed to the development. • It was difficult to judge the correct amount. Accidents happened. • People opposed on religious grounds e.g. childbirth. • Some people didn’t trust surgeons. • Others felt that men that relied on anaesthetics were soft.
Breakthrough! • Opposition melted away when Queen Victoria used chloroform to give birth to her 8th child. • By the end of the 19th century the anaesthetist had become a specialist in his own right.
Danger! Infection! • Surgeons got a little carried away. • Operations could now be carried out with the patients feeling little pain or serious discomfort. • The big danger was now infection. • Surgeons wore normal clothes. Instruments were not sterilised, sometimes not even cleaned!
Antiseptics • In 1847 a Hungarian doctor called Semmelweiss ordered doctors in his hospital to wash hands after handling dead bodies.They did. Rates of puerperal fever amongst new mothers fell.
Lister Lister rhymes with Blister • Joseph Lister was responsible for the big breakthrough in fighting infection. He had studied Pasteur’s findings. • He ensured that instruments, the patient, the surgeons hands and even the air were drenched with a carbolic acid spray. • His results were stunning. By 1912 up to 10 times more operations were taking place than 40 years before with less infection. • It was now safe to be operated on.
Aseptic Surgery • The problem with carbolic acid is that it could act as an irritant. • In Germany aseptic surgery began to be developed. This is the process of killing germs without the need for chemicals. (superheated steam). • In America a surgeon called William Halstead introduced surgical masks and gloves and cut rates of infection even further. • Operating theatres were now pristine places.
