The Wizard has to cut a small hole in the Tin Woodman to give him his heart, but fortunately he can’t feel it.
Explore these websites and videos to discover how surgery has changed.
Surgery nowadays is pain free (due to anaesthetics) and completed in very clean (antiseptic) conditions, but things were different in the past.
It sounds horrible but the only way doctors could learn was to examine dead bodies. In the 1800s, Scottish universities were famous for teaching doctors, so there was a demand for bodies.
Fortunately things changed. Louis Pasteur made discoveries about germs, Joseph Lister worked out ways to keep germs from infecting patients, and James Young Simpson developed working anaesthetics.
Challenge yourself!
Surgeons have to understand all about bodies and know how they work. Test yourself with this quiz. Can you get them all correct?
You can also look at the Help with Challenges page to come up with your own surgery challenge.
