Blood, Sawdust, and Vampires

The medical walking tour featured many amazing things but I was most struck by the operating room. While other places certainly had a lot of history behind them and were full of remarkable remnants of bizarre medical practices, it was only in the operating room that they became real. Seeing a bone saw in a glass compartment is one thing, but holding it up to someone’s leg is quite another. Having learned and read about 19^th century surgical practices in the past, I knew the general gist of the process—no anesthetic, no antiseptic, and not great odds of survival. It was a sign in the corner of the attic-operating room which I found most interesting and considered an aspect which I had never thought of: how to deal with both blood lost and blood loss. The sign read:

The floor boards of the operating area form a false floor, being laid upon joists which rest upon the true floor: the 3 inch (7.5cm) space between is packed with sawdust. This would ensure that any blood which reached the floor was absorbed before it could pass into the church below. A mop and bucket in the corner would be used to clean up after the operation.

The image of blood-soaked sawdust is pretty horrible to thing about, but worse is the image of blood dripping onto people in the church downstairs. Blood loss must have been excessive during these operations, which though speedy were radical. I am currently about half-way through reading Bram Stoker’s Dracula, in which there are several scenes featuring blood transfusions. The fictional tale makes it seem to be a highly personal and threatening procedure, even referring to it as an operation. Further, there is no mention made of the blood clots and other problems that we now know to be issues when non-compatible blood types are mixed. With all the blood loss that was apparently a part of operations during the time, I am curious to learn more about transfusion possibilities, procedures, and problems.