Cover of Book 2 of My Trilogy Titled “Surgeons Duty”
Naught but Butchers continues the story of the surgeon James Hammond, who leaves London — the only home he has ever known — for the town of Nottingham in the north of England. (You can read about Book 1 in the trilogy here.)
Hammond feels like a foreigner in the small Nottingham hospital where he has no friends or professional connections. He soon realizes that his drive to improve his surgical skills by performing dissections is looked on with disgust, for dissections are not commonly carried out in small, rural hospitals. Indeed, some doctors and hospital Board members view dissections as little more than butchering the dead.
Hammond believes otherwise. Conducting dissections have made him a better surgeon. Indeed, his surgical teachers would be shocked if he did not perform dissections. These prominent and innovative London surgeons believed that only by conducting dissections can a surgeon truly understand the anatomy of the human body. How else would he know how to treat a compound fracture or a high fever? If he did not regularly undertake dissections, he could not cut for stone, treat a dislocated shoulder joint, or operate on a strangulated inguinal hernia with confidence. Even a procedure as simple as extracting a tooth can be challenging if the surgeon’s understanding of anatomy is poor.
When Hammond undertakes a daring procedure on one of his patients, his superior, Mr. Augustus Killmaster, sees for himself the breadth of Hammond’s skill. Mr. Killmaster begins to resent Hammond’s training and confidence. Motivated by a desperate desire to undermine Hammond’s success, Mr. Killmaster seeks the help of a friend, Mr. Walter Ewebank, to help him get rid of the young surgeon. Unfortunately, Fate deals Mr. Killmaster a fierce blow, leaving Hammond to cope with the consequences.
Naught but Butchers is available on Amazon and Smashwords.