Latest / Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities / Follow the Leader

Transcript

Follow the Leader · Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Menkey's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: full of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display,
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Being the first person to accomplish something can
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: be both a blessing and a curse. The lack of
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: precedence can be free. There's nothing to live up to,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: no legacy to overcome. However, being the first comes with
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: its own set of problems. For one, there's nobody to
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: tell you what to expect. One man didn't need anyone
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: to tell in the odds though. In fact, he was
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: the person reassuring people right before they did something risky.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: This man, you see, was a surgeon. His name was
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Evan O'Neil Kane, and he was born in eighteen sixty
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: one to Elizabeth and Thomas Kane. Thomas was a Civil
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: War hero and the founder of the town where they lived, Kane, Pennsylvania.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth was a prominent doctor in the town. After Thomas's
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: death in eighteen eighty three, Elizabeth Evan and Evan's brother William,
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: founded the Woodside Cottage Hospital right there in Kane. One
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: year later, Evan graduated with his medical degree in Philadelphia
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: before returning home to practice at the family's hospital. The
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: facility was unique and that the doctors who were not
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: part of the Kane family often found themselves at odds
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: with Evan and the rest of the clan. For one,
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: when Evan became chief surgeon, he insisted his diagnosis be
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: the final word when it came to a patient's treatment,
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: even if he wasn't their primary doctor. Complaints by the
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: other medical staff resulted in Evan and his assistant to
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: be enforced to give up a little more control of
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: their hospital, but Evan didn't let it stop him. His
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: job had always been to put the patient's needs first.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: Now he did this in a variety of ways, one
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: of which was as a railway surgeon. If a rail
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: worker was injured out on the tracks, Evan would travel
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: from the hospital to the scene of the accident and
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: stitch the patient up in the field. These incidents inspired
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: him to come up with new ways of performing cleaner,
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: more efficient surgeries when not in the sterilized environment. Of
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: the operating room. For example, he drafted a paper describing
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: a method of infusing the body with intravenous fluids while
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: away from the hospital. It prevented hemorrhage induced vein collapse
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: thanks to the ten needles supplying the fluids instead. The
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: design was modified by man named Edwin Hasbruck, but the
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: technique described by Kane in his original paper is still
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: in use today. Looking back, though, some of Kane's first
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: weren't so great as best as bandages may have been
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: a breakthrough when he invented them one hundred years ago,
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: but today they would pose a serious health risk. Still,
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: he did come up with a way for surgeons to
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: not only stitch up head wounds in the field, but
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: also see effects of the damage more easily by using
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: mica to make tiny windows into the brain. But perhaps
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: his greatest achievement was his contribution to surgery itself. In
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: nineteen twenty one. Ether was often used as a general
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: anesthetic for all kinds of surgeries, no matter how big
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: or small. It was dangerous and in many cases wholly unnecessary.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: Kine was sixty at this point and had already performed
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: roughly four thousand apendectomies. He'd always used a general anesthetic
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: like ether, but thought a local anesthetic might provide better
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: results as long as the patient could handle it. To
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: prove this, he scrubbed his hands and prepped for a
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: test appendectomy. He used a new kind of local anesthetic
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: called novocane to numb the area instead of a general anesthetic,
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: which put the patient to sleep. No Vocane had recently
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: pushed out cocaine as the local anesthetic of choice, since
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: it was far less dangerous and less addictive. Evan propped
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: the patient up on a few pillows, injected them with
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: no vocane, and got to work. The surgery took longer
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: than usual, but Evan was an expert. He cut through
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: the necessary tissue to remove the patient's appendix and seal
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: the blood vessels before stitching them up and sending them home.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: The next day. The media was in awe of Evan's skill.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: Newspapers printed article after article about the miracle surgery, which
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: didn't just use a new kind of anesthetic, but an
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: entirely new method of dissection mirrors. Evan had needed mirrors
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: to see what he was doing. His patient hadn't been
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: like the other four thousand he'd operated on in the past.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: This one was different because this time Evan was the patient.
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: In fact, over the course of his career, Evan O'Neill
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: kane operated on himself three times. He performed a follow
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: up surgery on himself a little over ten years later,
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: when he was seventy years old. The plan was to
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: remove a hernia he had gotten in a horse writing accident.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: He was back in the operating room just thirty six
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: hours later, though, stitched up and ready to get back
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: to work. And I know some might call that being
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: a show off, And while that might be true, I'd
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: prefer to think of it as more than a little curious.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: A person driven by their beliefs can do incredible things.
