It was still dark on a winter morning in 1878 when a pair of chestnut horses, harnessed to an elegant carriage, began their journey through Edinburgh’s cobbled streets. A cold front had gripped the city like a steel gauntlet, tightening its hold with each passing hour. Perched high on the elevated driver’s seat was a coachman, who held his whip lightly in his hand as he guided the two animals—named Major and Minor—toward the city’s oldest hospital.
Sheltering under the carriage’s folding roof was its only passenger, a lithe man with a face fringed by gray whiskers. His steel-blue eyes scanned his surroundings for anything out of the ordinary. The carriage rattled through the narrow lanes of the Scottish capital’s Old Town, where the chimneys belched columns of coal smoke into the still air, and the ramshackle houses rose ten stories or higher.
Now and then, a hunched figure emerged from a doorway and scurried across the street, vanishing into the next road. But for the most part, the city still slept. At last, Major and Minor passed through the ornate gates forming the old hospital’s main entrance.
The coachman gave the reins a gentle tug, and the horses drew to a slow halt. Joseph Bell—senior surgeon at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh—stepped down from the carriage and nodded his thanks to the driver. Pulling his coat tighter, he strode toward the hospital doors, eager to discover what new puzzles the day would bring.
The Royal Infirmary’s amphitheater consisted of a stage partially enclosed by a semicircle of tiered stands rising toward a large skylight, which illuminated the area below. In the center of the room was a wooden operating table, with a long, sawdust-filled tray positioned below it to catch blood and other fluids. On this occasion, though, much to the relief of some of the younger attendees, the table had not been dressed for a surgical demonstration.
The wooden stands groaned under the burden of medical students chatting as they awaited instruction in the chamber. As Bell entered, the hubbub died away. He removed his hat and coat, handed them to his dedicated young clerk, and walked to the center of the circular chamber.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
