Surgery and the
Fenwick Operating Room
For centuries, surgery had been an option
of last resort because of the pain and suffering
for the patient and the complications which
followed thereafter. The discovery of ether
and chloroform and the initial clinical
use of these anaesthetic agents in 1846
and 1847, created the vision of surgery
without pain and suffering. There was throughout
the remainder of the nineteenth century
a growing professional and social understanding
and acceptance of the role of anaesthesia
in surgery.
 Joseph
Lister in 1867, following the discoveries
of Louis Pasteur, demonstrated that the
suppuration in surgical wounds could be
avoided by the use of an antiseptic agent,
in this instance a carbolic spray. Antisepsis
and asepsis were major factors in the development
of surgery. By 1875, steam sterilization
of instruments, the scrubbing of hands and
skin was widely practised.
The need for appropriate facilities for
surgery reflected the growing importance
of surgeons and their skills to the work
of the hospital and the education of the
students from the medical school. The Doran
Building had a well designed operating room
where anaesthesia permitted surgery to be
done that had not been possible 20 years
earlier. There was a need for improved surgical
facilities in the Main Building. A surgical
amphitheatre proposed in 1892 was built
in 1895, financed by a donation of $2500
from Dr. Fenwick supplemented by contributions
from other physicians.
Constructed at the south of the Main Building
just east of the main entrance, the surgical
amphitheatre was designed as a semicircular
limestone structure with metal roof and
cupola with a glass skylight. The theatre
was laid out with a centrally placed operating
table with rows of seats arranged in a semicircle
for observers. The interior was well lit.
The slate floor and polished marble walls
promoted a sterile environment.
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Outstanding care, always.
