Joseph Lister, c1867

Sir Joseph Lister, Bt. was born 1827 in Essex, England.  He graduated from University College, London, with a Bachelor of Medicine in 1852 and, at age 26, entered the Royal College of Surgeons.  Shortly thereafter, he moved to Edinburgh to pursue his career and practice.  In 1860 he accepted the position of Chair of Clinical Surgery at the University of Glasgow.  In this capacity, Lister found that 45-50% of amputation patients later died of infection.  Spurred by this statistic, he undertook the experiments on the prevention of infection that earned him wide renown.

Drawing on the ideas of Louis Pasteur, Lister’s experiments demonstrated that infection was avoided if a disinfectant barrier – one that would kill micro-organisms – was applied in and onto open wounds.  Throughout much of the nineteenth century it was believed that infections were brought on by miasmas, or bad air; however, the work of scientists came to show that it was not the air itself but rather the micro-organisms in it that were to blame.  This realization incited Lister to find ways to create a barrier between the airborne pathogens and the wound thus diminishing incidents of infection.

In 1867 he presented his findings in a paper to the British Medical Association inDublin, which was later reprinted in the British Medical Journal.  Lister stated: 

“To prevent the occurrence of suppuration with all its attendant risks was an object manifestly desirable, but till lately apparently unattainable, since it seemed hopeless to attempt to exclude the oxygen which was universally regarded as the agent by which putrefaction was effected.  But when it had been shown by the researches of Pasteur that the septic properties of the atmosphere depended not on the oxygen, or any gaseous constituent, but on minute organisms suspended in it, which owed their energy to their vitality, it occurred to me that decomposition in the injured part might be avoided without excluding the air, by applying as a dressing some material capable of destroying the life of the floating particles.  […]

The material which I have employed is carbolic or phenic acid, a volatile organic compound which appears to exercise a peculiarly destructive influence upon low forms of life, and hence is the most powerful antiseptic with which we are at present acquainted.”  Joseph Lister, “On the Antiseptic Principle of the Practice of Surgery” (1867)

Sterilizing the operating room. Though the carbolic acid spray acted as an effective antiseptic, this technique was discontinued when it was discovered that many doctors were experiencing damaging side-effects in their lungs.

Through the application of such dressings, as well as flushing the wounds with antiseptics, the mortality rate of Lister’s ward decreased to 15% by 1870.

Carbolic Steam Sprayer, 1879. MHC #1935-12-13

In addition to sterilizing wounds, a carbolic acid spray was employed for a time in the attempt to disinfect the air in the surgical room.  This practice was discontinued, though, because the effects of acid inhalation proved severe. 

Lister further advocated for the sterilization of surgical instruments, for the cessation of the use of porous natural materials in surgical instruments, and for surgeons to sterilize their hands. Through his efforts and inventions antisepsis became a basic principle of surgery and medical practice.

Joseph Lister, 1902

In 1877 Lister was appointed professor of surgery at King’s College, London.  Though he retired from medical practice in 1893, he served as the President of the Royal Society from 1895 to 1900 and of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1896.  He was also a founding member of the British Institute of Preventative Medicine, now the Lister Institute of Preventative Medicine.  Lister died 10 February, 1912.

Pamela Peacock,
Assistant Curator

Upper denture with a carved ivory base and human teeth, 1850-1870. Accession #010020428.

The next twist in the denture adventure is a little gruesome. When manufacturing dentures, it was found that nothing could mimic the look of human teeth quite like…human teeth! The best dentures available in Europe before the late 19^th century had a carved base and molars of ivory with real human incisors and cuspids. Now where, you may ask did all those teeth come from? Most commonly, grave robbers procured teeth illegally.  Since they were often taken from those who had passed away from old age or disease, there was a greater chance that the teeth were already in some stage of decay and not very desirable.

Fast forward to 1815 when we find Napoleon taking on the combined forces of the Seventh Coalition at the battle of Waterloo—which is of course where the term Waterloo Teeth got its start. Once the battle was over, there were a large number of deceased: otherwise healthy young men who had succumbed to their injuries and, in the eyes of scavengers, no longer required their teeth. The teeth were pilfered and shipped away to dentists who placed them into the carved ivory bases and attached large price tags, making these dentures available only to the very wealthy.

String of human teeth on a wire, 1810-1870. Accession #010020420 a-q

Waterloo Teeth were most popular in the early nineteenth century, but teeth from soldiers of the American Civil War appeared in catalogues in the late 1860s. The demand for human teeth decreased when new technologies and techniques were invented to make artificial teeth appear more realistic. With dental technology what it is today, dentures can look exactly like real teeth, making Waterloo Teeth a thing of the past.   

