Medicine in the Victorian era was undergoing a seismic shift, a period of dramatic transformation that Dr. John Watson, Sherlock Holmes’s trusted companion, would have witnessed firsthand. Imagine a world where medical practices ranged from crude amputations and the extraction of bullets without proper sanitation to treatments involving mercury, laudanum, and other perilous substances like opium, heroin, and digitalis. This was the reality before the dawn of modern medicine, which began to emerge after the American Civil War.
The 1860s and 1870s marked a turning point, introducing groundbreaking concepts like sterilization, antiseptics, and anesthetics. Dr. Watson, as a man of medicine during this era, would have been immersed in these revolutionary changes during his university education. It’s crucial to remember that even as late as the 1860s, outdated theories like the Miasma Theory (the belief that diseases were caused by bad air) and practices like bloodletting still held sway.
Victorian doctors, including someone like John Watson, confronted a horrifying array of diseases. Tuberculosis (consumption), influenza, syphilis, gangrene, chronic alcoholism, scurvy, and scarlet fever were rampant. Tuberculosis, in particular, was widespread during this period, and treatments were often ineffective and inconsistent.
While advancements like ether and chloroform emerged to make surgery safer, these were still largely experimental until the later decades of the Victorian era (1880s and 1890s). The absence of antibiotics meant that maintaining impeccable cleanliness was the primary defense against infection.
The anecdote of “Surgeon’s cuffs” on tailored jackets vividly illustrates the transition in medical practices. Surgeons in earlier times would operate in their everyday clothes, unbuttoning their cuffs – a stark contrast to the emphasis on hygiene that was developing. The amount of blood on a surgeon’s coat was once a macabre badge of experience. However, this era of unsanitary practices began to fade in the latter half of the 19th century, coinciding with the medical revolution that shaped the world Dr. John Watson navigated.
Dr. John Watson’s medical training would have been a fascinating blend of old and new, a testament to a period where medicine was rapidly evolving, leaving behind outdated practices and embracing the future of healthcare.
