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The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine
In The Butchering Art, historian Lindsey Fitzharris recreates a critical turning point in the history of medicine, when Joseph Lister transformed surgery from a brutal, harrowing practice to the safe, vaunted profession we know today.
Victorian operating theatres were known as 'gateways of death', Fitzharris reminds us, since half of those who underwent surgery didn't survive the experience. This was an era when a broken leg could lead to amputation, when surgeons often lacked university degrees, and were still known to ransack cemeteries to find cadavers. While the discovery of anaesthesia somewhat lessened the misery for patients, ironically it led to more deaths, as surgeons took greater risks. In squalid, overcrowded hospitals, doctors remained baffled by the persistent infections that kept mortality rates stubbornly high.
At a time when surgery couldn't have been more dangerous, an unlikely figure stepped forward: Joseph Lister, a young, melancholy Quaker surgeon. By making the audacious claim that germs were the source of all infection - and could be treated with antiseptics - he changed the history of medicine forever.
With a novelist's eye for detail, Fitzharris brilliantly conjures up the grisly world of Victorian surgery, revealing how one of Britain's greatest medical minds finally brought centuries of savagery, sawing and gangrene to an end.
260 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 17, 2017
2802 people are currently reading
35604 people want to read
About the author
Lindsey Fitzharris
8 books1,030 followersI am the author of The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister’s Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine, which won the PEN/E. O. Wilson Award for Literary Science Writing and has been translated into multiple languages. My TV series The Curious Life and Death of . . . aired on the Smithsonian Channel in 2020. I contribute regularly to The Wall Street Journal, Scientific American, and other notable publications, and hold a doctorate in the History of Science and Medicine from the University of Oxford. My next book, The Facemaker, will be released in June. It follows the harrowing story of Harold Gillies, the pioneering surgeon who rebuilt soldiers' faces during the First World War.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,469 reviews
August 1, 2019
The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine by Lindsey Fitzharris is a 2017 Scientific American/Farrar Straus and Giroux publication.
Ghastly, but fascinating!
In 1846, as surgery became more frequent, deaths occurred more often as well, due to sepsis, and a myriad of other infections, promptingJosheph Lister to examine the prospect that germs, dirty surgical tools, and hospital cleanliness were to blame.
Lister’s antiseptic theories were groundbreaking, but not especially popular. This led to a great deal of medical politics and backlash towards Lister. This is fascinating because of the mindset in the Victorian days by medical professionals.
However, you should be aware that some of the situations described are not for the faint of heart. While not purposely or gratuitously graphic, your imagination can fill in the blanks. I can’t imagine such primitive practices, or the idea that hospitals were not sanitized, especially the surgical tools. It’s very disgusting to think of, and it’s a wonder anyone survived.
Thank goodness for Joseph Lister and his antiseptic theory!! His life is captivating, and his scientific vision paved the way for medical advancements and a massive reduction in loss of life. He didn’t always have the right answers, but he was an amazing trailblazer in medicine and science.
The book has a bleak atmosphere, and conjures up all manner of appalling images, some of which left me feeling a little green around the gills, but ultimately this is an inspiring story, and I for one came away feeling grateful for Lister and his forward thinking and his tenacity in sticking to his guns when he came under fire.
Lister’s personal life is connected to his professional life in many ways, and is examined moderately, but is not the primary focus of the book. Mainly, the book is about Lister’s work, and often reads like a history textbook in some ways, but nevertheless, it is quite absorbing.
I highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys science, health and medicine, or history- and has a strong stomach!
Ghastly, but fascinating!
In 1846, as surgery became more frequent, deaths occurred more often as well, due to sepsis, and a myriad of other infections, promptingJosheph Lister to examine the prospect that germs, dirty surgical tools, and hospital cleanliness were to blame.
Lister’s antiseptic theories were groundbreaking, but not especially popular. This led to a great deal of medical politics and backlash towards Lister. This is fascinating because of the mindset in the Victorian days by medical professionals.
However, you should be aware that some of the situations described are not for the faint of heart. While not purposely or gratuitously graphic, your imagination can fill in the blanks. I can’t imagine such primitive practices, or the idea that hospitals were not sanitized, especially the surgical tools. It’s very disgusting to think of, and it’s a wonder anyone survived.
Thank goodness for Joseph Lister and his antiseptic theory!! His life is captivating, and his scientific vision paved the way for medical advancements and a massive reduction in loss of life. He didn’t always have the right answers, but he was an amazing trailblazer in medicine and science.
The book has a bleak atmosphere, and conjures up all manner of appalling images, some of which left me feeling a little green around the gills, but ultimately this is an inspiring story, and I for one came away feeling grateful for Lister and his forward thinking and his tenacity in sticking to his guns when he came under fire.
Lister’s personal life is connected to his professional life in many ways, and is examined moderately, but is not the primary focus of the book. Mainly, the book is about Lister’s work, and often reads like a history textbook in some ways, but nevertheless, it is quite absorbing.
I highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys science, health and medicine, or history- and has a strong stomach!
September 26, 2023
Why I chose to read this book:
1. I've always been interested in medical science, so when GR friend, Blaine reviewed this book, I immediately added it to my WTR list; and,
2. September 2023 is my self-appointed "Memoirs & Biographies" Month.
Praises:
1. using massive research, author Lindsey Fitzharris has written an in-depth, easy-to-follow biography about Joseph Lister, the first surgeon to perform an operation using antiseptic; and,
2. I learned:
- Lister's career path, including his successes and head-banging setbacks;
- the four men Lister greatly admired, especially Louis Pasteur. Lister advocated Pasteur's "germ theory" which helped him realize that medical staff and overall "hospitalism" were inadvertently causing large numbers of surgical patients to die from infection. I was thrilled to learn how the two men eventually met and became close friends;
- the poor living and working conditions that led to common ailments and/or frequent accidents. And as if that wasn't enough, a trip to a hospital was pretty much a death sentence since the level of hygiene there was abysmal. Although horrid descriptions of this time period were quite graphic, they needed to be said in order to get a full appreciation of what Lister was up against; and,
- Yep! Listerine is named after this man!
Overall Thoughts:
I really looked forward to reading this book, and it didn't disappoint! It gave me a deep respect for Joseph Lister who didn't allow detractors to sway him from doing what was right. Having had various surgeries myself, I'm truly grateful how his methods over 100 years ago kept me (and millions of others) going "under the knife" safe today.
Highly recommend this book for readers who enjoy historical/medical science!
1. I've always been interested in medical science, so when GR friend, Blaine reviewed this book, I immediately added it to my WTR list; and,
2. September 2023 is my self-appointed "Memoirs & Biographies" Month.
Praises:
1. using massive research, author Lindsey Fitzharris has written an in-depth, easy-to-follow biography about Joseph Lister, the first surgeon to perform an operation using antiseptic; and,
2. I learned:
- Lister's career path, including his successes and head-banging setbacks;
- the four men Lister greatly admired, especially Louis Pasteur. Lister advocated Pasteur's "germ theory" which helped him realize that medical staff and overall "hospitalism" were inadvertently causing large numbers of surgical patients to die from infection. I was thrilled to learn how the two men eventually met and became close friends;
- the poor living and working conditions that led to common ailments and/or frequent accidents. And as if that wasn't enough, a trip to a hospital was pretty much a death sentence since the level of hygiene there was abysmal. Although horrid descriptions of this time period were quite graphic, they needed to be said in order to get a full appreciation of what Lister was up against; and,
- Yep! Listerine is named after this man!
Overall Thoughts:
I really looked forward to reading this book, and it didn't disappoint! It gave me a deep respect for Joseph Lister who didn't allow detractors to sway him from doing what was right. Having had various surgeries myself, I'm truly grateful how his methods over 100 years ago kept me (and millions of others) going "under the knife" safe today.
Highly recommend this book for readers who enjoy historical/medical science!
December 12, 2020
Joseph Lister started out as a quiet, self-effacing surgical student, who became one of the most important men in the history of the art. With the help and support of his Quaker father, he began his studies at University College London. Not content with being an ordinary surgeon, Lister wanted to work with and learn from the best in the field. As he moved up in the surgical world, he became sickened and disheartened by the death rate after surgery. No matter how great the skill of the surgeon, most people in the hospital died from infection.
In the mid 1800s, germs and their subsequent malignant effect on wounds was not understood. Great men, like Louis Pasteur, were making strides towards that understanding, but new ideas were not readily accepted by the surgeons of the day. Not only were people operated on in filthy conditions, surgeons wore the same gory outfits and never washed their hands, the table, or their instruments between patients. Then, if the patient survived the operation, they were returned to disgusting hospital,wards, rife with lice, maggots and bedbugs in their sheets.
Lister devised a system using carbolic acid to rinse his hands and instruments in and soaked gauze in the mixture to place on the wound after surgery. He took meticulous notes and experimented until his cleaning system began to save lives. Thus began his hardest battle, convincing other surgeons to follow his lead.
In the mid 1800s, germs and their subsequent malignant effect on wounds was not understood. Great men, like Louis Pasteur, were making strides towards that understanding, but new ideas were not readily accepted by the surgeons of the day. Not only were people operated on in filthy conditions, surgeons wore the same gory outfits and never washed their hands, the table, or their instruments between patients. Then, if the patient survived the operation, they were returned to disgusting hospital,wards, rife with lice, maggots and bedbugs in their sheets.
