Fun fact: "[Listerine was] [f]irst formulated by Dr. Joseph Lawrence and Jordan Wheat Lambert[2] in 1879 as a surgical antiseptic, it was given to dentists for oral care in 1895 and it was the first over-the-counter mouthwash sold in the United States in 1914. The mouthwash was named in honor of Dr. Joseph Lister, a pioneer of antiseptic surgery."

And he got to drain pus from TWO *British monarchs! Lucky devil!

Seriously, it's a *long story, but well worth the watch. Great find, Serious Surgeon.

This video has been flagged as being at least 10 minutes in length - declared long by kronosposeidon.

Adding video to channels (British) - requested by kronosposeidon.

Sterile procedure and anesthesia are the two things that make medicine modern, in my opinion. Anatomy and pharmaceuticals go waaay back. I'd have to add microbiology as a third, but that goes pretty far back too, to Leeuwenhoek, say.

Check me out, I'm on the internet talking about things I have no practical knowledge of!

Question, how do you describe a wound full of pus? Many a medical student has written in the chart, "on the patient's leg was a pussy wound."

From the American Civil war, and before, bullet wounds to the extremities were treated with amputation. The goal was to create a "clean" wound that didn't contain pieces of dirt and fabric, which almost always led to suppuration and gangrene. Prior to the days of anesthesia, the unfortunates were given laudanum, a mixture of alcohol and opium. Still, Paracelsus described an essential characteristic of an 18th century surgeon as "absolute pitilessness"

Those were rough days. The smell of suppuration has not been abolished, unfortunately. Anaerobic bacteria will singe your nose hair. The modern remedy is a dash of peppermint oil on the surgical mask. It's remarkably potent and an overdose will cause your eyes to water for the next 10 minutes.

>> ^snoozedoctor:
.. "absolute pitilessness"...

And speed. Less than a minute in some cases. Surgeons back in the day were BIG men apparently. Sorta like lumberjacks I imagine.

God I love the 21st century.

A capable surgeon of the day could complete a lower extremity amputation in less than 2 minutes, preferably within 60 seconds. Interesting, in the American Civil War, inhalation ether was administered to a great number of these patients. Even in primitive conditions, the mortality related to the anesthetic was low. Ether does not depress respirations to a great extent and the patients were administered what was considered an "amnestic" dose, something schmawy and I have discussed. Some would call it amnesthesia instead of anesthesia. If a patient doesn't remember what happened, even if they were crazy with pain during the procedure, it is generally judged a success.

Yeah the notion of experiencing profound pain and suffering, yet not remembering it is an interesting one. Given the complexity of our brain, and it's ability to record stimuli without our conscious awareness make me wonder if somehow, somewhere in our synapses there IS a recording of that traumatic event. Sort of a chemically repressed memory? An interesting study would be to play a song in the background during the procedure, then play it back among five songs and ask the patient which they liked the least.

Very insightful. And 'fleshly tabernacle', har, har, harrr...

We're all for not remembering any general procedure....snooozedoc???, do you do private parties???