Editing Antiseptic (section)

==Surgery==
Antiseptic practices evolved in the 19th century through multiple individuals. [[Ignaz Semmelweis]] showed already in 1847-1848 that [[hand washing]] prior to [[Childbirth|delivery]] reduced [[puerperal fever]].<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Best M, Neuhauser D |year=2004 |title=Ignaz Semmelweis and the birth of infection control |journal=Qual Saf Health Care |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=233–4 |doi=10.1136/qhc.13.3.233 |pmc=1743827 |pmid=15175497}}</ref> Despite this, many hospitals continued to practice surgery in unsanitary conditions, with some surgeons taking pride in their bloodstained operating gowns.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Millard |first=Candice |title=Destiny of the republic: a tale of madness, medicine and the murder of a president |date=2011 |publisher=Doubleday |isbn=978-0-385-52626-5 |location=New York |language=en |oclc=700205578}}</ref>[[File:Joseph Lister.jpg|thumb|[[Joseph Lister]]]]Only a decade later the situation started to change, when some French surgeons started to adopt [[carbolic acid]] as an antiseptic, reducing surgical infection rates, followed by their Italian colleagues in the 1860s. In 1867 [[Joseph Lister]] published seminal paper ''[[Antiseptic Principle of the Practice of Surgery]]'', where he explained this reduction in terms of [[Louis Pasteur]]'s [[Germ theory of disease|germ theory]]. Thus he was able to popularize the antiseptic [[surgery|surgical]] methods in the English-speaking world.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ehrhardt |first1=John D. |last2=Nakayama |first2=Don K. |last3=O'Leary |first3=J. Patrick |date=2020-03-01 |title=Carbolic Acid before Joseph Lister: Rail Ties, Sewage, Manure, and the Great Stink |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32223794/ |journal=The American Surgeon |volume=86 |issue=3 |pages=176–183 |doi=10.1177/000313482008600324 |issn=1555-9823 |pmid=32223794}}</ref>

Some of this work was anticipated by:
* [[Greeks|Ancient Greek]] physicians [[Galen]] ({{circa|130–200}}) and [[Hippocrates]] ({{circa|400 BC}}) as well as [[Sumer]]ian clay tablets dating from 2150 BC that advocate the use of similar techniques.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Eming SA, Krieg T, Davidson JM |title=Inflammation in wound repair: molecular and cellular mechanisms |journal=J. Invest. Dermatol. |volume=127 |issue=3 |pages=514–25 |year=2007 |pmid=17299434 |doi=10.1038/sj.jid.5700701 |doi-access=free }}</ref>
* [[Florence Nightingale]], who contributed substantially to the report of the [[Royal Commission|Royal Commission on the Health of the Army]] (1856–1857), based on her earlier work
* Medieval surgeons [[Hugh of Lucca]], Theoderic of Servia, and his pupil [[Henri de Mondeville]] were opponents of Galen's opinion that [[pus]] was important to healing, which had led ancient and medieval surgeons to let pus remain in wounds. They advocated draining and cleaning the wound edges with wine, dressing the wound after suturing, if necessary and leaving the dressing on for ten days, soaking it in warm wine all the while, before changing it. Their theories were bitterly opposed by Galenist [[Guy de Chauliac]] and others trained in the classical tradition.<ref>{{cite journal | author = Edwards H | year = 1976 | title = Theodoric of Cervia, a medieval antiseptic surgeon | journal = Proceedings of the Royal Society | volume = 69 | issue = 3| pages = 553–5 | pmc=1864551 | pmid=790395}}</ref>
* [[Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.]], who published ''The Contagiousness of Puerperal Fever'' in 1843