Lister devised a system using carbolic acid to rinse his hands and instruments in and soaked gauze in the mixture to place on the wound after surgery. He took meticulous notes and experimented until his cleaning system began to save lives. Thus began his hardest battle, convincing other surgeons to follow his lead.
November 16, 2017
Dr. Joseph Lister became a surgeon in a time in which Germ Theory was considered "Fake News". 19th Century surgery was crude, bloody, painful, and almost always fatal. 19th Century surgery was barbaric. Hospitals were commonly known as death houses and something to be avoided if you had any money. Surgeons didn't wash their hands, tools, clothing, or hospital beds. It was quite common for a surgeon to conduct an autopsy and without washing anything use those same tools to operate on living patient. 90% of patients who survived the surgery died of infection afterwards.
Dr. Lister set out to fix this and in doing so made a lot of enemies amongst his fellow surgeons but more importantly changed the course of human history. It is mind boggling to think of how many people Dr. Lister saved. He transformed not only the way doctors treated patients but how we as regular people live our lives. Just count how many times you wash your hands or use hand sanitizer. Do you cover your nose/mouth when sneeze/cough?
Before Dr. Lister very few people did these things and if they did they would have been dismissed as being quacks. Lindsay Fitzharris paints a shocking and visceral depiction of the world that Dr. Lister inhabited. The Butchering Art is a fast paced and brilliant account of 19th Century medicine.
Highly Recommended!
Dr. Lister set out to fix this and in doing so made a lot of enemies amongst his fellow surgeons but more importantly changed the course of human history. It is mind boggling to think of how many people Dr. Lister saved. He transformed not only the way doctors treated patients but how we as regular people live our lives. Just count how many times you wash your hands or use hand sanitizer. Do you cover your nose/mouth when sneeze/cough?
Before Dr. Lister very few people did these things and if they did they would have been dismissed as being quacks. Lindsay Fitzharris paints a shocking and visceral depiction of the world that Dr. Lister inhabited. The Butchering Art is a fast paced and brilliant account of 19th Century medicine.
Highly Recommended!
December 4, 2023
One of my favorite library patrons is enamored with the Middle Ages. Ken Follett is, unsurprisingly, one of her favorite authors. I always enjoyed talking with her when I worked at the circ desk, but was always astounded by how much she wished she would have lived back then.
No matter what I said, she could not be swayed from her assurance that life would have been better back then:
Work from dusk til dawn. No central air. No indoor plumbing. No Google or internet. No deodorant (at a time when people seldom bathed). Having to read by candlelight - if you were both fortunate enough to know how to read and to have some time leftover at the end of the day in which to do so.
Just one of those things would be enough to change my mind.
Perhaps the biggest reason of all to not want to live back then is the lack of sanitation, antibiotics, and anaesthesia.
As the author writes in this book, "Surgery was always a last resort and only done in matters of life and death." The majority of people who went under the knife did so without the aid of anaesthetics, only to die of infection.
It's no wonder most developed fatal infections - this was a time prior to the germ theory of disease (and no, it's not just a theory, as in your everyday meaning of theory. It's no more just a theory than evolution through natural selection and gravity).
No one knew about bacteria and viruses. They thought bad air caused illness. Actually, in this time before daily baths, deodorant, and Bath and Body Works, humanity would have been wiped out if illness was caused by stink.
Surgeons would operate all day without once changing their clothes or washing their tools. Blood from onevictim patient dripped from the saw blades as the surgeon bent over a new one, hacking through bone as the screaming patient blacked out from pain.
Harmful bacteria was passed from person to person. The hospital wards were no cleaner than the surgeries, and dismembered people lay in the stench of their own rotting flesh, waiting to die.
If you think that is gross, prepare yourself for reading this book. The gore is.... well, it's bad.
However, it's also an incredibly interesting book, very well written and researched.
It follows Joseph Lister throughout his long career and his search for the cause of hospital infection. He wanted to discover why so many people died after surgery and how he could prevent their deaths.
It's hard to think now that there was a time before people knew about all the teensy-tiny creepy-crawlies that could easily kill the strongest person. For most of human history though, people were ignorant of the microscopic world.
This book is fascinating. There are some instances of animal experimentation which were more than disturbing and I had to skip. Thankfully the author did not go on any more than necessary when it came to that stuff.
For the most part though, I really enjoyed this book. At times it was like reading a novel rather than nonfiction, so brilliantly does the author bring to life that time and place.
Next time I see that patron who pines for the good old days, I think I will recommend this book to her.
No matter what I said, she could not be swayed from her assurance that life would have been better back then:
Work from dusk til dawn. No central air. No indoor plumbing. No Google or internet. No deodorant (at a time when people seldom bathed). Having to read by candlelight - if you were both fortunate enough to know how to read and to have some time leftover at the end of the day in which to do so.
Just one of those things would be enough to change my mind.
Perhaps the biggest reason of all to not want to live back then is the lack of sanitation, antibiotics, and anaesthesia.
As the author writes in this book, "Surgery was always a last resort and only done in matters of life and death." The majority of people who went under the knife did so without the aid of anaesthetics, only to die of infection.
It's no wonder most developed fatal infections - this was a time prior to the germ theory of disease (and no, it's not just a theory, as in your everyday meaning of theory. It's no more just a theory than evolution through natural selection and gravity).
No one knew about bacteria and viruses. They thought bad air caused illness. Actually, in this time before daily baths, deodorant, and Bath and Body Works, humanity would have been wiped out if illness was caused by stink.
Surgeons would operate all day without once changing their clothes or washing their tools. Blood from one
Harmful bacteria was passed from person to person. The hospital wards were no cleaner than the surgeries, and dismembered people lay in the stench of their own rotting flesh, waiting to die.
If you think that is gross, prepare yourself for reading this book. The gore is.... well, it's bad.
However, it's also an incredibly interesting book, very well written and researched.
It follows Joseph Lister throughout his long career and his search for the cause of hospital infection. He wanted to discover why so many people died after surgery and how he could prevent their deaths.
It's hard to think now that there was a time before people knew about all the teensy-tiny creepy-crawlies that could easily kill the strongest person. For most of human history though, people were ignorant of the microscopic world.
This book is fascinating. There are some instances of animal experimentation which were more than disturbing and I had to skip. Thankfully the author did not go on any more than necessary when it came to that stuff.
For the most part though, I really enjoyed this book. At times it was like reading a novel rather than nonfiction, so brilliantly does the author bring to life that time and place.
Next time I see that patron who pines for the good old days, I think I will recommend this book to her.
November 26, 2025
Girls if I were born in the Victorian era I simply wouldn’t exist. Full stop. A cold? Dead. A cough? I’m choking. Natural bodily functions? Oops I’m dead. I definitely won’t be forgetting some of these facts anytime soon. I do sort of wish there were more details regarding the actual surgical procedures, don’t get me wrong they’re definitely included, but it’s weighted more the historical context rather than the actual acts but I didn’t mind that!! Maybe I’ll just go search for a book about historical medical procedures now hmmm
February 10, 2024
Für mich ein absolutes Highlight.
Ich bin selbst im medizinischen Bereich tätig. Ich fand dieses Buch unheimlich interessant aufbereitet und sehr spannend geschrieben. Es fiel mir schwer, das Buch aus der Hand zu legen.
Natürlich habe ich mir gleich „Der Horror der frühen Chirurgie“ zugelegt und hoffe, dass mich auch dieser Band wieder fesseln kann.
Erzählt wird der Werdegang des Mediziners und Wissenschaftlers Joseph Listers und wie außergewöhnlich wichtig seine Forschungen bzw. die Anfänge von Forschung für die Medizin waren. Über Lister habe ich bewusst noch nichts gelesen, bin nie aufmerksam geworden auf ihn. Doch während des Lesens kam es mir langsam und er begegnet uns heute noch . Jeder hat mit Sicherheit von Listerine gehört oder die Mundspüllösung schon selbst benutzt. Und Tatsache. In dem Buch findet es dann auch Erwähnung.
Dieses Buch hat mich demütig werden lassen. Denn nur solch engagierten und unermüdlichen Menschen haben wir diese Fortschritte in der Medizin zu verdanken. Lister hatte Leidenschaft für diesen Beruf und den steten Willen, allen Kranken zu helfen. Ihm wurden Steine in den Weg gelegt, seine Forschungsergebnisse belächelt und seine Arbeit wurde von manch anderen Medizinern/ Chirurgen seiner Zeit nicht anerkannt. Aber nur, weil diese entweder zu engstirnig waren oder ein zu großes Ego hatten. Lister war wohl also ein außergewöhnlicher Mensch und Arzt, der nicht aufgegeben hat und somit in seiner Zeit unheimlich viele Leben rettete und für die medizinische Zukunft einen wahnsinnig wichtigen Grundstein legte.
Heutzutage geht man selbstverständlich zum Arzt, bekommt -wenn notwendig- sein Antibiotikum und ist nach 1-2 Wochen wieder vollständig auskuriert. Es gibt Hygienestandards, die dafür sorgen, dass wir gesund leben können und in Krankenhäusern ordentlich versorgt werden.
