“If you are not covered in dog hair, your life is empty…”
Elayne Boosler
Puppies are great. They are life changing in many ways. Puppies have also had a role in what would over time become a paradigm for modern surgical practice. For thousands of years it was unquestionable dogma to seal traumatic wounds with boiling oil. This was horrific and not particularly helpful to outcomes. 17th century surgeon Ambrose Pare broke with this tradition. In 1617 he published a paper recommending military wounds be treated with a soothing and disinfectant balm. It was a radical approach but seemed to reduce the scourge of infection and improve survival. Pare’s recipe for his balm is not for the faint hearted. Two pounds of oil of lillys, 6 ounces of Terebinth of Venice, two puppies boiled alive in the oil until their flesh separates from the bone, and finally 20 earthworms that have been purged with white wine. The mixture is strained, allowed to cool into a gel, and applied daily to the wound. Terebinth of Venice turns out to be turpentine and is probably the only beneficially active ingredient in the recipe. #notmypenny #letsmakelemonade
Pen Paint and Scalpel 