Historian Lindsey Fitzharris, in her book The Butchering Art, describes the gruesome practise of surgery in the nineteenth century. How it was revolutionised by the development of germ theory and antiseptics between 1860 and 1875.
She imagines the early operating rooms, a place no coward would go, and the surgeons who, in the days before anaesthesia, were admired for their speed and raw power. These trailblazers understood that surgical complications frequently posed greater risks to patients than their underlying conditions.
And they were perplexed by the tenacious infections that contributed to the consistently high mortality rates.
A young, melancholy Quaker surgeon named Joseph Lister emerged at a time when surgery could not have been riskier to solve the mystery and alter the course of history.
Transforming The Grispy World of Victorian Medicine
Lindsey Fitzharris’s biography of surgeon Joseph Lister vividly brings to life the sights, sounds, and aromas of mid-nineteenth-century medicine from the very first pages.
Bloodied surgeons slashed through testicles and helpers’ fingers in their rush to perform amputations using equipment that were still soiled from prior surgeries.
Because of the high mortality rate associated with surgery, operating rooms earned the nickname “gateways of death.” It was a common practise for doctors to go through graveyards in search of cadavers so they could practise operating on patients who had suffered broken legs.
Fitzharris clearly portrays the postoperative suppuration that plagued patients before the advent of anaesthetic in the 1840s, which allowed surgeons to do longer, more difficult procedures.
The stench of Victorian London, Edinburgh, and Glasgow is described in detail by Fitzharris as he narrates the rise of Quaker surgeon Joseph Lister.
Using carbolic acid, Lister pioneered antiseptic surgery, which is still widely practised today.
His antiseptic mist carbolic spray apparatus and irrigation methods were two of many things he worked tirelessly to perfect.
Books: The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister’s Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine
From the very beginning, the reader is immersed in the sights, sounds, and aromas of mid-nineteenth-century medicine thanks to Lindsey Fitzharris’s narrative of the life of surgeon Joseph Lister.
Bloodied surgeons slashed through testicles and helpers’ fingers in their rush to perform amputations using equipment that were still soiled from prior surgeries.
Because of the high mortality rate associated with surgery, operating rooms earned the nickname “gateways of death.”
It was a common practise for doctors to go through graveyards in search of cadavers so they could practise operating on patients who had suffered broken legs.
Fitzharris clearly portrays the postoperative suppuration that plagued patients before the advent of anaesthetic in the 1840s, which allowed surgeons to do longer, more difficult procedures.
The stench of Victorian London, Edinburgh, and Glasgow is described in detail by Fitzharris as he narrates the rise of Quaker surgeon Joseph Lister.
Conclusion
As Lister’s career progressed, Fitzharris drastically reconstructed his journey to the point. Where he made the bold claim that germs caused all infection and that a sterilising substance applied to wounds could effectively treat infected patients.
She takes us through the dingy classrooms and hospitals where Lister’s contemporaries learnt their craft, the haunted houses where they did their research, and the graveyards where they dug up cadavers.
The Butchering Art is a macabre and enlightening look at the achievements of a pioneering surgeon whose drive to merge science and medicine ushered in the contemporary era.
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