Anaesthesia..

Me and D decided to have a wander around the Surgeon's Hall Museum this afternoon, which I don't know why I haven't done before, it's fantastic!

It's full of all of the history of medicine, when surgery was first started, how medicine as a profession evolved over the centuries, medicine in the war, in the middle ages, modern medicine.. Need I go on? As a Vet Student, I found it most thrilling.. (especially the gory bits..)

I shall be returning again as I didn't manage to see all of it..

My favourite bit was about anaesthesia, and it's origins.. Before anaesthesia, there were only a handful of surgeries done a year, mostly amputations. The patients rarely survived due to the pain. Ether was the first anaesthetic used, followed by chloroform. It allowed the patient to stay unconscious long enough so as not to die from the pain. (though thats not to say they didn't die from the post-surgery infection)
It does make me glad to be living in this day and age with decent healthcare..

Anyway, I saw this quote, and to me, it couldn't be truer.. Nicely said, St Augustine..