Show notes
Goat Glands, Chloroform, and the City That Saved Surgery
(How Edinburgh dragged American medicine out of the Wild West)
When we think about modern surgery, it’s easy to imagine it has always been clean, safe, and scientific. However, that could not be further from the truth. Surgery was more like a horror show just over 150 years ago. Patients faced unbearable pain, filthy instruments, and shocking guesswork.
Today, we’ll explore how the Scottish city of Edinburgh transformed surgery — and how America, for far too long, ignored the science in favor of quick fixes and fast profits. Along the way, we’ll meet heroes like James Young Simpson and Joseph Lister, as well as villains like John R. Brinkley and Willard Bliss. We’ll also see why modern “wellness influencers” aren’t so different from the quacks of the past.
Edinburgh: The Peak of Medical Science
In the 18th and 19th centuries, Edinburgh was the world’s medical capital. Students from across Europe and the American colonies traveled there to study anatomy, surgery, and the latest medical theories.
Because of this, early American physicians like Benjamin Rush and John Morgan brought Edinburgh’s teachings home, helping to found the first U.S. medical school at the University of Pennsylvania. Harvard soon followed with a similar model.
However, while a few elite schools adopted Scottish standards, most of America remained a medical free-for-all. Outside major cities, anyone could call themselves a doctor, and “miracle cures” were everywhere. This was the true “Wild West” of medicine — long before the cowboy era we usually imagine.
James Young Simpson: Ending Pain in Surgery
Next, let’s fast-forward to the mid-1800s. At this time, one of the greatest problems in surgery was pain. Without anesthesia, operations had to be done quickly, often in less than a minute, and the suffering was unbearable.
That changed in 1846, when ether anesthesia was first used in Boston. News of ether’s success quickly crossed the Atlantic. By the time the next ship arrived in Edinburgh, surgeons were already experimenting with it — and looking for something even better.
Enter James Young Simpson, an obstetrician and, yes, one of my relatives. In 1847, Simpson discovered that chloroform worked better than ether and was easier to use. His famous breakthrough happened during a dinner party experiment, where he and his friends inhaled chloroform, passed out, and woke up amazed. Surgery would never be the same again.
Joseph Lister: Stopping Deadly Infections
Solving pain was one thing, but there was another huge problem: infection. After surgery, most patients didn’t die from the knife — they died from the germs they couldn’t see.
This is where Joseph Lister changed history. Influenced by Louis Pasteur’s germ theory, Lister realized that microorganisms caused infection. He began using carbolic acid to clean wounds and sterilize instruments. While some of his colleagues mocked him, the results spoke for themselves: surgical death rates plummeted.
Lister’s work eventually led to asepsis, the sterile environments we now take for granted in operating rooms.
America Ignored the Science — and a President Died
Unfortunately, the United States was slow to adopt these life-saving ideas. A tragic example is the death of President James Garfield in 1881. After being shot, Garfield’s wound was not fatal. He should have survived.
However, his doctor, Willard Bliss, refused to believe in germ theory or antiseptic techniques. Bliss and several others repeatedly probed Garfield’s wound with unwashed hands and unsterilized instruments. For seventy-nine days, the president suffered — not from the bullet, but from a massive infection. Bliss then billed the government $25,000 for his “services,” which would be roughly $750,000 today.
The Wild West of Quackery: From Goat Glands to Instagram
Even after American medicine improved — especially after the 1910 Flexner Report, which shut down low-quality medical schools — quackery never fully disappeared. It simply evolved.
In the 1920s and ’30s, John R. Brinkley became famous for implanting goat testicles into men as a cure for impotence. He used radio to market his “miracle” to millions, proving that loud marketing could still beat good science.
Sound familiar? Today’s hucksters may not use goat glands, but they use similar tactics. Some sell expensive stool tests and invent conditions like “leaky gut” to push costly supplements. Others, like the carnivore diet influencers, ignore decades of data on the Mediterranean diet and claim you should eat nothing but steak. They dismiss the science on cholesterol, flaunt their abs, offer life coaching, and sell overpriced “special salt” — even though salt is salt, and plain Pedialyte has been used safely in millions of rehydrations.
Why Hucksters Don’t Advance Science
People sometimes wonder: If these charismatic figures turned their energy toward research, could they make real progress? The answer is no.
First, most lack the deep scientific training needed to do real work. Second, those who do have training have deliberately left the hard road of science — the years of study, failed experiments, and peer review — for the fast money of “miracle cures.” Their goal isn’t discovery; it’s sales.
The Lesson from Edinburgh
Walking through Edinburgh’s Surgeons’ Hall Museum, you see both sides of medical history: the breakthroughs and the blunders, the heroes and the hucksters. It reminds us that progress is fragile and must be defended against those who prefer profit over evidence.
Edinburgh gave the world anesthesia and antisepsis. It gave us the model of evidence-based medicine. And while America eventually followed, the fight against quackery continues — from goat glands to $70 detox supplements.
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