Meaghan Eckersley
Collections Intern

Further reading & resources

“Dentures of the Future May Be Real Teeth” Amanda Onion, ABC News.

Take a look at some examples of Waterloo Teeth on display at the Museum in the exhibit “Teeth in Time” or have a peek at the Crawford Dental Collection on our online catalogue!

Sources

 www.historyhome.co.uk/c-eight/france/teeth.htm

British Dental association – http://www.bda.org/museum/collections/teeth-and-dentures/waterloo-teeth.aspx

Woodforde, John, “The Strange Story of False Teeth”, p. 62, 1983, St. Edmundsbury Press, Bury St. Edmunds,Suffolk

http://www.ehow.com/about_4626520_history-dentures.html

Electrostatic generator / X-ray machine, circa 1910. Accession #006030001.

In 2006 the Museum of Health Care received this fascinating artefact donation from Elizabeth McMahon, the granddaughter of Dr. Frank Mellow who used the machine in his home office in Uxbridge, Ontario.

The machine generated an electrical charge with the turn of a crank and could be used with various instruments for electrotherapy or to produce x-rays.  Here is a fantastic video overview by Tabitha Renaud.

In September 2011 Elizabeth returned to the Museum to visit the electrostatic generator, and she shared some wonderful anecdotes about her childhood memories of the machine:

You had to really crank long and hard to get a charge going and the ozone emission was something awful. The other instruments shown also were used for cauterization inserted into various orifices, the spiked gadget was really an electrostatic acupuncture device.

My Grandfather was fortunate not to get radiation burns on his hands. I think he spoke of wearing gloves of some sort. The static “breeze” was used to calm psych. patients both manic and depressed, and calm “hysteria” esp. in women (go figure). Grandpa said that electrostatic use was also used as a “parlour amusement.” Smaller table top machines in fancy wooden cases were turned on after a dinner party and guests amused themselves with static teases and games. It was unique.

My brother and I had more fun cranking the thing and playing steam engine, of all things, and we were never stopped from doing so.

Elizabeth added that the machine was situated on the second level of Dr. Mellow’s house, just outside his bedroom. His patients climbed the stairs for treatment and Elizabeth’s grandmother was frequently still in bed. The upstairs of their house constantly smelled of ozone from frequent use. The electrostatic generator stayed in the same location from the day Dr. Mellow purchased it in the 1910 to the day in 2006 when a crane was required to hoist it through the second level window in order to get it to Kingston.

Thank you to Elizabeth for sharing this incredible artefact and its history.

If anyone else has information or recollections about this artefact, please let us know in the comment section below.

Take a closer look at the electrostatic generator in the Museum’s web-based project “From the Collection.”

Commemorative postcard of the Ann Baillie Building in 1908, now home to the Museum of Health Care. Accession #999008001

Read about the Ann Baillie Building National Historic Site.

Nancy Malloy, 1945-1996

A native of Brockville, Ontario, Nancy completed her studies at the KGH School of Nursing in 1968 and her Bachelors degree in Nursing Science at Queen’s University in 1969.  She worked for several years as a teacher in Montreal before moving to Vancouver in 1979.  There Nancy joined the BC branch of the Red Cross, working as a nurse and hospital administrator at remote hospitals.  During this time she also completed her MBA.

Nancy worked with the Canadian Red Cross for nine years, completing missions in Ethiopia (1990), Kuwait (1991), Belgrade (1993), and Zaire (1995) before arriving in Chechnya in 1996.  Acting as medical and hospital administrator on these missions, among other titles, Malloy played a key role in facilitating the provision of medical care in areas rife with warfare and violence.

With a freshly signed peace treaty between Russia and Chechnya, Chechnya remained fraught with tension after two years of warfare when Nancy Malloy arrived at the hospital at Novye Atagi, approximately twenty-five kilometers south of the capital of Grozny.  Aid workers lived in an almost constant state of stress, as the political situation remained uncertain.

Early in the morning of 17 December 1996 a group of armed men entered the hospital compound at Novye Atagi and made their way into the sleeping quarters of the international workers, where they shot and killed six Red Cross workers and wounded a seventh before fleeing. Nancy Malloy of Canada, Ingeborg Foss and Gunnhild Myklebust of Norway, Sheryl Thayer of New Zealand, Fernanda Calado of Spain, and Hans Elkerbout of the Netherlands died.  Christophe Hensch, of Switzerland, recovered from his wounds.  The Red Cross withdrew its remaining international workers from the hospital shortly thereafter.

The identity of the perpetrators of this heinous act remained unknown until last year. Immediately after the incident, both Russian and Chechen officials pointed fingers at the other side, but in 2010 Russian Major Aleksi Potyomkin confessed to being a part of a Special Forces unit whose mission to pursue Chechen fighters went horribly wrong in 1996.

