Knife, Fire and Boiling Oil: The Early History of Surgery

Recounting the story of the early history of surgery, when surgeons were equipped with just knives, fire, and boiling oil, this book celebrates the dedication and ingenuity of surgery's early pioneers and documents some of their remarkable surgical procedures. The two events which mark the beginning of "modern" surgery are the introduction of anesthesia and antiseptic, both in the second half of the 19th century, however, present day knowledge and techniques have resulted from the cumulative observations and experiments of centuries. This history includes ancient Babylonian and Assyrian surgical laws, Egyptian textbooks from 3000 BC, the second-century Chinese surgeon Hua To, Hindu physicians who created artificial noses hundreds of years before plastic surgery, and the brilliant William Cheselden, who could remove a stone from a bladder in less than a minute.