The Butchering Art

  • Type: Ebooks
  • By: Lindsey Fitzharris
  • Age Category: Adults
  • Genre: Non-Fiction
  • Recommended by: Tom S.
  • ISBN/UPC: 9780374715489
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It's 1840, and the good news is that major surgeries only take a few minutes . . .

. . . but the bad news is there’s no anesthesia and you’ll probably die from infection.
 
The nineteenth century was a time of great scientific and technological change, one of which was the transformation of human medicine from an often ineffective, frequently deadly (to the patient!) enterprise barely within the realm of respectable science to a highly skilled art practiced by educated professionals who saved far more patients than they killed.
 
The author doesn’t spare the gory details of surgery in the 1800s, or hold back from delineating the squalor, filth, and stench of Victorian hospitals, which were little better than places for the sick and injured poor to die slowly.

This book makes one appreciate the tireless efforts of such medical pioneers as Joseph Lister and Louis Pasteur, who overcame tremendous resistance within the scientific community to promote antiseptic and humane practices in medicine.