50 Years Ago

The use of rubber gloves during surgical operations became general about 1900 ... The object of an investigation was to obtain an estimation of how frequently wound infection originates from bacteria on the hands of operating staff ... Examination of the wounds following 433 'clean' operations, of the 3,125 rubber gloves used in those operations and of the bacterial flora of the hands which had worn 692 damaged gloves, revealed no connexion between the glove damage, the bacterial flora and the wound infections observed.

From Nature 27 November 1965

100 Years Ago

The Times of November 20 published a rather flamboyant little article, headed “A Surgical Schism.” This article said: “Not for half a century at least has the medical world been so sharply divided as it is to-day in regard to the question of the treatment of wounds.” Now, it is exactly half a century since Lister ... first ventured to treat a compound fracture by plugging the wound with a strip of rag soaked in undiluted and impure German creasote. Pyaemia and septicaemia and erysipelas were ravaging the wards of the old Glasgow Infirmary, and he, relying on Pasteur's work on the “germs of putrefaction,” and knowing that creasote was a good “disinfectant,” plugged a wound with it. That was the beginning of everything, exactly half a century ago. To-day, there are many methods, but they do not all contradict or exclude each other ... We must not imagine a sort of desperate squabble among our military surgeons ... The suggestion in the Times article that an acute controversy is proceeding upon these matters is unfortunate and misleading.

From Nature 25 November 1915 Footnote 1