Club Report

The title of Anna Milford's talk, Sawbones and Toothdrawers was a pretty good idea of what to expect - and, indeed, members were not mistaken. By the end of the evening there was even a collective feeling of 'Thank God for the National Health Service' the account of how illness and injury were treated before the days of anaesthetics was bad enough to hear, but then compounded by illustrations of the instruments involved! Granted, there was much amused reaction from the floor, but also a guilty feeling of relief that we had no longer to put up with bloodletting, amputated limbs being sealed with tar, men being called in from the street to hold down a patient being cauterised and women being told it was disgraceful for them to be Midwives. And how would we react to having a dislocated shoulder treated by being hung from a ladder?

Contemporary accounts of mortality figures especially during time of plague were horrendous but light appeared on the horizon with the foundation of St Thomas's and Guy's hospitals and women becoming doctors.

As for the history of Dental treatment - just don't ask! But some things don't change; the selling of kidneys by the Third World today was pre-dated by the simultaneous extraction of a tooth from a poor fellow and inserted at once in the mouth of a lady of fashion!

Although meetings are now in recess until the Autumn, Evening Walks led by Society members and coach outings continue. Check with the Secretary, Frances Percival 020 8300 3830 for further details.