Schon der Umstand, dass Krankenhäuser im 19. Jahrhundert noch Totenhaus genannt wurden, sagt wohl schon alles.
Ein extrem gut recherchiertes Buch über eine sehr wichtige historische Persönlichkeit. Großartig !
Ich bin selbst im medizinischen Bereich tätig. Ich fand dieses Buch unheimlich interessant aufbereitet und sehr spannend geschrieben. Es fiel mir schwer, das Buch aus der Hand zu legen.
Natürlich habe ich mir gleich „Der Horror der frühen Chirurgie“ zugelegt und hoffe, dass mich auch dieser Band wieder fesseln kann.
Erzählt wird der Werdegang des Mediziners und Wissenschaftlers Joseph Listers und wie außergewöhnlich wichtig seine Forschungen bzw. die Anfänge von Forschung für die Medizin waren. Über Lister habe ich bewusst noch nichts gelesen, bin nie aufmerksam geworden auf ihn. Doch während des Lesens kam es mir langsam und er begegnet uns heute noch . Jeder hat mit Sicherheit von Listerine gehört oder die Mundspüllösung schon selbst benutzt. Und Tatsache. In dem Buch findet es dann auch Erwähnung.
Dieses Buch hat mich demütig werden lassen. Denn nur solch engagierten und unermüdlichen Menschen haben wir diese Fortschritte in der Medizin zu verdanken. Lister hatte Leidenschaft für diesen Beruf und den steten Willen, allen Kranken zu helfen. Ihm wurden Steine in den Weg gelegt, seine Forschungsergebnisse belächelt und seine Arbeit wurde von manch anderen Medizinern/ Chirurgen seiner Zeit nicht anerkannt. Aber nur, weil diese entweder zu engstirnig waren oder ein zu großes Ego hatten. Lister war wohl also ein außergewöhnlicher Mensch und Arzt, der nicht aufgegeben hat und somit in seiner Zeit unheimlich viele Leben rettete und für die medizinische Zukunft einen wahnsinnig wichtigen Grundstein legte.
Heutzutage geht man selbstverständlich zum Arzt, bekommt -wenn notwendig- sein Antibiotikum und ist nach 1-2 Wochen wieder vollständig auskuriert. Es gibt Hygienestandards, die dafür sorgen, dass wir gesund leben können und in Krankenhäusern ordentlich versorgt werden.
Schon der Umstand, dass Krankenhäuser im 19. Jahrhundert noch Totenhaus genannt wurden, sagt wohl schon alles.
Ein extrem gut recherchiertes Buch über eine sehr wichtige historische Persönlichkeit. Großartig !
August 14, 2021
What a fascinating book, to put it mildly. First time author, Lindsey Fitzharris, is a biography of Joseph Lister who was a pioneer in surgery in Victorian era Scotland and England. She has given us one of the most easy read biographies that I have ever had the pleasure to come across. While Joseph Lister is the star and focus of the book, there is so much to learn about medical practices of the time, and how he struggled to overcome older surgeons belief that "hospital stink" was the reason so many patients died. Oh, it was a primitive time in the 19th century, and the levels of care and cleanliness that we are accustomed to are nowhere to be seen, as surgeons were lower tier doctors and speed was essential since for about half of the 19th century surgery and amputations were gruesome procedures: no gloves, bloody surgical instruments used again and again, as well as lack of clean and sterile dressings and wards. The rich had surgery performed at their homes, usually on dining room tables, while the poor went to the hospitals, where many died due to infections after surgery.
I was completely unaware of this world, and Fitzharris has done such a great job of making it a readable book, one that does not dwell on the gruesome but rather on Lister's life and attempts to save patients lives and bring much needed changes to the field of surgery. Fitzharris, as a novice author, does a super job of telling an engaging story and did not need 800 pages (as most biographies tend to just go on and on) to relate a most compelling story. A fantastic biography, well written and well researched, and I cannot wait for her next biography which is in the works. Keep up the great work Lindsey!!!!
I was completely unaware of this world, and Fitzharris has done such a great job of making it a readable book, one that does not dwell on the gruesome but rather on Lister's life and attempts to save patients lives and bring much needed changes to the field of surgery. Fitzharris, as a novice author, does a super job of telling an engaging story and did not need 800 pages (as most biographies tend to just go on and on) to relate a most compelling story. A fantastic biography, well written and well researched, and I cannot wait for her next biography which is in the works. Keep up the great work Lindsey!!!!
October 18, 2017
My hardback copy is here!
I was fortunate enough to receive an ARC of this through NetGalley, and seriously, the second I finished it, I went and preordered it. This is one of the best and my favorite books of the year!
Even though I just read this, I'm already rereading this.
In short, This book really delves into the Victorian surgery practices and thanks to Joseph Lister, for forever changing what we know about surgery today. Seriously highlighted and now tabbing seems like half of the book. So fascinating and well researched.
Looking through the hardback copy, there is an index in the back and around 30 pages of notes on where the research came from!
I would recommend this to anyone interested in medical, history, science, an amazing well-researched biography....ok nevermind-I would recommend this to everyone.
Can't wait to see Dr. Lindsey Fitzharris speak at the Winchester House on Oct 20 :).
Also, you can check out her Youtube channel, all about past medical practices https://www.youtube.com/user/UnderThe...
Cant thank Dr. Lindsey Fitzharris and Farrar, Straus and Giroux enough for allowing me to read and review this book for an honest opinion through Netgalley.
I was fortunate enough to receive an ARC of this through NetGalley, and seriously, the second I finished it, I went and preordered it. This is one of the best and my favorite books of the year!
Even though I just read this, I'm already rereading this.
In short, This book really delves into the Victorian surgery practices and thanks to Joseph Lister, for forever changing what we know about surgery today. Seriously highlighted and now tabbing seems like half of the book. So fascinating and well researched.
Looking through the hardback copy, there is an index in the back and around 30 pages of notes on where the research came from!
I would recommend this to anyone interested in medical, history, science, an amazing well-researched biography....ok nevermind-I would recommend this to everyone.
Can't wait to see Dr. Lindsey Fitzharris speak at the Winchester House on Oct 20 :).
Also, you can check out her Youtube channel, all about past medical practices https://www.youtube.com/user/UnderThe...
Cant thank Dr. Lindsey Fitzharris and Farrar, Straus and Giroux enough for allowing me to read and review this book for an honest opinion through Netgalley.
December 30, 2020
It’s no secret that I love learning about the Victorian period, so hearing about the progression of Victorian hospitals from smelly and disgusting places where surgeons didn’t even clean their aprons or instruments between patients to the discovery of microorganisms and the introduction of antiseptics was ridiculously fascinating to me. My microbiology-loving brain was having a field day.
I learnt so many interesting facts and tidbits while listening to The Butchering Art. The kinds of facts and stories I’ll probably throw out during future get-togethers post-pandemic. It’s grisly and very bloody at times, especially the descriptions of surgery back in those days. But I LOVED it!
This was a huge moment in medical history and Fitzharris does a wonderful job of relating the details. However this is one of those scenarios where I wish I had read a physical copy instead of listening to the audiobook. That’s just how I am with science-based writing though - I prefer to read it. Overall would highly recommend if you enjoy the macabre and medical non-fiction! 4 stars.
I learnt so many interesting facts and tidbits while listening to The Butchering Art. The kinds of facts and stories I’ll probably throw out during future get-togethers post-pandemic. It’s grisly and very bloody at times, especially the descriptions of surgery back in those days. But I LOVED it!
This was a huge moment in medical history and Fitzharris does a wonderful job of relating the details. However this is one of those scenarios where I wish I had read a physical copy instead of listening to the audiobook. That’s just how I am with science-based writing though - I prefer to read it. Overall would highly recommend if you enjoy the macabre and medical non-fiction! 4 stars.
August 11, 2025
After I read this book, I passed it on to my Primary Care physician as a book to be passed along.
My mom was a surgical nurse in the time when sterile throwaway plastic medical equipment did not exist. Everything had to be boiled or steamed in autoclave equipment.
Washing hands in our house was right up there with a commandment.
This book concentrates on the connection Lister could prove on the theory of germs running rampant in open wounds, surgeries and childbirth that was killing patients.
Doctors wiped their bare unwashed hands on dirty aprons as well as their instruments used and thrown onto tables or in their filthy travel bags.
Amazingly, the first doctor to make a connection between dirty hands and sepsis was 20 years earlier.
Ignaz Semmelweis watched as women died after childbirth one after another in the delivery ward in the hospitals.
Young doctors would go from autopsy rooms to the women's delivery wards. They would examine the young mothers with unwashed dirty hands.
On 15 May 1847, Ignaz Semmelweis instituted his ground-breaking intervention and ordered everyone to scrub their hands with a chlorinated lime solution when moving from the autopsy room to the delivery wards. The survival rate for the young mothers changed immediately.
Semmelweis knew he discovered a cause and effect but could not prove it.
It has now come to be known as :
The "Semmelweis reflex" It refers to the human tendency to reject new evidence or ideas, even when those ideas are supported by empirical evidence, because they contradict established norms or beliefs.
It's a form of cognitive bias where existing beliefs are clung to.
Semmelweis was a physician who pioneered hand hygiene to prevent childbed fever, but whose findings were initially rejected by the medical community.
