Death & Discovery in the Operating Theatre

With no effective anesthetics or antiseptics, surgery prior to the late 19th century was brutal to endure and often ended in a death sentence for even the most minor of procedures. The advent of operating theatres helped build the bridge between primitive medicine and the modern operating room we know today. While certainly terrifying for the patient or the average spectator, operating theatres played an essential role in the evolution of surgery, offering a space where doctors and medical students could witness the greatest surgeons of their time hone their craft and better the field through their triumphs and tragedies. 

• Medical Milestones: Discovery of Anesthesia & Timeline, UNIVERSITY OF MEDICINE AND HEALTH SCIENCES
• The Most Beautiful Anatomical Theaters by Allison Meier, Atlas Obscura, MAY 7, 2014
• Anaesthesia and the Practice of Medicine: Historical Perspectives - PMC
• A Look Inside America’s Oldest Hospital & the Oldest (Existing) Operating Theater in the World – Secrets of Philadelphia
• Reciprocal Evolution of Opiate Science from Medical and Cultural Perspectives - PMC
• History of Cataract Surgery - EyeWiki
• Surgery | The Old Operating Theatre Museum
• Historic Tours of Pennsylvania Hospital, Pennsylvania Hospital Website
• The History Of the Barber Surgeon - Barber Surgeons Guild®
• Trephination - World History Encyclopedia
• History of the Operating Room - Optimus Integrated Surgical Environment
• "Inside the Operating Theater: Early Surgery as Spectacle" by Rebecca Rego Barry, JSTOR Daily, December 9, 2015
• Joseph Lister’s antisepsis system | Science Museum
• Surgeons and surgical spaces | Science Museum
• The original drama of operating theatres | Wellcome Collection

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Artwork: Brittany Schall

Music: "Danse Macabre" by Camille Saint-Saens, performed by Kevin MacLeod

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