Macabre But Beautiful Illustrations Show the Horror of Victorian Surgery

Until very recently in human history, surgery was often bloody, brutal and with low survival rates. Lack of knowledge blood loss, shock and infection were common contributors to the high mortality rates of historical surgery – but what’s most interesting is the point where things began a slow evolution into the era of modern medicine.

Colour, illustrated instructions are perhaps some of the most fascinating historic documents available. Many of them look like bizarre torture scenarios, or illustrations created for a horror film – but they are absolutely, disturbingly real. Check out some of them below, and find thousands of macabre medical images at Wellcome Images.