b) After 1840 the use of anaesthetics in surgery increased. At first the number of deaths after and during surgery increased as surgeons became more ambitious in the operations that they performed, but anaesthetics did allow surgeons to learn more about the anatomy. The increased use of anaesthetics also greatly reduced the pain that the patients had to suffer. After anaesthetics had been introduced people were still dying of infection, which resulted in scientists questioning what caused it and how it could be prevented. After Louis Pasteur had proved that germs caused infection in 1861, Joseph Lister discovered that carbolic acid could kill germs. He started to use this in the operating theatre when performing surgery on patients. After antiseptics had been invented the risk of death after surgery fell. By the late 1800s, more and more operations were taking place in aseptic environments allowing surgeons to go deeper into the human body and to perform more complex operations than before with less chance of the patient dying.
c) If we look at ancient medicine we can see that hygiene was probably one of the most important factors at the time. In ancient Egypt this meant regularly washing although this was probably more to do with religion than anything else. Egyptians did have some basic knowledge of surgery such as how to remove tumours. However, in Greece the natural thinker Hippocrates encouraged exercise and cleanliness as part of a healthy lifestyle. Hygiene was particularly important in Roman times when there were public baths and toilets. The Medici were surgeons that carried out operation on the battlefield for the Roman army. Public Health (hygiene, sanitation etc.) was far more important than surgery in ancient medicine, with one exception - Prehistoric medicine. Trepanation, which was surgery on the skull, was more of an important factor in medicine than public health, which was not considered very important at the time.
There was little development of surgery through the middle ages as a lot of the operations were carried out by barber surgeons. The most important feature of medicine through the Middle Ages would have been the use of herbal remedies. Most people at this time believed prayer was the best way to cure a patient and continued to study books by Hippocrates and Galen. During the Renaissance, surgery was beginning to become slightly more of an important factor in medicine. Both William Harvey and Andreas Vesalius made important discoveries about the anatomy, which would help surgeons in years to come although people were not willing to accept their ideas at the time. The greatest developments in surgery during the Renaissance were made by Amboise Pare who suggested ways to make surgery less painful for patients by not using cauterisation, using a sharp knife instead of a saw (for amputations) and not using boiling oil for gunshot wounds.
The invention of anaesthetics and antiseptics led to a new era in medicine which resulted in surgery developing rapidly as saving peoples lives through operations became a reality. However, before this time the chance of patients surviving after an operation were a lot slimmer due to the lack of knowledge about infection, pain and bleeding.
Although surgery has always been a key feature in medicine throughout history it has not always been the most important. Throughout ancient medicine surgery was quite basic and no major developments were made in this area. There were a number of factors more important than surgery at the time. This continued through the Middle Ages and most of the Renaissance. Surgery did not really become a significant factor in medicine until the 1800s, which saw the introduction of both anaesthetics and antiseptics.