When the dreadful steel was plunged into the breast — cutting through veins — arteries — flesh — nerves — I needed no more injunctions not to restrain my cries. I began a scream that lasted unintermittingly during the whole time of the incision — & I almost marvel that it rings not in my Ears still! so excruciating was the agony. In A. Dally

Women Under the Knife: A History of Surgery, Letter to Esther Burney, 1811