Semmeweis would stand trying to force doctors to wash their hands before entering a delivery ward.
He would be seen weeping and begging doctors to stop and try to pull their medical bags from them.
He was placed in a mental institution after a complete breakdown.
He was committed to an insane asylum by his colleagues.
He fought the guards and was beaten.
He died of a sepsis wound two weeks later due to gangrene.
20 years later, Lister made the connection Semmelweis could not prove. Germs entering open wounds through unclean hands and equipment was proven.
Lister's contributions were focused on preventing infections during and after surgical procedures, which were crucial in the context of rabies treatment and prevention which was confirmed by Louis Pasteur.
A really good book.
My mom was a surgical nurse in the time when sterile throwaway plastic medical equipment did not exist. Everything had to be boiled or steamed in autoclave equipment.
Washing hands in our house was right up there with a commandment.
This book concentrates on the connection Lister could prove on the theory of germs running rampant in open wounds, surgeries and childbirth that was killing patients.
Doctors wiped their bare unwashed hands on dirty aprons as well as their instruments used and thrown onto tables or in their filthy travel bags.
Amazingly, the first doctor to make a connection between dirty hands and sepsis was 20 years earlier.
Ignaz Semmelweis watched as women died after childbirth one after another in the delivery ward in the hospitals.
Young doctors would go from autopsy rooms to the women's delivery wards. They would examine the young mothers with unwashed dirty hands.
On 15 May 1847, Ignaz Semmelweis instituted his ground-breaking intervention and ordered everyone to scrub their hands with a chlorinated lime solution when moving from the autopsy room to the delivery wards. The survival rate for the young mothers changed immediately.
Semmelweis knew he discovered a cause and effect but could not prove it.
It has now come to be known as :
The "Semmelweis reflex" It refers to the human tendency to reject new evidence or ideas, even when those ideas are supported by empirical evidence, because they contradict established norms or beliefs.
It's a form of cognitive bias where existing beliefs are clung to.
Semmelweis was a physician who pioneered hand hygiene to prevent childbed fever, but whose findings were initially rejected by the medical community.
Semmeweis would stand trying to force doctors to wash their hands before entering a delivery ward.
He would be seen weeping and begging doctors to stop and try to pull their medical bags from them.
He was placed in a mental institution after a complete breakdown.
He was committed to an insane asylum by his colleagues.
He fought the guards and was beaten.
He died of a sepsis wound two weeks later due to gangrene.
20 years later, Lister made the connection Semmelweis could not prove. Germs entering open wounds through unclean hands and equipment was proven.
Lister's contributions were focused on preventing infections during and after surgical procedures, which were crucial in the context of rabies treatment and prevention which was confirmed by Louis Pasteur.
A really good book.
July 1, 2018
If about to go into Hospital for big emergency operation & you are really shitting bricks? Congestions you have chosen the perfect bedside read if wore not scared before then just what you need to put you at your easy .
A book about what happened to be in the 19th century theatres 'the gateways to Death ' . In this the year of 70th anniversary of NHS this book shows what the Labour government after Winston Churchill lost the election & WWII helped to bring forth.
This about Joseph Lister a Quaker who change surgeons the world over from the dirty aprons to believe that pus was good.
So smile when you go under knife & think on this book as if wasn't for the pioneers of medicine , The Labour government, the new great NHS you could be like So meany here having no operation just big box & lot of people dressed in black.
This book is funny for all the wrong reasons on page 20 she says that Lister was born April 5th 1827 but on page 21 she then says in 1824 & 1843 he became a great devotee of instrument of microscopes but that makes him -2, in 1832 he became a fellowship of The Royal Society what at aged 5? & claims he is only 14 in 1841.Who did proof reading for this cannot stop laughing.
He was born in 1827 & did become surgeon at 20 but not at -2 or aged 5
On page 12 if you are male you will scream & grind your teeth in pain oh shit!
Love he cut blokes ball when cut off his leg.
A book about what happened to be in the 19th century theatres 'the gateways to Death ' . In this the year of 70th anniversary of NHS this book shows what the Labour government after Winston Churchill lost the election & WWII helped to bring forth.
This about Joseph Lister a Quaker who change surgeons the world over from the dirty aprons to believe that pus was good.
So smile when you go under knife & think on this book as if wasn't for the pioneers of medicine , The Labour government, the new great NHS you could be like So meany here having no operation just big box & lot of people dressed in black.
This book is funny for all the wrong reasons on page 20 she says that Lister was born April 5th 1827 but on page 21 she then says in 1824 & 1843 he became a great devotee of instrument of microscopes but that makes him -2, in 1832 he became a fellowship of The Royal Society what at aged 5? & claims he is only 14 in 1841.Who did proof reading for this cannot stop laughing.
He was born in 1827 & did become surgeon at 20 but not at -2 or aged 5
On page 12 if you are male you will scream & grind your teeth in pain oh shit!
Love he cut blokes ball when cut off his leg.
November 25, 2020
Uno de los libros más interesantes que leí en el año. No es solo su aspecto más visceral y grotesco, es la evolución de las prácticas quirúrgicas y la incorporación de la antisepsia, algo revolucionario que, gracias a Lister, salvó la vida de millones de personas, y lo sigue haciendo. Muy recomendado.
May 1, 2018
(3.5) Surgery was a gory business with a notably high fatality rate well into the nineteenth century. Surgeons had the fastest hands in the West, but their victims were still guaranteed at least a few minutes of utter agony as they had a limb amputated or a tumor removed, and the danger wasn’t over after they were sewn up either: most patients soon died from hospital infections. The development of anesthetics and antiseptic techniques helped to change all that.
Fitzharris opens with the vivid and rather gruesome scene of a mid-thigh amputation performed by Robert Liston at University College Hospital in London in 1846. This surgery was different, though: it only took 28 seconds, but the patient felt nothing thanks to the ether he had been administered. He woke up a few minutes later asking when the procedure would begin. In the audience that day was Joseph Lister, who would become one of Britain’s most admired surgeons.
Lister came from a Quaker family and, after being educated at University College London, started his career in Edinburgh. Different to many medical professionals of the time, he was fascinated by microscopy and determined to find out what caused deadly infections. Carbolic acid and catgut ligatures were two of Lister’s main innovations that helped to fight infection. In fact, whether we realize it or not, his legacy is forever associated with antiseptics: Listerine mouthwash (invented in 1879) is named after him, and the Johnson brothers of Johnson & Johnson fame started their business mass-producing sterile surgical dressings after attending one of Lister’s lectures.
My interest tailed off a bit after the first third, as the book starts going into more depth about Lister’s work and personal life: he married his boss’s daughter and moved from Edinburgh to Glasgow and then back to London. However, the best is yet to come: the accounts of the surgeries he performed on his sister (a mastectomy that bought her three more years of life) and Queen Victoria (removing an orange-sized abscess from under her arm) are terrific. The chapter on treating the queen in secret at Balmoral Castle in 1871 was my overall favorite.
I was that kid who loved going to Civil War battlefields and medical museums and looking at all the different surgical saws and bullet fragments in museum cases, so I reveled in the gory details here but was not as interested in the biographical material. Do be sure you have a strong stomach before you try reading the prologue over a meal. This is a comparable read to The Remedy, about the search for a cure to tuberculosis.
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
Fitzharris opens with the vivid and rather gruesome scene of a mid-thigh amputation performed by Robert Liston at University College Hospital in London in 1846. This surgery was different, though: it only took 28 seconds, but the patient felt nothing thanks to the ether he had been administered. He woke up a few minutes later asking when the procedure would begin. In the audience that day was Joseph Lister, who would become one of Britain’s most admired surgeons.
Lister came from a Quaker family and, after being educated at University College London, started his career in Edinburgh. Different to many medical professionals of the time, he was fascinated by microscopy and determined to find out what caused deadly infections. Carbolic acid and catgut ligatures were two of Lister’s main innovations that helped to fight infection. In fact, whether we realize it or not, his legacy is forever associated with antiseptics: Listerine mouthwash (invented in 1879) is named after him, and the Johnson brothers of Johnson & Johnson fame started their business mass-producing sterile surgical dressings after attending one of Lister’s lectures.
My interest tailed off a bit after the first third, as the book starts going into more depth about Lister’s work and personal life: he married his boss’s daughter and moved from Edinburgh to Glasgow and then back to London. However, the best is yet to come: the accounts of the surgeries he performed on his sister (a mastectomy that bought her three more years of life) and Queen Victoria (removing an orange-sized abscess from under her arm) are terrific. The chapter on treating the queen in secret at Balmoral Castle in 1871 was my overall favorite.
I was that kid who loved going to Civil War battlefields and medical museums and looking at all the different surgical saws and bullet fragments in museum cases, so I reveled in the gory details here but was not as interested in the biographical material. Do be sure you have a strong stomach before you try reading the prologue over a meal. This is a comparable read to The Remedy, about the search for a cure to tuberculosis.
