

Surgery Museum Makes You Grateful for Any Modern Healthcare Whatsoever - edw519
http://www.wired.com/rawfile/2009/11/surgery-museum/all/1

======
stevenbedrick
Anybody who finds this stuff interesting should also check out the Hunterian
Collection ( <http://www.rcseng.ac.uk/museums/history/collections.html> ) at
the Royal College of Surgeons in London. In addition to the famous collection
of anatomical preparations and specimens, the RCS museum features a fabulous
collection of historic surgical instruments and artifacts, including a cringe-
inducing lithotomy exhibit.

Three cheers for for antisepsis, antibiotics, and anesthetic!

------
aarongough
I don't know about you guys but just looking at these photos makes my blood
run cold. Seeing old photos/paintings of surgery in progress is even worse.

I think we've still got a long way to go in the medical sciences, but I'm sure
as hell glad that I was born at least this far into the process!

------
kingkongreveng_
Watched a presentation on Civil War medicine and surgery and the most
interesting aspect was how they did all kinds of things not knowing why they
worked. They did use chemicals to sterilize, but had no idea about germs. They
had various powders to put in wounds that did actually aid clotting or
accelerate healing, but they didn't know why at the time.

The survival rate was surprisingly high. You were dead for sure if you caught
one in the guts, but otherwise they could do a lot. They could even do some
basic brain surgery and fix your skull with a plate.

------
tomjen2
Just to compare it - does anybody have a link to some _modern_ surgery tools?

Because, while cleaner, I don't think they would be less likely to let your
blood run cold.

------
kingkongreveng_
On the iron lungs and the salk vaccine there is an interesting "conspiracy"
theory I've seen. Incidence of polio correlates extremely well to production
volumes of DDT and various insecticides. It's a startling chart. Production
went way down and then so did polio.

The exact mechanisms of the polio virus have allegedly never been all that
well worked out. The efficacy of the salk vaccine might be a coincidence.

~~~
kingkongreveng_
Wouldn't mind an explanation on why this is down voted.

~~~
jerf
Amazing changes have been occurring virtually daily in the past couple of
centuries. Conspiracy theories tying them together on the basis of mere
correlation are profoundly uninteresting.

~~~
kingkongreveng_
Strong correlations are very interesting very often. And this particular
hypothesis is interesting well beyond correlation if you care to read into it.

Be honest, the downvote was a close-minded reactionary impulse.

~~~
jerf
I didn't downvote it. I don't hit downvote very often.

You provided no evidence that it was interesting, and such evidence would be
offtopic anyhow.

