Well, this is certainly a morning eye-opener!
How To: Remove a bladder stone in the days before anesthesia – Boing Boing: By Maggie Koerth-Baker: The Chirurgeon's Apprentice is an entire blog dedicated to eye-witness accounts of surgery in the days before anesthesia. Oh, Internet. Thou art wonderful and horrible.
Collected by University of London medical historian Lindsey Fitzharris, the stories come from well-documented sources, from the 17th century onward. Part of the goal here is to follow the path of surgery as it really started to become its own profession ... separate from that of barber. Yes, this is going to be every bit as gory as you imagine. I'll start looking for a unicorn now.
That's "wonderful and terrible as an army with banners"…
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