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
February 1, 2023
Impulsyviai nusipirkau šią knygą oro uoste, o paskui lėktuve garsiai juokiausi skaitydama. Ši knyga – apie medicinos pažangą (papasakota per chirurgo Džozefo Listerio biografiją), bet ir apie tai, kaip medicina atrodė iki tos pažangos. Įdomu, ką žmonės, besipiktinantys „neaiškia skiepų sudėtimi“, manytų apie operavimą nedezinfekavus įrankių, kur studentai laikydavo savo milžiniškus kaulų peilius aksominėse dėžutėse, chirurgai uždirbdavo mažiau negu (gausių) parazitų ligoninėje naikintojas, o paveldėti ir nešioti pajuodusį nuo sukrešusių kraujų vyresniojo chirurgo chalatą buvo didelė garbė.
Turėjau išankstinių nusistaymų apie leidyklą „Liūtai ne avys“, nes siaubingai nervina jų įkyrios ir žodingos reklamos per radiją. Tačiau knygos pasirinkimui ploju, o vertimui priekaištų neturiu. Popierius maždaug toks, ant kurio 1995 metais būdavo spausdinamos fantastikos knygos, bet juk ne popierių skaitai.
Taip pat, kadangi pati pastoviai piešiu biografijas, laisvalaikiu visiškai nenoriu jų skaityti. Tačiau čia – geras pavyzdys, kaip biografija tampa fonu nepaprastai įdomiai ir smagiai papasakoti apie visą sritį / laikotarpį / visuomenę. Vėliau Listeriui pradeda geriau sektis, jis sulaukia pripažinimo ir situacija ligoninėse gerėja – dėl to, žinoma, džiugu, bet DAUG smagesni buvo pirmieji, kraujais besitaškantys, skyreliai.
Kaip gali nepatikti knyga, kurioje yra tokios citatos:
Turėjau išankstinių nusistaymų apie leidyklą „Liūtai ne avys“, nes siaubingai nervina jų įkyrios ir žodingos reklamos per radiją. Tačiau knygos pasirinkimui ploju, o vertimui priekaištų neturiu. Popierius maždaug toks, ant kurio 1995 metais būdavo spausdinamos fantastikos knygos, bet juk ne popierių skaitai.
Taip pat, kadangi pati pastoviai piešiu biografijas, laisvalaikiu visiškai nenoriu jų skaityti. Tačiau čia – geras pavyzdys, kaip biografija tampa fonu nepaprastai įdomiai ir smagiai papasakoti apie visą sritį / laikotarpį / visuomenę. Vėliau Listeriui pradeda geriau sektis, jis sulaukia pripažinimo ir situacija ligoninėse gerėja – dėl to, žinoma, džiugu, bet DAUG smagesni buvo pirmieji, kraujais besitaškantys, skyreliai.
Kaip gali nepatikti knyga, kurioje yra tokios citatos:
Instinktyviai susiėmusi už pilvo, staiga ji riktelėjo iš siaubo: „O Dieve, mano žarnos lenda lauk!“
Kai medicinos studentai atbuko matydami numirėlius, jie, visuomenės siaubui, liovėsi juos gerbti. <...> Žurnalas Herper's New Monthly Magazine smerkė juodąjį humorą ir nepagarbą mirusiesiems, tvyrančią anatomijos salėje. Kai kurie studentai peržengdavo padorumo ribas ir naudodavo pūvančias jiems priskirtų negyvėlių kūno dalis vietoje ginklų, vaizduodami dvikovas, kuriose mojuodavo nupjautomis rankomis ar kojomis. Kiti išnešdavo vidurius iš salės ir paslėpdavo tokiose viešose vietose, kuriose tikėjosi įvaryti šoką ir siaubą juos radusiems žmonėms.
July 3, 2024
Check out my book review on Lindsey's amazing book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCz-F...
I rarely give nonfiction books a star rating but I had no choice but to happily give The Butchering Art 5 perfect stars. I laughed, I cried, I gasped out loud. I highly recommend this biography on Joseph Lister.
I rarely give nonfiction books a star rating but I had no choice but to happily give The Butchering Art 5 perfect stars. I laughed, I cried, I gasped out loud. I highly recommend this biography on Joseph Lister.
April 2, 2022
So that’s who they named that mouthwash after.
May 10, 2018
Audio # 50
So while you're reading you'll become fascinated and want to share with others who will find you ghoulish
People around you may protest the audio version
Sometimes you may find it hard to finish your lunch while you're reading
So while you're reading you'll become fascinated and want to share with others who will find you ghoulish
People around you may protest the audio version
Sometimes you may find it hard to finish your lunch while you're reading
May 15, 2018
The title of this book is so appropriate for the surgical environment of the mid to late 1800s.......going under the surgeons knife could almost guarantee that the patient would die. Limb amputation seemed to be the craze for anything from varicose veins to a broken ankle and surgery was performed in the most unsanitary of conditions. Most patients died of sepsis. But the medical community could not or would not grasp the reason for the onset of infection and was loathe to accept such a concept as germs.
Enter Dr. Joseph Lister, a self-effacing, devout Quaker physician who cared deeply for his patients and was very disturbed with the outcomes resultant from surgery. He began devoting his life to ascertaining the reason for the infections raging in hospitals across Britain. He became interested in the findings of the great scientist, Louis Pasteur and was soon developing his own theories about hygiene and how antiseptics could counter the invasion of germs. The establishment scoffed at his ideas but eventually he was proved correct and would change the course of medical history.
A most interesting look at one man's quest for the truth but there are some sections that are a bit slow and overly detailed. Nevertheless, it is a very worthwhile read and is recommended.
Enter Dr. Joseph Lister, a self-effacing, devout Quaker physician who cared deeply for his patients and was very disturbed with the outcomes resultant from surgery. He began devoting his life to ascertaining the reason for the infections raging in hospitals across Britain. He became interested in the findings of the great scientist, Louis Pasteur and was soon developing his own theories about hygiene and how antiseptics could counter the invasion of germs. The establishment scoffed at his ideas but eventually he was proved correct and would change the course of medical history.
A most interesting look at one man's quest for the truth but there are some sections that are a bit slow and overly detailed. Nevertheless, it is a very worthwhile read and is recommended.
Read
October 18, 2017When is it a better time to read a gruesome history of medicine than right before Halloween??? Fitzharris spares no details documenting Joseph Lister and his campaign to teach the medical profession that germs really existed. (Before Lister, doctors didn’t wash their hands or their medical instruments all that often. Blergh.) It’s also an illuminating look at a profession one looked upon with skepticism, a profession that often relied on graveyards to supply their knowledge…
Backlist bump: Cranioklepty: Grave Robbing and the Search for Genius by Colin Dickey
Tune in to our weekly podcast dedicated to all things new books, All The Books: http://bookriot.com/listen/shows/allt...
Backlist bump: Cranioklepty: Grave Robbing and the Search for Genius by Colin Dickey
Tune in to our weekly podcast dedicated to all things new books, All The Books: http://bookriot.com/listen/shows/allt...
June 5, 2023
Žinių apie tai, kaip vystėsi medicina turėjau visai nedaug, todėl buvo labai įdomu pasigilinti kaip chirurgija iš kruvino mėsinėjimo amato išsirutuliojo į šiuolaikinę, pažangią specialybę.
Buvo netikėta, kad dar rodos ne taip ir seniai,iki 1846m., chirurgai operuodavo be nuskausminimo(!), žmonių pilnam kambary, be jokių apsaugų, apie švarą net nėra ko kalbėti, kriauklių ligoninėse būdavo vos kelios, operacijų metu naudodavo neplautus mėgstamiausius peilius, o ,,laimingosios prijuostės" būdavo sukietėjusios nuo šimtų operuotųjų kūno skysčių. Nieko nestebino išoperavus 5-6 pacientus, kitą dieną atėjus į darbą išgirsti :"jie visi mirė, sere". Beje ir medicinos sistemoje nieko panašaus į tą, ką turim dabar-guldymai tik tam tikrą savaitės dieną, tik su tam tikrom būklėm, tik už tam tikrą atlygį buvo įprasta praktika. Nuskausminimas Europoje pirmą kartą panaudotas 1846m., o kol prasiskynė kelius antiseptika ir aseptika, atėjo ir 1877m. Ir būtent už antiseptiką turim būti dėkingi vienam ypatingam žmogui- Džozefui Listeriui, kuris remdamasis Pastero atradimais, išplėtojo mikroorganizmų teoriją ir įvedė švaros taisykles bei pirmą kartą panaudojo antiseptines priemones po operacijos, skleidė savo žinias nepaisant prietarų ir netikėjimo, ir užbaigė erą, kuomet ligonines vadino mirties namais.
Įdomus faktas: gerai žinomas ,,Listerinas" pradėtas gaminti 1879m. pavadintas Listerio garbei.
Knyga yra istorinė, sausoka, kas tikisi kruvino ir įtraukiančio pasakojimo, tai čia ne tai.
