The women would be led out blindfolded so they couldn’t see their audience… or the stage where they would meet the surgeon’s saw.
If the aim was to calm their nerves, it probably had the opposite effect as they entered the semi-circular theatre in their hospital gowns in pitch black, stepping into a thick fug of cigar smoke, rising sweat and the excited chatter of medical students.
The patients would be laid flat on a wooden bed with a piece of leather or wood placed between their teeth to bite on in the throes of agony. Then their body would be held tight by up to four assistants, or “dressers” – necessary as this was surgery before anaesthesia became available.
