Timeline August 1865

Events in August 1865 3

• 1865 Atlantic telegraph cable expedition fails Great Eastern's cable breaks mid-ocean The steamship Great Eastern attempted to lay a telegraph cable across the Atlantic Ocean, but the cable snapped and was lost on the seabed partway through the voyage. A successful cable connecting Europe and North America was finally completed the following year.
• 1865 Joseph Lister performs first antiseptic surgery Carbolic acid used to prevent surgical infection Surgeon Joseph Lister applied carbolic acid to treat a compound fracture in a Glasgow patient, pioneering antiseptic surgical technique. His method dramatically reduced post-operative infection and transformed surgical practice worldwide.
• 1865 Convention of Gastein Austria and Prussia divide Schleswig-Holstein administration Austria and Prussia signed the Convention of Gastein, dividing administrative control of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein taken from Denmark the previous year. The arrangement proved temporary, with tensions over it contributing to the Austro-Prussian War the following year.