Buvo netikėta, kad dar rodos ne taip ir seniai,iki 1846m., chirurgai operuodavo be nuskausminimo(!), žmonių pilnam kambary, be jokių apsaugų, apie švarą net nėra ko kalbėti, kriauklių ligoninėse būdavo vos kelios, operacijų metu naudodavo neplautus mėgstamiausius peilius, o ,,laimingosios prijuostės" būdavo sukietėjusios nuo šimtų operuotųjų kūno skysčių. Nieko nestebino išoperavus 5-6 pacientus, kitą dieną atėjus į darbą išgirsti :"jie visi mirė, sere". Beje ir medicinos sistemoje nieko panašaus į tą, ką turim dabar-guldymai tik tam tikrą savaitės dieną, tik su tam tikrom būklėm, tik už tam tikrą atlygį buvo įprasta praktika. Nuskausminimas Europoje pirmą kartą panaudotas 1846m., o kol prasiskynė kelius antiseptika ir aseptika, atėjo ir 1877m. Ir būtent už antiseptiką turim būti dėkingi vienam ypatingam žmogui- Džozefui Listeriui, kuris remdamasis Pastero atradimais, išplėtojo mikroorganizmų teoriją ir įvedė švaros taisykles bei pirmą kartą panaudojo antiseptines priemones po operacijos, skleidė savo žinias nepaisant prietarų ir netikėjimo, ir užbaigė erą, kuomet ligonines vadino mirties namais.
Įdomus faktas: gerai žinomas ,,Listerinas" pradėtas gaminti 1879m. pavadintas Listerio garbei.
Knyga yra istorinė, sausoka, kas tikisi kruvino ir įtraukiančio pasakojimo, tai čia ne tai.
February 16, 2025
In effetti il titolo indicava precisamente il perimetro della materia trattata limitando il perimetro della narrazione alla "medicina vittoriana", e quindi il mio disappunto nel leggere un libro interessante ma molto britannico-centrico non avrebbe ragione di essere .... se non chè, come si fa a scrivere di una cosa così interessante senza alzare gli occhi dagli albioneschi confini?
Se Lister avesse fatto uguale e non avesse corrisposto con Pasteur, gli inglesi starebbero ancora a far pascolare mandrie di microbi e batteri in tutti i sanguinolenti anfratti umani post-operatori, con il relativo tasso di mortalità vicino al 98%, loro e la loro supponenza nobiliare, per cui i medici ginecologi disdegnavano di lavarsi le mani per fare partorire le donne perché avrebbe significato che non erano abbastanza puliti (poi, una donna su quattro moriva di setticemia, oggettivamente un metodo comodo per cambiare moglie almeno un paio di volte).
Ps: se non mi fossi fatta attrarre dall'estratto e avessi dato un'occhiata all'indice, e avessi visto che i ringraziamenti erano pari a circa una ventina di pagine (tra gli altri, ha ringraziato la sua avvocata divorzista, penso abbia saltato solo l'edicolante sotto casa ma potrebbe essermi sfuggito), forse avrei capito che si trattava di una roba tipo tesi di laurea allungata....
Se Lister avesse fatto uguale e non avesse corrisposto con Pasteur, gli inglesi starebbero ancora a far pascolare mandrie di microbi e batteri in tutti i sanguinolenti anfratti umani post-operatori, con il relativo tasso di mortalità vicino al 98%, loro e la loro supponenza nobiliare, per cui i medici ginecologi disdegnavano di lavarsi le mani per fare partorire le donne perché avrebbe significato che non erano abbastanza puliti (poi, una donna su quattro moriva di setticemia, oggettivamente un metodo comodo per cambiare moglie almeno un paio di volte).
Ps: se non mi fossi fatta attrarre dall'estratto e avessi dato un'occhiata all'indice, e avessi visto che i ringraziamenti erano pari a circa una ventina di pagine (tra gli altri, ha ringraziato la sua avvocata divorzista, penso abbia saltato solo l'edicolante sotto casa ma potrebbe essermi sfuggito), forse avrei capito che si trattava di una roba tipo tesi di laurea allungata....
October 25, 2025
Si os preguntan si sabéis quién es Joseph Lister seguramente no sepáis qué contestar. Pero si la pregunta es si conoces "Listerine" seguro que algo os suena.
Este libro es una biografía de este médico inglés que más tarde daría nombre a un colutorio bucal (del que él, paradójicamente, no tuvo nada que ver).
Estamos a mediados del S.XIX. Se hace la primera intervención quirúrgica con anestesia (éter) que supone evitar sufrimientos inhumanos para los pobres pacientes. Y este avance trae una consecuencia que es casi peor que lo que había antes. La anestesia hace que los cirujanos pierdan el miedo a cortar y remendar, con lo que las salas de operaciones de los hospitales se parecen más a una película gore, con mesas llenas de pacientes mutilados, sangre y vísceras por doquier, y un tipo vestido de calle con la ropa y las manos empapadas en flluidos humanos, que pasa de un paciente a otro como en un concurso del grand prix.
En esas circunstancias (nosotros ahora lo sabemos, pero ellos antes, no) las infecciones postoperatorias son la regla general. Los hospitales, en los que no hay la mínima medida de higiene, son caldo de cultivo para grandes brotes de diferentes patógenos que diezman a los operados. Entrar en un hospital con una fractura abierta, por ejemplo, era sinónimo de comprar casi todas las papeletas para irte al otro barrio.
En esas circunstancias, un joven estudiante de medicina, se devana la sesera para descubrir qué causan esas infecciones y cómo atajarlas. Inspirándose en los estudios de Pasteur sobre los patógenos, va haciendo progresos en la esterilización de las operaciones y las heridas de las mismas. En el camino, a pesar de obtener resultados concluyentes, tiene que lidiar con la oposición del establishment médico más anclado al pasado. Pero el tipo, además de muy inteligente, es paciente, y cada vez que habla en un congreso adhiere a unos cuantos a su causa. Primero convence a los americanos (y uno de los asistente a las charlas de esa gira creará un antiséptico industrial que posteriormente se generalizará en operaciones odontológicas…sí, el Listerine), y luego consigue llevarse al huerto a los más reaccionarios colegas de la city londinense.
El libro es impecable en la documentación de la historia, ya que se conservó toda la correspondencia de Lister, además de las anotaciones de sus investigaciones. Que emociona? Pues tampoco mucho y casi es de agradecer un tratamiento antiséptico de la historia (si no hago el chiste reviento de pus amarillento 😝). Que nadie busque una novela cargada de dramatismo, que bastante tiene ya imaginar lo que podría ser una operación en ese tiempo.
Y ya está bien por hoy. Termino de coser una arteria, paso la mopa y me hago unas morcillitas de Burgos para desayunar.
Este libro es una biografía de este médico inglés que más tarde daría nombre a un colutorio bucal (del que él, paradójicamente, no tuvo nada que ver).
Estamos a mediados del S.XIX. Se hace la primera intervención quirúrgica con anestesia (éter) que supone evitar sufrimientos inhumanos para los pobres pacientes. Y este avance trae una consecuencia que es casi peor que lo que había antes. La anestesia hace que los cirujanos pierdan el miedo a cortar y remendar, con lo que las salas de operaciones de los hospitales se parecen más a una película gore, con mesas llenas de pacientes mutilados, sangre y vísceras por doquier, y un tipo vestido de calle con la ropa y las manos empapadas en flluidos humanos, que pasa de un paciente a otro como en un concurso del grand prix.
En esas circunstancias (nosotros ahora lo sabemos, pero ellos antes, no) las infecciones postoperatorias son la regla general. Los hospitales, en los que no hay la mínima medida de higiene, son caldo de cultivo para grandes brotes de diferentes patógenos que diezman a los operados. Entrar en un hospital con una fractura abierta, por ejemplo, era sinónimo de comprar casi todas las papeletas para irte al otro barrio.
En esas circunstancias, un joven estudiante de medicina, se devana la sesera para descubrir qué causan esas infecciones y cómo atajarlas. Inspirándose en los estudios de Pasteur sobre los patógenos, va haciendo progresos en la esterilización de las operaciones y las heridas de las mismas. En el camino, a pesar de obtener resultados concluyentes, tiene que lidiar con la oposición del establishment médico más anclado al pasado. Pero el tipo, además de muy inteligente, es paciente, y cada vez que habla en un congreso adhiere a unos cuantos a su causa. Primero convence a los americanos (y uno de los asistente a las charlas de esa gira creará un antiséptico industrial que posteriormente se generalizará en operaciones odontológicas…sí, el Listerine), y luego consigue llevarse al huerto a los más reaccionarios colegas de la city londinense.
El libro es impecable en la documentación de la historia, ya que se conservó toda la correspondencia de Lister, además de las anotaciones de sus investigaciones. Que emociona? Pues tampoco mucho y casi es de agradecer un tratamiento antiséptico de la historia (si no hago el chiste reviento de pus amarillento 😝). Que nadie busque una novela cargada de dramatismo, que bastante tiene ya imaginar lo que podría ser una operación en ese tiempo.
Y ya está bien por hoy. Termino de coser una arteria, paso la mopa y me hago unas morcillitas de Burgos para desayunar.
July 22, 2017
A brother of mine had an advance copy of The Butchering Art and was going to send it to my daughter - his goddaughter - as she has a taste for the gory, and has expressed an interest in studying medicine. "Not so fast," I said, "I think I'll have that." So he sent it to me.
Is there a word that is the opposite of genocide? That's what Lister did.
The Butchering Art is the story of how one man - who stood on the shoulders of giants - transformed medical operations from something of enormous risk into something that none of us needs to face with dread. He was the perfect confluence of character, heritage and circumstance; we often hear of villains whose circumstances contrived to turn them wicked, but seldom do we hear about good people whose circumstances allowed them to fulfill their potential and reach dizzying heights of benevolence.
