The life of Sir Robert Jones / [Frederick Watson].

  • Watson, Frederick, 1885-1935.
Date:
1934
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The life of Sir Robert Jones / [Frederick Watson]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    is a worse place on the earth than Liverpool, and I am sure its Workhouse is burdened with a large proportion of its vilest. ... So little effort is made to stem the evil. All lie passive and seem to say ‘ It must be.’ The attempt at introducing trained workers has certainly not met with any sympathy from clergy or laity.” Or take the Liverpool general hospitals of the period. What had been the early impression of Jones when he walked the wards in the ’seventies is not known, but there is no question that he first learnt at Nelson Street those principles of cleanli¬ ness which, in the better understood application of Listerism, enabled him to advance orthopaedics into the sphere of modern surgery. In The History of the Royal Southern Hospital Dr. Charles Macalister makes it clear enough why in the ’seventies Thomas refused to embark on the wholesale campaign of reckless amputation and almost inevitable sepsis. “ Every member of the Staff was present, together with the nurses and students. There were no precautions taken with reference to the cleanliness of their garments. The surgeons wore old surtout coats bespattered with the blood and other discharges from previous operations. I believe that the bespattering added to the respectability of the history of the garment. The sleeves were probably unbuttoned at the wrist and rolled up. The lapels of the coats were but¬ toned across to prevent soiling of the shirt and collar of the operator. It will be noted that it was the operator not the patient for whom this solicitude was exercised. Then came the female staff. The matron was generally present at these major operations. She and the sisters wore stuff dresses long enough to trail on the floor of the theatre. The nurses wore their ordinary pink uniforms. The students came direct from the wards, containing plenty of septic patients, or perhaps even from the post-mortem room. Soon after the operation commenced, old Dr. - walked into the theatre wearing his very tall silk hat, which he did not remove. The patient was covered with a red blanket used for every operation and only washed when it was sufficiently soiled.