Are you wearing a lab coat? - (Jan/07/2011 )

hobglobin on Tue May 3 20:38:27 2011 said:

The green.. I can explain... its because of the lights used in surgery, wearing green doesnt reflect it too much or doesnt shatter the light like white.

casandra on Tue May 3 20:32:48 2011 said:

Eum, I knew nuns wore black clothes, but did the doctors wear black ones too?? That suprises me.. esp. since the white coat is really old.. older then before the turn of the century...




PS. maybe the labcoats are white so that you dont see the dust on it? (I mean: dust is white.. sorta white..., if you would have a black one... everyone would see the dust on the PI's labcoat hanging there.... collecting dust....)....
Just an idea....

I was told surgical scrubs are colored, as are OR floors, because the contrast of red and white tends to enhance the faint feeling some people get. Patterned floors break up the contrast and people faint less often.

pito on Tue May 3 21:22:03 2011 said:

yup, the green is to prevent eye fatigue....(ppfftt..there goes my pus antithetical symbolism)



..and of course doctors wore black-until the late 19th century...it's their formal attire signifying the "seriousness" of their business of saving lives (and for some- a camouflage for quackery) .... regarding the use of the white coat as being "older"....well, it depends on what you meant by older.....



Rembrandt's The Anatomy Lecture of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp (1632)




The Gross Clinic by Thomas Eakins (1875)




The Agnew Clinic by Thomas Eakins (1889)

lab rat on Wed May 4 00:17:07 2011 said:

Weird, I never heard of that...
They always told me it was because of the light...

And the faint feeling? Who is going to feint then? the nurses? I sure hope not the patient... I hope he is anesthesised ...

casandra on Wed May 4 03:22:15 2011 said:

Nice pictures.
But I wasnt clear I think, the white coats were allready used by scientists back then not soo much doctors then I think.
Or maybe by only a minoroty of scientist.. cant remember it clearly.

For me it looks as if in the 19th century and earlier "scientists" and "doctors" just wore normal every-day dresses, i.e. real lab coats just were not invented. And at that time black was usual for suits and frock coats (an at this time fashionable dress for males). And hygiene unknown. Pasteur and Lister came a bit later.

Here a NYT article on white doctor coats with a picture from 1950s.
The wikipedia article is not bad too.
And a good other article
with this picture:


"Late 19th century surgery, done according to Lister's methods. There's a carbolic acid sprayer on the stool, but the surgeons are still wearing street clothing."

and this photo (taken from one of the articles above) is a 19th century surgeon's frock coat (probably never washed but at least they still wore something over their street clothes):




HERE's another perspective.....

I'm quite sure that that one is the original Dr Frankenstein frock coat

hobglobin on Wed May 4 19:04:35 2011 said:

...don't you have one, exactly like that, hanging in your closet right now?

casandra on Wed May 4 19:28:13 2011 said:

this is confidential...

hobglobin on Wed May 4 19:30:12 2011 said:

well, not anymore and it's all your fault......you desperately need a closet makeover, dr H....