From the moment the book began, I was hooked. Each chapter sets the scene for the tale to follow: while other books might give you a rather dry context for what's to come, not Dr Fitzharris. She describes the scene where the action is to be set in a way that makes you feel like you're there - the cold, the snowy streets, the stuffy, stinking atmosphere in a filthy operating room...if you ever dream about what it was like to live in times gone by, the author's words will transport you in glorious technicolor. Her uncanny ability to do this continues throughout the book, and I can now conjure up images of nineteenth-century medical circles in a way that I never thought possible. So from an atmospheric point of view, it's a virtuoso performance.
The subject of the book, Joseph Lister, is introduced in a timely manner - just far enough in to give you the social context of his arrival. The journey he took is sensitively written, and you feel for him, especially if you've ever experienced the frustration of self-belief when you are surrounded by naysayers. His life, and his incredible work, are nothing short of utterly inspiring. I feel a huge sense of gratitude to Lister (and of course to the poor, unsung heroes who went before him, like the Hungarian doctor whose name I have already forgotten, like everyone else). The story of Lister's life is one that gives me comfort on many levels. That he did what he did; that it's possible to do something really good and lasting with your life; that you need to remember the bigger picture, even when things aren't going you way.
Another thing I loved about the book is that your curiosity is often piqued by the circumstances of bit-players in the book. For example, a woman is stabbed. The point of this is to tell you how her wound was treated, but the author knows that you want to know whether she got justice, and so she tells you just enough to satisfy, but not so much that the story digresses too much. The same approach is given with other minor characters, and it's perfectly judged.
Yes, the book is very gory, and that isn't my cup of tea, but you quickly get used to that (like most animal lovers the only bit I found hard to read was a description of vivisection on an animal, but it was done in the genuine pursuit of medical advancement, and I have to try to remember that). Besides, the gore and so on was an intrinsic part of Victorian life and is an important contribution to the setting of the scene. The place must have stunk between one thing and another. I don't want to give too much away, but imagine if your doctor came in to operate on you in a filthy apron covered in bits of decaying body, with filthy knives, and to whom it would not occur to wash his hands?
Normally I fall asleep the second I hit the pillow, and I have had late nights and early starts over the last couple of weeks, but I still indulged in a few pages every night - it was a real treat and I hung on every word. I thank the author deeply for the time and effort she gave to writing and researching this book. I only wish she had written an extensive library of such tomes.
A fantastic read that stays with you long after you turn the last page.
Is there a word that is the opposite of genocide? That's what Lister did.
The Butchering Art is the story of how one man - who stood on the shoulders of giants - transformed medical operations from something of enormous risk into something that none of us needs to face with dread. He was the perfect confluence of character, heritage and circumstance; we often hear of villains whose circumstances contrived to turn them wicked, but seldom do we hear about good people whose circumstances allowed them to fulfill their potential and reach dizzying heights of benevolence.
From the moment the book began, I was hooked. Each chapter sets the scene for the tale to follow: while other books might give you a rather dry context for what's to come, not Dr Fitzharris. She describes the scene where the action is to be set in a way that makes you feel like you're there - the cold, the snowy streets, the stuffy, stinking atmosphere in a filthy operating room...if you ever dream about what it was like to live in times gone by, the author's words will transport you in glorious technicolor. Her uncanny ability to do this continues throughout the book, and I can now conjure up images of nineteenth-century medical circles in a way that I never thought possible. So from an atmospheric point of view, it's a virtuoso performance.
The subject of the book, Joseph Lister, is introduced in a timely manner - just far enough in to give you the social context of his arrival. The journey he took is sensitively written, and you feel for him, especially if you've ever experienced the frustration of self-belief when you are surrounded by naysayers. His life, and his incredible work, are nothing short of utterly inspiring. I feel a huge sense of gratitude to Lister (and of course to the poor, unsung heroes who went before him, like the Hungarian doctor whose name I have already forgotten, like everyone else). The story of Lister's life is one that gives me comfort on many levels. That he did what he did; that it's possible to do something really good and lasting with your life; that you need to remember the bigger picture, even when things aren't going you way.
Another thing I loved about the book is that your curiosity is often piqued by the circumstances of bit-players in the book. For example, a woman is stabbed. The point of this is to tell you how her wound was treated, but the author knows that you want to know whether she got justice, and so she tells you just enough to satisfy, but not so much that the story digresses too much. The same approach is given with other minor characters, and it's perfectly judged.
Yes, the book is very gory, and that isn't my cup of tea, but you quickly get used to that (like most animal lovers the only bit I found hard to read was a description of vivisection on an animal, but it was done in the genuine pursuit of medical advancement, and I have to try to remember that). Besides, the gore and so on was an intrinsic part of Victorian life and is an important contribution to the setting of the scene. The place must have stunk between one thing and another. I don't want to give too much away, but imagine if your doctor came in to operate on you in a filthy apron covered in bits of decaying body, with filthy knives, and to whom it would not occur to wash his hands?
Normally I fall asleep the second I hit the pillow, and I have had late nights and early starts over the last couple of weeks, but I still indulged in a few pages every night - it was a real treat and I hung on every word. I thank the author deeply for the time and effort she gave to writing and researching this book. I only wish she had written an extensive library of such tomes.
A fantastic read that stays with you long after you turn the last page.
September 19, 2021
3.5 stars
A solid, if not particularly remarkable, history of Victorian surgery, and the efforts of surgeon-scientist Joseph Lister to develop antiseptic techniques and convince other surgeons to use them. It’s amazing to read now how aggressively practitioners at the time resisted the idea that hand-washing, cleaning surgical instruments and surfaces between patients, etc., might do anything at all to improve their (by our standards) horrific post-op death rates, typically from infections setting in after the fact.
This book is in part a biography of Lister, but it’s mostly just an outline of his life, while providing a colorful and often gruesome picture of his times—both the types of illnesses and injuries people suffered, and the manner of treatment, are often grisly. The book is short (just 234 pages of text followed by notes etc.) and easy to read, entertainingly presented but still factual. If it’s not a standout for me, this is perhaps due to the fact that I came into it familiar with the history of 18th and 19th century British medicine, and it’s not the best biography of a surgeon in that era that I have read (that would be The Knife Man—somewhat disappointingly, Fitzharris doesn’t give credit here to anyone who came before, but then this is a short book). But it’s the first one I’d read dealing primarily with the discovery of germs and the development of methods for fighting infection, so that was certainly interesting. I would have liked to see more on how this field developed after Lister’s death: while his extensive use of carbolic acid was revolutionary for its time, we don’t use it anymore, and I was left with some questions about it (how painful this was for patients, in particular).
But all that said, I found the book to be lively, informative, and well-researched, providing a window into an era in which people thought very differently about medicine than we do today. And if the author’s interests tend toward the macabre—whenever a professional opportunity opens up for Lister, she tends to begin that story with the details of the medical event causing the incumbent to vacate the position—that interest serves her subject matter well. Definitely a book for those with strong stomachs, but certainly worth a read for those who are interested.
A solid, if not particularly remarkable, history of Victorian surgery, and the efforts of surgeon-scientist Joseph Lister to develop antiseptic techniques and convince other surgeons to use them. It’s amazing to read now how aggressively practitioners at the time resisted the idea that hand-washing, cleaning surgical instruments and surfaces between patients, etc., might do anything at all to improve their (by our standards) horrific post-op death rates, typically from infections setting in after the fact.
This book is in part a biography of Lister, but it’s mostly just an outline of his life, while providing a colorful and often gruesome picture of his times—both the types of illnesses and injuries people suffered, and the manner of treatment, are often grisly. The book is short (just 234 pages of text followed by notes etc.) and easy to read, entertainingly presented but still factual. If it’s not a standout for me, this is perhaps due to the fact that I came into it familiar with the history of 18th and 19th century British medicine, and it’s not the best biography of a surgeon in that era that I have read (that would be The Knife Man—somewhat disappointingly, Fitzharris doesn’t give credit here to anyone who came before, but then this is a short book). But it’s the first one I’d read dealing primarily with the discovery of germs and the development of methods for fighting infection, so that was certainly interesting. I would have liked to see more on how this field developed after Lister’s death: while his extensive use of carbolic acid was revolutionary for its time, we don’t use it anymore, and I was left with some questions about it (how painful this was for patients, in particular).
But all that said, I found the book to be lively, informative, and well-researched, providing a window into an era in which people thought very differently about medicine than we do today. And if the author’s interests tend toward the macabre—whenever a professional opportunity opens up for Lister, she tends to begin that story with the details of the medical event causing the incumbent to vacate the position—that interest serves her subject matter well. Definitely a book for those with strong stomachs, but certainly worth a read for those who are interested.
June 2, 2021
This is the story of how Joseph Lister pushed the medical world out of the dark ages and into a safer, cleaner modernity. But that’s not really what this book does best.
The New York Times called this book “atmospheric” and I think that’s a perfect description. Fitzharris drops you right into the hospitals, operating rooms, factories, and city streets of the Victorian era. It’s like you are there, and - heads up - that makes for a very, very gruesome read.
The New York Times called this book “atmospheric” and I think that’s a perfect description. Fitzharris drops you right into the hospitals, operating rooms, factories, and city streets of the Victorian era. It’s like you are there, and - heads up - that makes for a very, very gruesome read.
