Year 11 History trip to the Old Operating Theatre

On Tuesday, 6th January Year 11 History students at Maidstone Grammar School for Girls visited the Old Operating Theatre to witness a talk on surgery before the introduction on anaesthetics and antiseptics. The theatre was opened in 1822 (24 years before the first use of anaesthetic in surgery) and is one of the last surviving Victorian operating theatres in Europe.  

Students were treated to gory details of toe-curling procedures that patients had to endure while fully conscious and in front of a crowd of apprentice surgeons.  Aoife F took on the role of an unlucky Victorian lady who was run over by a horse and cart, suffering a compound fracture needing amputation.

Following this, students visited the Science museum to explore their range of medical artefacts from History, including bladder stones removed from the human body, skulls showing evidence of trepanning (drilling holes in the skull),  surgical amputation sets and the first type of X-ray machines.