Historical Perspectives of Surgical Infections

An American Professor reviewed the historical perspectives of surgical drainage in the British Journal of Surgery in 1986. “History,” he wrote [1], “furnishes us with a picture that demonstrates the problems which our forebears faced and which face us today.” This agrees with Burnet [2] who stated that pertinent historical information should be acquired before starting to do research. Therefore, I propose to supply selected materials with my library containing historical photocopies. Surely, perspectives of how the old masters themselves faced surgical infections ought to be documented even if at second hand.