August 20, 2019
Aaaaah! Vou falar sobre esse livro em vídeo! *-*
June 3, 2022
Ar galite įsivaizduoti operacijas, kurioje nenaudojami nuskausminamieji? Arba įrankiai, naudoti n kiekiui žmonių prieš Jus? O gal įsivaizduojate tokias sąlygas gydantis ligoninėje, kad tarp Jūsų patalų pradeda augti grybai? Skamba šiurpiai ir neįtikėtinai? Taip, tačiau tokia buvo realybė prieš atsirandant chirurgijai, kokią mes pažįstame dabar - sterilią ir saugią, o ne keliančią baimę ir kupiną bakterijų. “Mėsinėjimo amatas” istorija apie chirurgą vardu Džozefas Listeris, kuriam pavyko visiems laikams pakeisti primityvią ir siaubingą Viktorijos epochos mediciną bei išgelbėti daugybę gyvybių.
Tai negrožinės literatūros kūrinys, tačiau tam tikros vietos skambėjo taip “iš kito pasaulio”, kad atrodė jog tai sugalvota istorija. Tačiau ne, anksčiau būdavo ir operacijų teatrai, ir brutalumas ir greitis, kadangi dar nebuvo atrasta anestezija. Kas svarbiausia - dažniausiai operacijų pasekmės buvo liūdnesnės, nei planuota, kadangi net ir dėl paprasto negalavimo į ligoninę patekę žmonės, neretai užsikrėsdavo kitomis infekcijomis ir viskas baigdavosi mirtimi. Žmonės pradėjo vengti ligoninių, o turėti operaciją, net ir pačią mažiausią, žmonėms asocijavosi su mirtimi.
Tačiau jaunas chirurgas Listeris išsprendė šią mįslę ir pakeitė istorijos eigą. Šioje knygoje pasakojama apie jo karjeros kelią, skaitytojai supažindinami su kitais genialiais chirurgais, o svarbiausia - vedžioja po skurdžias ligonines, lavonines ir kapines, kurias apiplėšinėdavo ieškodami lavonų, tinkamų tyriamams. Knyga šiurpi ir kiek šlykštoka, tačiau įdomi ir tikrai labai informatyvi! Ji nedidukė, tačiau ties viduriu kiek visas įdomumas priblėso ir tekstas tapo sausokas, šis jausmas mane lydėjo iki pat pabaigos. Tačiau jei domitės chirurgijos istorija ir smalsu kokie žiaurumai vykdavo ligoninėse bei kaip chirurgai mokėsi savo amato - pabandykit! Tikrai verta!
Tai negrožinės literatūros kūrinys, tačiau tam tikros vietos skambėjo taip “iš kito pasaulio”, kad atrodė jog tai sugalvota istorija. Tačiau ne, anksčiau būdavo ir operacijų teatrai, ir brutalumas ir greitis, kadangi dar nebuvo atrasta anestezija. Kas svarbiausia - dažniausiai operacijų pasekmės buvo liūdnesnės, nei planuota, kadangi net ir dėl paprasto negalavimo į ligoninę patekę žmonės, neretai užsikrėsdavo kitomis infekcijomis ir viskas baigdavosi mirtimi. Žmonės pradėjo vengti ligoninių, o turėti operaciją, net ir pačią mažiausią, žmonėms asocijavosi su mirtimi.
Tačiau jaunas chirurgas Listeris išsprendė šią mįslę ir pakeitė istorijos eigą. Šioje knygoje pasakojama apie jo karjeros kelią, skaitytojai supažindinami su kitais genialiais chirurgais, o svarbiausia - vedžioja po skurdžias ligonines, lavonines ir kapines, kurias apiplėšinėdavo ieškodami lavonų, tinkamų tyriamams. Knyga šiurpi ir kiek šlykštoka, tačiau įdomi ir tikrai labai informatyvi! Ji nedidukė, tačiau ties viduriu kiek visas įdomumas priblėso ir tekstas tapo sausokas, šis jausmas mane lydėjo iki pat pabaigos. Tačiau jei domitės chirurgijos istorija ir smalsu kokie žiaurumai vykdavo ligoninėse bei kaip chirurgai mokėsi savo amato - pabandykit! Tikrai verta!
May 24, 2020
#5 out 12 for my non fiction goal for the year
So far I've been on track with reading one non-fiction book per month. Let's hope I can keep this up!
This was really good. I read a similar book called Quackery by Lydia Kang and it amazes me the crazy shit these surgeons used to do to people. I couldn't imagine being sick during this time period. The medical field has definitely come a long way in such a short time.
Seems like I'm into history of medicine and the medical field. I will probably pick up some more books about this time period.
So far I've been on track with reading one non-fiction book per month. Let's hope I can keep this up!
This was really good. I read a similar book called Quackery by Lydia Kang and it amazes me the crazy shit these surgeons used to do to people. I couldn't imagine being sick during this time period. The medical field has definitely come a long way in such a short time.
Seems like I'm into history of medicine and the medical field. I will probably pick up some more books about this time period.
March 23, 2023
Gyvenant XXI amžiuje sunku suvokti kaip gyveno žmonės anksčiau. Ypač glumina tai kokia buvo medicina. Viktorijos laikų epochos ligoninės buvo prilyginamos mirties namams, o chirurgai buvo tarsi kokios giltinės atimančios gyvybes. Dažnai manoma, kad vienas žmogus nieko nepakeis. Tačiau būtent istorija apie chirurgą Džozefą Listerį yra visiška priešingybė. Šis talentingas chirurgas visiems laikams pakeitė primityvę chirurgiją.
Šis pasakojimas apie Listerį tik įrodo, kad žmogui ribų nėra. Mokslas ir žinios gali suardyti visas sienas. Knygoje pateikiama Viktorijos epochos chirurgiją, kaip vykdavo ankstyvosios operacijos, apie pačius chirurgus bei požiūrį į visą šią sritį. Be jokių išvedžiojimų aprašyta, kaip vykdavo pats procesas, kokias priemones naudodavo bei kokioje aplinkoje vykdavo operacijos. Chirurgai naudodavo tuos pačius įrankius, tuos pačius apsauginius rūbus, ant vienų ar kitų būdavo galima pamatyti prieš tai buvusios operacijos įrodymus. Listeris pirmasis garsiai pradėjo kalbėti apie tai kas gali sukelti mirtis jei operacijos būdavo sėkmingos. Jaunas chirurgas ne visada buvo nesuprastas ir neįvertintas. Jo įsitikinimas, kad komplikacijų priežastys yra nematomi mikrobai buvo prilygintas beprotybei. Tačiau sunkaus triūso dėka 1860–1875 m. sukurtos bakterijų teorijos ir antiseptikos pažanga pakeitė chirurgijos pasaulį ir pelnė šlovę Listeriui. Jam pavyko įtikinti dezinfekuoti ir serilizuoti aplinką, įrankius, pacientus. Sterilumas ir švara šio žmogaus dėka įgavo visai kitą prasmę.
Knygoje labai daug datų, daug istorinių įvykių, terminų, tarpais gali pasijaust jog sunkiai ir neįtraukiančiai skaitosi. Bet man tas šiurpios realybės pateikimas nieko neslepiant buvo kaip tik tai ką prilyginčiau ,,Mėsinėjimo amatui". Manau šią knygą būtina perskaityti visiems, kad suvoktume kiek daug pažengusi medicina šiai dienai.
Šis pasakojimas apie Listerį tik įrodo, kad žmogui ribų nėra. Mokslas ir žinios gali suardyti visas sienas. Knygoje pateikiama Viktorijos epochos chirurgiją, kaip vykdavo ankstyvosios operacijos, apie pačius chirurgus bei požiūrį į visą šią sritį. Be jokių išvedžiojimų aprašyta, kaip vykdavo pats procesas, kokias priemones naudodavo bei kokioje aplinkoje vykdavo operacijos. Chirurgai naudodavo tuos pačius įrankius, tuos pačius apsauginius rūbus, ant vienų ar kitų būdavo galima pamatyti prieš tai buvusios operacijos įrodymus. Listeris pirmasis garsiai pradėjo kalbėti apie tai kas gali sukelti mirtis jei operacijos būdavo sėkmingos. Jaunas chirurgas ne visada buvo nesuprastas ir neįvertintas. Jo įsitikinimas, kad komplikacijų priežastys yra nematomi mikrobai buvo prilygintas beprotybei. Tačiau sunkaus triūso dėka 1860–1875 m. sukurtos bakterijų teorijos ir antiseptikos pažanga pakeitė chirurgijos pasaulį ir pelnė šlovę Listeriui. Jam pavyko įtikinti dezinfekuoti ir serilizuoti aplinką, įrankius, pacientus. Sterilumas ir švara šio žmogaus dėka įgavo visai kitą prasmę.
Knygoje labai daug datų, daug istorinių įvykių, terminų, tarpais gali pasijaust jog sunkiai ir neįtraukiančiai skaitosi. Bet man tas šiurpios realybės pateikimas nieko neslepiant buvo kaip tik tai ką prilyginčiau ,,Mėsinėjimo amatui". Manau šią knygą būtina perskaityti visiems, kad suvoktume kiek daug pažengusi medicina šiai dienai.
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