—How Joseph Lister and his use of antiseptics revolutionized the frightening state of 19th-century medicine—
The Non-fiction Feature
The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister’s Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine
Author: Lindsey Fitzharris
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Pages: 304 | 2017
[Joseph Lister] knew that for thousands of years, the ever-looming threat of infection had restricted the extent of a surgeon’s reach. Entering the abdomen, for instance, had proven almost uniformly fatal because of it. The chest was also off-limits…Surviving the operation was one thing. Making a full recovery was another.
The Fiction Spot
The Jungle
by Upton Sinclair
“One wondered about this, as also about the swarms of flies which hung about the scene, literally blackening the air, and the strange, fetid odor which assailed one’s nostrils, a ghastly odor, of all the dead things in the universe…’Was it not unhealthful?’ the stranger would ask, and the residents would answer, ‘Perhaps; but there is no telling.'”
The Product Spot
Winix Air Purifier
19th-century medicine was right about one thing: There’s stuff floating in the air. Namely, allergens that are determined to make you suffer. An air purifier will help, I promise.