In September 2021, a yellowed photograph of a formidable look of a woman with a hammer was widespread in social networks. The signature read that we have before us an anesthetist named Matilda, and the photo was taken in 1894. We checked if it was true.

A big resonance on Facebook caused publication, made by a user named Alex Howitt, is almost 6,000 reposts as of September 22. There are also publications on 4300 And 4600 reposts. The photo is popular in others social networksas well as on humorous sites. In a number of sources specifiedthat the surname Matilda is Crawford.

Upon closer examination, the photo raises several questions at once.

Firstly, the hammer is really long used In anesthesia before the appropriate chemicals appear. However, he was completely wooden, and in the instrument depicted in the photo the battles is similar to a metal one.

Secondly, 1894 is enough Late Date for the use of hammers for such purposes. At the end of the XVIII century, Humphrey Davy opened an anesthetic effect of nitrogen oxide, in 1818, Michael Faraday described the effect of inhalation of the sulfur air, and on March 30, 1842, the American doctor Crawford Long performed the first surgery in the history of medicine as an anesthetic. In the second half of the century, a boom of similar funds came, many of which later became widespread as drugs.

Thirdly, sources do not know the health worker of the late 19th century named Matilda Crawford, although the presence of a woman in professional medicine in those years was a fairly noticeable event. Some carriers of this name and surname who lived in the indicated period looked at all otherwise. Isn't it in honor of the pioneer of anesthesia Long the photographic Matilda got her “surname”?

Finally, a rather strange, inaccurate form of a headgear with a cross on a lady is striking. There is a feeling that he was drawn later. Although this does not mean that the rest of the picture and the signature for it are fake.

However, a short search among images on the Internet disperses the latest doubts. This photograph was known for a certain circle of users even before their “anesthesiological” boom - for example, was used in Russian -speaking demotivators in June And September 2019. In one case, the photograph is black and white, in the other-color, signatures to it are completely different, and a medical cap disappeared from the head of the lady.

In 2012-2015, a pseudo -order series was published on the American channel Discovery "Mafia Amisha" - About representatives of the religious movement living in one of the counties of the state of Pennsylvania. The series was positioned as a reality show, although investigations It is shown that there is no mafia in this Protestant community. Nevertheless, in the series you can see real people, one of whom is a woman named Mary Troier, the heroine of the special Christmas issue 2013 and more several series. As you can see with the naked gaze, it is this harsh lady that is depicted in our photograph. The original picture can be seen on Mary's dedicated page On the website of the Discovery channel. She, judging by different frames, is not one hammer - there is also a wooden one: