Pain Relievers and Surgeries

Q5:  What were the most common surgeries & what kind of pain relievers did the doctors have?

          The most common operations were minor ones with surgeons removing cataracts from eyes, reseting broken bones, adjusted dislocated bones, and repairing hernias.  Even though these were minor operations, they still created lots of pain which brings me to pain relievers.  The surgeons used plants and herbs for pain relief, which included mandragora, the root of the poisonous mandrake plant.  Also, the Cannabis, opium and a poisonous herb called deadly nightshade were used.  Today, we have so much more to help us with pain and better tools and better ways of doing things and helping people when there sick or hurt.  So it just makes me think how badly it would hurt to get a surgery done back then, when the plants and herbs barley even worked, so basically there pointless. 

Surgeons also cured soldiers on battlefields.  They dug bullets out of wounds, sealed torn flesh, and amputated limbs.  Surgeons would also help the wounds by pouring boiling oil on it which burned the skin.  So many soldiers bled to death or died from infection!  So once again, whats the point of pouring boiling oil onto the skin, if in the long run you will just be hurting yourself more?