Black and white images 

reveal a time  before medical 

standards were  

commonplace

  

 French surgeon Dr Eugne-Louis Doyen performs surgery to

separate conjoined twins Radica   and Doodica in 1902. 

The female Siamese twins, also known as Hindoo Twins and

The Orissa  Twins, were born in Orissa, India, in 1888 and

 were attached at the chest by a band of     cartilage

• The series of photos include Siamese twins being 
• separated by doctors in 1902
• Another picture shows a doctor use anaesthesia in 
• 1922 after it was made legal
• Medical attire in the images would be deemed 
• controversial by doctors today

Chilling black and white photographs from the 19th and
20th century have emerged today that show a range of
pioneering operations being carried out - long before
medical standards became commonplace.

The fascinating series of vintage pictures are a stark
reminder of how little surgeons cared about hygiene
more than 100 years ago, often not wearing gloves and
 leaving their patients at risk of deadly infections.

Dressed only in scrubs, many of those in the images
can be seen performing a range of procedures without
wearing masks or equipment now deemed vital in
modern day surgery.

A handful of patients can be seen resting on normal,
wooden tables - not the rotating, reclining beds used in
hospitals across the world today. While anaesthetic
 is used in only a few procedures, suggesting many of
 the patients pictured were forced to face the pain of
surgical incisions without any respite.

One of the pictures depicts Siamese twins being
separated by doctors in 1902, dubbed to be the
world-first operation of its kind. Such dramatic
 procedures to detach two bodies are much more
common in 2017.

Another shows a doctor giving a patient a local
anaesthetic for the first time in 1922, when Novocaine
 was made available for use in the US. The drug is
now used widely in the present day, from fillings
to mole removal.

An embalming surgeon is also pictured in his full glory.
Designed specifically during times of war, this job
involved injecting a special fluid into the body of dead
soldiers to preserve parts of them in order to ship them home.   

The female Siamese twins were born in Orissa, India,
in 1888 and were attached at the chest by a band of cartilage.
 The moment Radica and Doodica were born, they were
 run out of town by the villagers, who saw them as a
 sign of 'divine wrath'.

In 1893, they were sold by their parents to Captain Colman,
 a showman from London, who wanted to display them in Europe.
 Following the contraction of tuberculosis by Doodica,
 they were rushed to Paris to be separated by French surgeon,
Eugene-Louis Doyen.

Dr Doyen was considered controversial at the time due to
his fascination of filming surgical operations for use as a
 teaching guide. An eight-minute video of the operation
was screened at meetings in Paris and Berlin.

However, while the operation was deemed a success,
and Radica survived the operation, her twin sister
Doodica died a week afterwards. 

French surgeon Dr Eugne-Louis Doyen performs surgery to
separate conjoined twins Radica and Doodica in 1902.
The female Siamese twins, also known as Hindoo Twins and
 The Orissa Twins, were born in Orissa, India, in 1888 and
were attached at the chest by a band of cartilage

After detaching the twins from each other, Dr Doyen had to
bind the arteries of them both to help them survive.
Dr Doyen was considered controversial at the time due to his
 fascination of filming surgical operations for use as a
 teaching guide

A minor operation at the Brooklyn Naval Hospital, which shut
in the 1970s, on a patient's leg can be seen in this black and
white snap taken in 1900. Nurses can be seen in the back of
 the photo, while two helpers stabilise the patient's legs.
No gloves, or masks, are worn by any of the team -
something that is essential in modern day surgery

This picture of the same operation at Brooklyn Navy Yard
 Hospital shows the surgery room at a much wider angle,
with the procedure appearing to be performed in a kitchen.
It is fitted with a kettle and multiple cooking bowls -
 a world away from the specially designed operating
 rooms used in hospitals across the world in 2017

Deemed 'modern surgery' at the time, this picture
snapped in 1905 shows a new style operating bed
 that can be rotated and reclined as it's needed.
Unsure where it is taken, the surgeons can be seen
 wearing masks for hygiene reasons - before it
became common practice across the world. The
 first recorded use of a surgical mask dates
 back to 1887 in France

Taken in 1860, this photograph from an unknown location
shows Dr Richard Burr, an embalming surgeon, at work on
 a dead soldier, trying to preserve his body in order to ship
him home. No gloves are used, leaving Dr Burr at risk of
infection, and the patient's lower body is wrapped in just
a towel - a world away from the reality of modern surgery

Dr John C Boyde, a Government official in the US Navy's
Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, can be seen in this picture
 taken in 1890. The department, launched 48 years prior to
this picture being taken, now operates many hospitals and
trains the Navy's troops related to medicine that can be
 deployed across the world

Surgery in progress at the Metropolitan Hospital Training
School for Nurses on Roosevelt Island), New York City.
Taken in 1915, the operating team can be seen wearing
masks and gloves, but the anaesthetist isn't following
 the same hygiene protocol

Taken in 1908, this black and white photograph shows
 a man and woman in an operating room, perhaps preparing
for surgery. The woman, believed to be a nurse, can be seen
 arranging tools and equipment ready for the operation

In the first of a serious of five snaps taken in 1922, this
phenomenal picture shows a doctor placing a patient under
anaesthesia after Novocain was officially made legal to use in the US

Donned with full scrubs, hats, masks and gloves, this picture
 of the same patient is believed to signal the start of the revolution
for improved health and hygiene during surgery

This photograph shows the other side of the operating theatre,
where the equipment is prepared and ready for the procedure ahead

Armed with an array of basic medical tools, these surgeons can
 be seen cutting into the patient's stomach mid-surgery during
what appears to be an abdominal procedure. Nowadays surgeons
have access to much more than just forceps to make incisions

Smile for the camera: Two surgeons are looking into the camera
 ready for their photograph to be taken while mid-operation. Back then,
pictures during surgery were uncommon, but they have grown in
popularity over recent decades, often used as a teaching guide.
The other appears to be focused entirely on the patient in front of him