Major (breast cancer) surgery without an anaesthetic: Frances (Fanny) Burney, 1811

The invention of modern anaesthesia has taken so much of the terror out of surgery that an account such as that left by Fanny Burney (also known by her married name of Madame d'Arblay) is difficult to take in.

Burney was diagnosed with breast cancer in August 1810, and operated on in France by Baron Larrey, Napoleon's surgeon. To spare her the suspense, she was given very little notice of the operation.

 “M. d'A.” in this account is her husband, Alexandre, and Alexander is her son.

To read the letter:

http://www.mytimemachine.co.uk/operation.htm

Pour obtenir un document en français sur l’opération de Frances Burney et les sentiments que cette opération lui inspire, contacter l’auteur de ce blog.