Word: lancet
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...field traditionally befogged by jargon and a monolithic solemnity, the Lancet's witty, lucid approach has long been a refreshing anomaly. "We shall exclude from our pages," said Founder Thomas Wakley, "the semibarbarous phraseology of the schools, and adopt as its substitute plain English diction...
...modern Lancet is less angry−principally because most of the reforms it advocated have been put into effect− it is nonetheless outspoken and alert. In 1952, a few days after King George VI of Great Britain died, the Lancet frankly discussed the King's ailments (Buerger's disease, lung cancer and arteriosclerosis) and the immediate cause of his death (coronary thrombosis). It has also reported candidly about the low standards of general practice under the British National Health Service, about bad conditions in mental hospitals, about the problems of the aged...
Wakley was a disenchanted physician who launched the Lancet in 1823 as a vehicle to attack the abuses rampant in 19th century medicine. His magazine tilted at the high-collared sacred cows of Harley Street, crusaded for better sewage disposal, better operative technique, more humane treatment of the insane. At a time when doctors jealously guarded their hospital lectures to prevent loss of fees, the Lancet insisted that all lectures should be public property, began sending reporters into the lecture halls. When Surgeon John Abernethy complained that he was misquoted, the Lancet offered a devastating verbatim sample of his tutorial...
Lithotomy, Lithotrity. Through its youth and middle age, the Lancet built its reputation on solid reporting and its circulation on a succession of widely publicized hassles with medical authorities. It offered the first report (1847) of the use of anesthetics, the first discussion (1867) of Joseph Lister's treatment of wounds with antiseptics. It boldly reported on a bungled lithotomy by Bransby Cooper, nephew of famed Surgeon Sir Astley Cooper. Young Cooper had made an incision in the wrong place, tried to force an opening into the bladder with forceps, finally turned to his unanesthetized patient a few minutes...
...Lancet touched off another major debate by charging that London Surgeon Sir Henry Thompson had caused the death of exiled Emperor Napoleon III by operating on him for a bladder stone by lithotrity (penetration into the urethra by a pair of forceps) instead of lithotomy (incision into the bladder...