Meritorious Service Medal

Malloy’s record of service to her country and to the citizens of the world has been recognized by many.  She was posthumously awarded the Florence Nightingale Medal from the International Committee of the Red Cross, in recognition of her exemplary service and of her courage and devotion to the wounded and sick.  In September 1997 she received the Meritorious Service Medal from then Governor General Romeo LeBlanc, and in June 2011 a monument to Canadian Aid Workers was unveiled in Rideau Falls Park, Ottawa, in honour of Malloy and Tim Stone, to recognize those who have died abroad whilst supporting Canada’s role in international development and humanitarian assistance.  Her friends and classmates also honour her memory through the Nancy Malloy Memorial Award, administered by the Queen’s University School of Nursing.

“Reflection” by John Greer, a monument to Canada’s Aid Workers

Let us all take a moment today, and in the coming week, to remember Nancy Malloy, to appreciate her conviction that one person can make a difference, and to honour the selfless efforts and sacrifices of aid workers around the world.

Pamela Peacock,
Assistant Curator

Figure 1. Original building. Image: KGH Archive

The Main Building of the Kingston Hospital was built between 1833 and 1835, however due to lack of operating funds did not open until 1845, with incorporation in 1849 when a lay board was appointed. They had a mandate to operate the hospital as a charitable institution required to “supply necessities and relieve the condition of sick and destitute immigrants and other transients and the mariners of the lake” (Figure 1).

There were a dozen doctors in Kingston, at that time a community of 8,000. One physician per month provided free medical services at the Kingston Hospital. The initial staff included a housekeeper/nurse and her daughter as a helper, both of whom died caring for patients during the 1847 typhus epidemic. In 1851 a steward was appointed and in 1854 the staff included a matron, two male orderlies and the steward.

Thus, in terms of its mission and operation, the Main Building of the Kingston Hospital was consistent with the hospitals of the past elsewhere. It was sustained by private benevolence and government grants providing largely custodial care for sick indigents. The government grant support was increased to £1,000 annually in 1855 as a result of the initiative of John A. MacDonald, Member of Parliament.

The second half the nineteenth century saw the general hospital undergo a striking transition from a charitable institution to a centre of scientific medicine. In Kingston, this transition began with a number of gradual changes in the hospital during the decade 1850-60. The Queen’s University medical school established in 1854 required the hospital for teaching. This led to increased involvement of faculty physicians and a changing public attitude toward the hospital. The number of patients admitted increased. Thus the Watkins Wing was built in 1862 in response to the need for expanded hospital facilities.

With the introduction of anaesthesia and the increasing opportunity for surgery, as well as the understanding of the cause of contagious and infectious disease, the role of the hospital steadily began to increase. In Kingston, this lead to the construction and opening of the Nickle Wing in 1891, described to be probably one of the most complete hospitals in the country for the treatment of infectious diseases, the Doran Building in 1894 to serve as a lying-in hospital and the diseases of women, the Fenwick Surgical Amphitheatre in 1895 and the Nurses’ Home in 1904.

Nursing was recognized as an appropriate career for women in 1886 when the Kingston Hospital’s nursing school opened. However the entire staff of the hospital presented in Figure 2 is still small. The operating budget for the hospital in 1893 was $15,609.00.

Figure 2. The entire staff of KGH, 1894. Image: KGH Archive

Figure 3. Aerial view of KGH, 2010-1. Image: PCL Constructors Inc.

Research leading to new knowledge has progressed rapidly throughout the 20th century. This has been associated with an equally rapid growth and development of the health care disciples. Today there are more than 40 disciples contributing to the delivery of health care in the community and the hospital. The Kingston Hospital continued to expand with 20 projects adding extensions or new buildings to the hospital between 1921 and 2004. (Figure 3)

The introduction of universality of health care beginning in the 1960’s with hospital and medical insurance to assure optimal health care for all citizens, rich and poor, urban and rural as well as the northern outposts of the country, has led to an increased requirement for health care.

Thus the Kingston General Hospital today cares for approximately 20,000 admissions, 150,000 outpatients and 70,000 cancer patients. Health care including diagnosis and treatment is provided by 400 physicians, 1200 nurses and 2600 other staff. The operating budget for the hospital in 2009 was $383,080,000.00

History provides perspective for the present and insight for the future. The hospital is just one example of why the cost of diagnostic and treatment services that we all cherish have become so expensive and may well continue to increase in the future.

James Low,
Executive Director

Mead's cereal container, c. 1930 (with cereal grains removed to a glass jar). Accession #1978.3.1 a-b.

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