History of Medicine: Part 9: Surgery, X-Rays & Anaesthesia
Anaesthesia
Before the first use of a general anaesthetic in the mid-19th century, surgery was undertaken only as a last resort, with several patients opting for death rather than enduring the excruciating ordeal. Although there were countless earlier experiments with anaesthesia dating as far back to 4000 BC – they used to use cocaine, opium and alcohol. All of which can cause death in high doses. Soldiers would need limbs amputated and would be conscious the whole time. Hot coals were often used to seal wounds. People died from teeth infections and if they did get teeth removed they did it full awake and in complete pain while the dentist yanked the tooth from the gum.
Dentist, William T. G. Morton made history in 1846 when he successfully used ether as an anaesthetic during surgery. Soon after, a faster-acting substance called chloroform became widely used, but was considered high-risk after several fatalities were reported. Over the 150 years since, safer anaesthetics have been developed, allowing millions of life-saving, painless operations to take place.
https://youtu.be/uRhkDN2WjzI?si=hwmDZoQaL6IvlSp5
Nitrous Oxide wouldn't be discovered until 1772 but unfortunately it was thought to be a poisonous gas for years. However, in 1799, a man did test it on himself and found himself hysterically laughing. So he named it laughing gas. Unfortunately, this man wasn't a doctor and didn't use it for painkilling. Instead, he took it on tour and made a show out of watching strangers make fools of themselves on stage. 46 years later, a doctor watched a show in Hartford, Connecticut and had the idea to use it. He tested it a few times before presenting it to the scientific community in Hartford. However, during the demonstration, the chosen patient was both overweight and an alcoholic both things that reduce the effectiveness of the drug. Therefore, when he started work, the patient screamed out in pain and the scientific community declared the discovery a humbug. The doctor was devastated. . In 1884 Germany they started the practice of using cocaine on dental patients. It would take another doctor 19 additional years to bring laughing gas into popular use. Thats 91 years from discovery to wide practical use. For that entire time poor patients had to go without.
X-Ray
Refused to make money from it but recieved the first ever Nobel prize in physics in 1901.
Wife's hand.
using X-rays of his wife Anna Bertha's hand. When she saw her skeleton she exclaimed "I have seen my death!"
first medical imaging machines were X-rays. The X-ray, a form of electromagnetic radiation, was ‘accidentally’ invented in 1895 by German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Rӧntgen when experimenting with electrical currents through glass cathode-ray tubes. The discovery transformed medicine overnight and by the following year, Glasgow hospital opened the world's very first radiology department.
Only time you saw bones was a skeleton.
First News Article:
"The picture shows the bones of the hand with the rings seemingly free floating around the fingers. The soft tissue of the hand is not visible. Some samples of this sensational discovery are circulating among the educated Viennese and are causing justifiable astonishment.”
So far these are the brief details which we could gather to date about the discovery of the scholar from Würzburg. They sound like a fairytale or like a daring April fools joke. We emphasize explicitly once more that this matter is being taken seriously by serious scholars. In the very near future, the matter will likely be very closely examined in laboratories and brought to further development. The pioneers in the specialized field of photography will surely examine the discovery from all sides and conduct experiments to see how it can be perfected and put to practical use. Biologists and doctors, surgeons in particular, will have a very lively interest in this practical evaluation, because it seems that a perspective is opening to a new and very valuable diagnostic means.
In light of such a sensational discovery it is hard to deny fantastic futuristic speculations in the style of Jules Verne. They come so quickly to those who hear assurance that a new light carrier has been found, which can bring the light of bright sunshine through wooden walls and the soft tissue of an animal’s body as if those were made of crystal-clear glass. Any doubts have to be muted when one hears that, so far, the photographic evidence for this discovery seems to validate his claims under the eyes of serious critics."
Entertainers would give X-Ray demonstrations to a delighted and shocked audience.
Like light Ray's with more energy or wavelength. Photon. The calcium in your bones blocks the light.
Surgery
For centuries it was taboo to cut open and study the human body. Many believed in the Christian view of bodily resurrection. For centuries people believed that men had less ribs than women, mostly because of the biblical story of Adam and Eve. Doctors and scientists instead cut up animals and just assumed that humans were the same. Mainstream medicine worked off Anatomy diagrams of humans based on that of pigs for a thousand years. Originally used candle wax for plastic surgery.
https://youtu.be/vyKfyRsLhfA
Would you survive the past?
In early America, many new theories of medicine crept up. Snakeoil salesmen would travel around selling uneffective miracle cures. One of these snakeoil salesmen was Rockefeller's father. People believed that things like electric shocks and magnets could heal all kinds of conditions. One of these magnetic healers took part in a seance where he received the techniques of chiropractic from the other side.
Diet fads went in and out. People infected themselves with parasites on purpose to lose weight. Doctors often recommend cigarettes until the 1950s and long term effects could be studied. For thousands of years, wisdom teeth causing excruciating pain, infection and sometimes death. Teeth that fell out were replaced with false teeth made from ivory, porcelain, and human teeth.
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