Synopsis
Michael Mosley looks at how surgery dragged itself kicking and screaming out of the dark ages, transforming itself from butchery into a science.
- Programme: Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery
- Episode: 05: Bloody Beginnings
- Channel: BBC Four
- Broadcast year: 2008
- Biology | Medicine and Surgery
Licence: ERA Licence required
Free to watch for UK schools, colleges and universities with an ERA Licence
UK only
Staff and students of licensed education establishments only
Cannot be adapted
Add Notes
More clips from Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery
01: Into the Brain | Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery
01: Into the Brain | Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery
Documentary series looking at the brutal, bloody and dangerous history of surgery begins with the area of the body ...
02: Bleeding Hearts | Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery
02: Bleeding Hearts | Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery
The series about the history of surgery charts the development of heart surgery. Michael Mosley witnesses a breath...
03: Spare Parts | Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery
03: Spare Parts | Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery
Series about the history of surgery continues with a look at the development of transplant surgery, from a Nazi sympat...
04: Fixing Faces | Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery
04: Fixing Faces | Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery
Series about the history of surgery continues with a look at the development of plastic surgery, which started over 4...
Measuring levels of oxygen in the blood | Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery
Measuring levels of oxygen in the blood | Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery
Using a pulse oximeter to show what happens with the levels of oxygen in the blood when you st...
More resources about History of Medicine
01: Black Death | World's Worst Century
01: Black Death | World's Worst Century
Was the 14th century the worst time in history to be alive? The population of Britain was ravaged by a plague that drove mankind to t...
Black Death | Ken Follett's Journey Into the Dark Ages
Black Death | Ken Follett's Journey Into the Dark Ages
Ken Follett tells the story of the Black Death through the true stories of a monk in Winchester, a doctor in Florence ...
02: Pus | Pain, Pus and Poison: The Search for Modern Medicines
02: Pus | Pain, Pus and Poison: The Search for Modern Medicines
Dr Michael Mosley explores our earliest attempts to tackle infection and how scientists, chemists and doctors...
The Story of John Snow | Moments of Genius
The Story of John Snow | Moments of Genius
Clinical geneticist Professor John Burn follows in the footsteps of one of his great scientific heroes - Dr John Snow.
04: Fixing Faces | Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery
04: Fixing Faces | Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery
Series about the history of surgery continues with a look at the development of plastic surgery, which started over 4...
The symptoms of Black Death and how it spread | A History of Britain by Simon Schama
The symptoms of Black Death and how it spread | A History of Britain by Simon Schama
Simon Schama discusses the black death, explaining it's symptoms and how it spread.
Medicine Through Time (1998): 05: Medicine and Surgery | History File
Medicine Through Time (1998): 05: Medicine and Surgery | History File
Programme concentrates on looking at medicine and surgery, and looks at the rise of surgery and inventi...
The doctor who discovered how cholera spread | Witness History
The doctor who discovered how cholera spread | Witness History
In the 1800s cholera was a mysterious disease killing millions around the world. No-one knew how to stop it ti...
Medieval treatment and beliefs on the cause of the Black Death | A History of Britain by Simon Schama
Medieval treatment and beliefs on the cause of the Black Death | A History of Britain by Simon Schama
Simon Schama discusses the Medieval beliefs about what caused the Black...
Medicine Through Time (1989): 05: Medicine, Technology and The Individual | History File
Medicine Through Time (1989): 05: Medicine, Technology and The Individual | History File
The principal of the germ theory of disease is credited to Louis Pasteur. But why wa...
The Great Plague
The Great Plague
The Great Plague of 1665 killed 100,000 Londoners - one in three of the people living in the city. While kept diaries have provided terrifying testaments to...
Jenner's Marvellous Medicine | A History of the World
Jenner's Marvellous Medicine | A History of the World
Professor Mark Horton tells the epic story of the world's greatest medical discovery. Edward Jenner's vaccination for s...
Breaking the Mould: The Story of Penicillin
Breaking the Mould: The Story of Penicillin
History books tell us that Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, but that's not the whole story. This drama uncovers the forgo...
Medicine Through Time (1989): 01: Medicine, Religion and Natural Causes | History File
Medicine Through Time (1989): 01: Medicine, Religion and Natural Causes | History File
This programme looks at ancient Egypt, Hippocrates, Christianity and Islam.
S01E05: King Death | A History of Britain by Simon Schama
S01E05: King Death | A History of Britain by Simon Schama
Simon Schama continues his look at British history with the Black Death, the horror of medieval Britain. Those it d...
02: Bleeding Hearts | Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery
02: Bleeding Hearts | Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery
The series about the history of surgery charts the development of heart surgery. Michael Mosley witnesses a breath...
Medicine Through Time (1998): 03: Medicine and Government | History File
Medicine Through Time (1998): 03: Medicine and Government | History File
Using historical evidence to recreate 19th century life this programme looks at the relationship bet...
