 starter activity Imagine you are the man on this operating table around 1800. List all the reasons why you might not survive this operation.

Possible dangers Surgeons operated swiftly in an attempt to avoid pain, mistakes were made No pain relief No blood transfusions Patients often died of infections – no sterilised equipment of uniforms, doctors didn’t wash hands or patients Bandages reused Trauma of the operation

Why was surgery so dangerous in the nineteenth century?  Key words: anaesthetic Why was surgery so dangerous in the nineteenth century?  LOs To examine why surgery was so dangerous To identify developments in anaesthetics and their drawbacks

 Your task Read about the 3 major steps forward in pain relief in the 1800s on p.170-1. Complete the template provided below. Identify which factors helped the development of anaesthetics

Extension task Read through sources 2 -4 on p.167. Note down the dangers they faced. Extension. If Paré could travel to the 1900s what would he have noticed was similar/different? Professor James Syme, Edinburgh Royal Infirmary Fanny Burney, novelist

Humphry Davy Laughing gas (nitrous oxide) reduced effects of pain Suggested use for operations and dentistry Drawbacks: - patient not unconscious, not always successful

J.R.Liston Ether Pioneered in US by dentist, William Moston but 1st used in UK by J.R.Liston Drawbacks: irritant of eyes and lungs; caused sickness; inflammable

James Simpson Chloroform Professor of Midwifery, Edinburgh University Used for childbirth & surgical operations Drawbacks: difficult to measure right quantities

 Your task Can you remember the reasons why people opposed Jenner & Harvey’s ideas on disease and anatomy? Why might people oppose the use of chloroform? Read reasons 1-6 on p.172 and summarise them under these headings: Scientific Religious Conservative attitudes

Scientific & medical People didn’t know about the side-effects Uncertainty about dosage, e.g. Simpson & friends (1857) Increased death rate due to surgeons taking more risks

Religion Letter to Lancet (medical journal) in 1849 suggested pain was invented by God Pain in childbirth was a result of Eve’s sinfulness

Conservative attitudes Some opposed the use of pain killers in child birth because it was ‘unnatural’ Army Chief of Medical Staff (1854) thought that pain told a surgeon his patient was still alive

 Your task Read p.173 and note the reasons why opposition to chloroform was overcome. Why are the 1870s known as the ‘black period’?  Extension. What factors helped the development of anaesthetics?

Overcoming opposition Individuals – James Simpson championed use of anaesthetics in midwifery; comparisons with Paré’s Royal approval – Queen Victoria Black period – 1870s, 1 in 2500 died under anaesthetic, surgeons mixed chemicals or unaware of dosages Queen Victoria with her family

 Homework Extension. Conduct some additional research into C19th surgery and produce a fact sheet on the Robert Liston. Visit the Old Operating Theatre website and gather information on typical surgery of the time. http://www.thegarret.org.uk/oot.htm

 Plenary What were the dangers of surgery early in the nineteenth century? What contribution to surgery did the following make: Davy, Liston and Simpson Extension. What factors led to important breakthroughs?