1889

Lister introduces double cyanide gauze: “final perfection”; rival schools of aseptic and antiseptic surgeons (Truax, 242-43). Kitasato, working in Koch’s institute, isolates causal agent of tetanus, the toxin Clostridium tetani (Brock, 223-225). Sven Hedin describes “hematokrit” (centrifuge with two whirling test tubes) that forced red blood cells to bottoms of tubes where, as a compact mass, their volume could be measured and the number of cells calculated = accurate index of anemia (Dad used one of these.) This eliminated the flaws in the red blood cell counting technique of William Gowers’ via his “haemacytometer” (Reiser, 132-33).