Setting the Scene

Before the 1840s, surgery was torture. No anaesthetics (drugs to block pain and render patients unconscious) meant patients were held down screaming while surgeons raced to cut quickly. Speed was everything — Robert Liston could amputate a leg in 28 seconds. Even if you survived the pain, infection killed half of all surgery patients. Surgeons wore blood-stained coats as badges of experience. Pus was called "laudable" — a sign of healing! But between 1840 and 1900, three breakthroughs transformed surgery: anaesthetics conquered pain, antiseptics conquered infection, and blood transfusions (eventually) conquered blood loss.