West Yorkshire Lunatic Pauper Asylum | How We Built Britain
West Yorkshire Lunatic Pauper Asylum | How We Built Britain
David Dimbleby explores what life was like for the mentally ill in the Victorian era.
Discovery of penicillin | Pain, Pus and Poison: The Search for Modern Medicine
Discovery of penicillin | Pain, Pus and Poison: The Search for Modern Medicine
Fleming initially discovered the antibacterial properties of mould that would lead to the disc...
01: Into the Brain | Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery
01: Into the Brain | Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery
Documentary series looking at the brutal, bloody and dangerous history of surgery begins with the area of the body ...
More from Michael Mosley
04: Fixing Faces | Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery
04: Fixing Faces | Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery
Series about the history of surgery continues with a look at the development of plastic surgery, which started over 4...
Lombroso's Theories of Crime | The Mystery Of Murder: A Horizon Guide
Lombroso's Theories of Crime | The Mystery Of Murder: A Horizon Guide
When looking at the reasons why people offend, Lombroso, a scientist in the 19th century, believed he h...
The complexity of brain surgery | Inside the Human Body
The complexity of brain surgery | Inside the Human Body
A little girl, Angelina, requires complex brain surgery in order to alleviate the systoms she is suffering as a resul...
Impact of nature on physical and mental health | Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley
Impact of nature on physical and mental health | Just One Thing - with Michael Mosley
Michael Mosley discusses the importance of spending time in nature and how this can imp...
Treating diabetes with an artificial pancreas | Trust Me, I'm a Doctor
Treating diabetes with an artificial pancreas | Trust Me, I'm a Doctor
In this clip we discover what diabetes is and a new way of treating the condition compared to the trad...
The rise of antibiotic resistant bacteria | Michael Mosley vs The Superbugs
The rise of antibiotic resistant bacteria | Michael Mosley vs The Superbugs
Michael Mosley introduces the problem of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and Superbugs.
03: Food on the Brain | The Secrets of Your Food
03: Food on the Brain | The Secrets of Your Food
Michael Mosley and James Wong explore the effect that our food has on our most important and, in terms of energy consumption...
Sleep | The Truth About...
Sleep | The Truth About...
We are one of the most sleep-deprived countries in the world. In The Truth About Sleep, insomniac Michael Mosley finds out what happens if we don'...
Chemical weapons | Inside Porton Down: Britain's Secret Weapons Research Facility
Chemical weapons | Inside Porton Down: Britain's Secret Weapons Research Facility
Introducing the idea of chemical and biological weapons, leading onto pathogens.
The Wonderful World of Blood - with Michael Mosley
The Wonderful World of Blood - with Michael Mosley
Michael Mosley gives up a fifth of his own blood to perform six bold experiments. From starving it of oxygen to injecting ...
The 1860s | The Victorian Slum
The 1860s | The Victorian Slum
A group of 21st-century people move into a recreated Victorian slum. In this episode, the slum dwellers move into the 1860s, when London was t...
01: The First 8 Weeks | Countdown to Life: The Extraordinary Making of You
01: The First 8 Weeks | Countdown to Life: The Extraordinary Making of You
Michael Mosley presents the story of how you were made, in a series produced in partnership with T...
Is Your Brain Male or Female? | Horizon
Is Your Brain Male or Female? | Horizon
Dr Michael Mosley and Professor Alice Roberts investigate whether male and female brains really are wired differently.
Infested! Living with Parasites
Infested! Living with Parasites
Dr Michael Mosley explores the bizarre and fascinating world of parasites by turning his body into a living laboratory and deliberately infes...
Fast Tales
Fast Tales
During the most demanding Ramadan for over 30 years, Dr Saleyha Ahsan meets prominent British Muslims undertaking 16 hour fasting days throughout July and talks t...
01: Pain | Pain, Pus and Poison: The Search for Modern Medicines
01: Pain | Pain, Pus and Poison: The Search for Modern Medicines
Michael Mosley discovers what pain is and how we were able to control it with the discovery of morphine at t...
Discovery of penicillin | Pain, Pus and Poison: The Search for Modern Medicine
Discovery of penicillin | Pain, Pus and Poison: The Search for Modern Medicine
Fleming initially discovered the antibacterial properties of mould that would lead to the disc...
How respiratory viruses spread | Winter Viruses and How to Beat Them
How respiratory viruses spread | Winter Viruses and How to Beat Them
An explanation of how respiratory viruses can spread by causing us to cough and sneeze.
Digestive powers | Guts: The Strange and Wonderful World of the Human Stomach
Digestive powers | Guts: The Strange and Wonderful World of the Human Stomach
The digestive powers of the gastric juices within the human stomach are tested.
John Watson and Little Albert | The Brain: A Secret History
John Watson and Little Albert | The Brain: A Secret History
Dr Michael Mosley discusses how John Watson performed one of the most famous and controversial experiments in psy...