William Stewart Halsted (1852-1922) pioneered many methods of preventing surgical infection and introduced the use of general anesthesia.

In an era when more surgery patients died from bacterial infections than the illness prompting the initial surgery, William Stewart Halsted introduced new preventative methods that significantly reduced bodily infections introduced through invasive surgery techniques. His main concern was the prevention of infection through the methodical sterilization of all medical equipment, as well as pioneering efforts in the design and use of surgical gloves. More important, Halsted introduced new procedures for the handling of bodily tissues and organs that minimized trauma and infection, as well as methods to control and stop hemorrhaging. Well-versed in human physiology and anatomy, a knowledge not necessarily common nor applied in 19th-century medicine, he taught that bodily tissues that are damaged during surgery are more susceptible to infection, subsequently rendering the patient less likely to...