HIST 249 Chapter Notes - Chapter reading : Eye Surgery, Internal Medicine, Vesicovaginal Fistula
Document Summary
By 1930, surgery had reached its golden age. Surgeons were not only acknowledged as scientists and doctors but were considered to be even modern heroes. Surgeons used to operate just on the surface but we now allowed to operate on all parts of the body. They treated a wide range of diseases - internal and external. Surgery succeeded because great surgeons invented new techniques to solve a growing number of medical problems. Surgeons were organized in guilds and were linked with other crafts such as barbers, apothecaries and grocers. Only a few of the several hundred surgeons in paris performed major operations such as amputations, removal of bladder stones, trepanation, eye surgery and hernias. Operations only happened when the situation was considered an emergency and for conditions that were extremely painful/debilitating. Many surgeons unofficially practiced internal medicine as well. A few surgeons were quite wealthy and not all of low status.