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: They can do immense good for the world, like helping
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: those less fortunate than themselves. They can also inflict pain
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: on those who don't share their beliefs, and in rare cases,
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: they can change what others believe as well, for better
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: or for worse. Martin Luther, for example, kicked off the
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: Protestant Reformation when he nailed his ninety five Theces to
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: the door of the Wittenberg Castle church in fifteen seventeen.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: He was declared a heretic by the Catholic Church and
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: forced to go into hiding. Still, his beliefs made people
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: question their own, and he changed Christianity forever. Stephen and
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: Nicholas had also changed things. In the year twelve twelve,
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: Stephen of Klua, a small town in northern France, claimed
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: to have heard the voice of God. This voice, according
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: to Stephen, had told him to gather as many people
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: as he could find and march them into Jerusalem, where
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: they would push out the Muslims living there and reclaim
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: the area for Christianity. Stephen traveled all over France, preaching
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: to crowds about how God had sent him on this
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: mission this crusade. Though some weren't swayed by his sermons,
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: Stephen was able to garner support from over thirty thousand
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: believers who followed him across Europe. Unlike the first crusades
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: that were launched in ten nine, Stephen's endeavor lacked two
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: big advantages. First, he didn't have the backing of the Pope,
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: and secondly, he and his followers were without weapons. Instead
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: of swords, shields, and spears, his followers carried crosses and
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: flags that didn't bother Stephen, though, who was on a
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: mission of peace, not violence when it came to those
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: living in the Holy Land, even though invading another country
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: that way was automatically an act of hostility. Meanwhile, in Germany,
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: another crusader was building his own army. His name was Nicholas,
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: and he hadn't been spoken to by God. Instead, it
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: had been an angel that came to him with a
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: similar directive. Like Hannibal. In the year to eighteen BC,
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: Nicholas led his thousands of followers over the Alps in
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: order to reach Jerusalem. And while Stephen and Nicholas were
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: marching their orders from Heaven, the Catholic Church was getting nervous.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: They hadn't sanctioned either of these movements, so they viewed
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: them more as potential enemies. Any immortal man with the
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: power to convince that many people to follow them halfway
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: across the world was someone to fear. The thing was,
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: Stephen and Nicholas were not men. They were boys, twelve
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: year old boys, and their followers were children too, tens
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: of thousands of children who had been coaxed away from
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: their families to march with the purpose of displacing indigenous
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: people in the name of their own religion. As Steven
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: and his band of young crusaders reached Marseilla, they were
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: tired and hungry and wild with Zelo Tree. Nicholas's group
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: didn't fare any better once they finally crossed the Alps
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: into Italy. In fact, it's believed that both armies disbanded
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: at this point. Many gave up and returned home to
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: their families, while others stayed along the Italian coast and
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: found jobs. Their plan had been to work until a
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: ship came in that would carry them all to Jerusalem. Sadly,
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: quite a few children met unfortunate fates. They died at sea,
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: some became beggars on the streets, or were sold into slavery.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: A very small collective did make it to Rome, though,
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: where they hoped to get a blessing for their mission
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: by the Pope himself. Instead, he gave them a pat
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: on the back and sent them home. There was no
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: way twelve year olds were going to carry out a
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: crusade by themselves, So how did two young boys manage
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: to convince thousands of other children to follow them all
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: this way? Well, Stephen happened to tap into a collective
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: of children who believed that they had been put on
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: this earth to perform miracles. Nicholas, on the other hand,
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: used all sorts of other methods to lure children to
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: his cause, like impassioned sermons, the promise of miracles once
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: they reached Jerusalem, and songs. Nicholas gained a bit of
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: a reputation for his use of music to draw children
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: to his cause, and because of that, the legend has
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: it that he was the inspiration behind a chilling character
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: created around the year thirteen hundred. That tale also involved
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: a musician who lured followers to go on a journey,
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: although his followers were not kids, but rats, a musician
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: named the Pied Piper. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by visiting
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by me
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: Aaron Manky in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast,
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: book series, and television show, and you can learn all
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: about it over at the World of Lore dot com.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: And until next time, stay curious.