Book review: The Butchering Art, by Lindsey Fitzharris
When Queen Victoria fell seriously ill during a stay at Balmoral Castle in 1871, the head of surgery at the University of Edinburgh, Joseph Lister, was summoned to remove a worsening abscess. As he operated, a mist of carbolic acid was sprayed into the air to kill germs and prevent infection – a controversial antiseptic technique of his own invention.