Transformation of
surgery
Pain…read more

Pain
Pain was a huge problem in surgery, there
was many attempts at trying to solve it.
Nitrous oxide (laughing gas) ­ discovered
as an anaesthetic by Humphry Davy. Not
very efficient as it affected everyone in
different ways.
Ether ­ used by Morton and Liston, also not
as efficient because it would knock
patient out for 3 minutes or 3 days. Also
extremely flammable
Chloroform ­ discovered as an anaesthetic
by James Simpson. A great addition to
surgery but was disliked at first due to
many deaths…read more

A patient is knocked out in
this operation by nitrous
oxide.
Most mocked nitrous oxide,
and didn't treat it as a `real'
anaesthetic…read more

A famous operation
The patient is being held down
because he is in pain. He is
undergoing an amputation there is
no anaesthetic being used which
shows that there was not much
understanding of surgery…read more

Pain
Patients also felt pain because
the surgeon would do the
operation as fast as possible to
hold a reputation. Surgeons
were not judged on skills but
time taken.
Sometimes surgeons would do
the operation so fast they
would accidentally chop of a
mans testicle…read more

Chloroform
James had invited his friends
around to basically get high
He and his friends could not remember anything
that had happened that day. Simpson could
remember waking up and seeing his house in a
mess and his friends still knocked out
Simpson thought this would be great
to use as an anaesthetic for childbirth
as women did not want to go through
the pain…read more