In the modern world of medicine and surgery, it is easy to become blasé about how routine going under the knife has become. But spare a thought for the generations of human guinea pigs whose endurance at the hands of surgeons before the invention of skills and anaesthetic is an absolute horror show of medical torture.
Crucial Interventions is a collection of illustrated surgical principles and practices for doctors and surgeons in the 19th century, which brings together an assortment of morbid and fearsomely fascinating scenes. The images, created by pioneering and well-meaning doctors, document the history of the evolution of medicine during an era that saw radical transformation of the practice of cutting to save.
The images in the gallery below are from the Wellcome Collection, and were collected in Richard Barnett’s Crucial Interventions, published by Thames and Hudson. You can rifle through the terrifying images, while thanking your lucky stars it’s the 21st century, below:
