In October 2023, the Lancet, one of the most prominent journals in medicine, celebrated its bicentenary. As a weekly international medical journal, The Lancet has championed a core belief since its inception – “Best Science for Better Lives.” The Lancet “has always worked to make science widely available so that medicine can serve and transform society and have a positive impact on people’s lives.” The Lancet publishes original research articles, reviews, editorials, book reviews, letters, and news features and case reports, and its website states that “we are proud to publish papers that have made important contributions to science and human health.” Over the past two hundred years, the journal has become the most important and reliable source of medical knowledge.
At the same time, the articles published in the Lancet recorded the evolution of British medicine for two hundred years and witnessed the development of British society, so the journal itself has become an important historical material for the study of medical social history.
As it said in its 1823 launch: “We respectfully state that our columns will not be confined to medical knowledge, but will, on the contrary, work tirelessly to make the Lancet a complete chronicle of contemporary literature.”
As a young surgeon from the provinces, Wakeley was appalled by the state of medicine in London, and he was determined to break this monopoly of knowledge. Wakeley hopes his journal will stop the “mystery and concealment” that has so far characterized elite medical practice. In the Lancet, Wakeley wrote: “In fact, we believe that mystery and ignorance will soon be synonymous. Rituals and symbols have now lost their charm.
Hieroglyphics and gilded serpents have lost their power to deceive.” He hoped that “the medical and surgical practitioners of this city, whose profession prevents them from visiting hospitals in person; Rural doctors, who are far from the headquarters of scientific knowledge and have little means of ascertaining its progress.
Many students, both here and in distant universities; A colonial practitioner; Finally, everyone in these fields “can be informed about the current state of medical development through this journal.” Dr. Richard Hurton, editor of the Lancet since 1995, said: “I think that inspired him to start The Lancet, whose mission was to destroy the power of rich and famous doctors in London, to democratize knowledge, but also to fight the social injustices he saw in society,” the journal had a dual function: to inform and to promote reform. In the preface to the first issue of the Lancet, Wakeley set out the journal’s goal of publishing lectures by prominent surgeons and physicians, publishing strange and important medical cases, and presenting it all in “plain English.”
In his 1823 inaugural address, Wakeley wrote: “As Sir Astley Cooper’s lectures on the theory and practice of surgery are probably the best in Europe, we begin our work with an introductory lecture delivered by this distinguished professor at the Anatomical Theatre of St. Thomas’ Hospital last Wednesday evening. The course will be presented in full in subsequent issues.”
Wakeley hopes to challenge the culture of nepotism and self-interest in medicine. An 1828 article in The Lancet detailed a botched operation carried out by Bransby Cooper in the “lithotomy” (removal of bladder stones) of the Sussex workman Stephen Pollard.
Bransby, without voting, secured the post of surgeon at Guy’s Hospital under the influence of his uncle Astley Cooper (who represented a small group of powerful surgeons in early 19th century London, England, who dominated hospital positions and private practice and earned a lucrative income by teaching at the medical school).
The article by The Lancet reporter James Lambert gory described the patient’s suffering as Bransby clumsily removed the stones. Lambert wrote: “Every now and then there was a cry, followed by a deathlike silence, broken only by the terrible squeeze of the forceps on the perineum. Oh, let it go — please let it stay in there.” The poor man kept Shouting.
Pollard died shortly after the surgery. In 1833, the magazine again condemned Bransby Cooper, who had been appointed to a new infirmary in Aylesbury, southern England, as a consulting surgeon, but had hardly been there. A letter in The Lancet questioned “what benefit does a doctor or surgeon have in seeing a patient once in three months?”
Under pressure from the Lancet, and more often from doctors and parliamentarians, professional standards of medicine began to change. More and more doctors, regardless of social status, are striving for college degrees, and training for surgeons in particular is becoming more formal. The Anatomy Act, passed in 1832, regulated the market for trades and distinguished professionals from quacks.
The Medical profession was further regulated by the Medical Act of 1858, which established the General Council for Medical Education and Registration and initiated the registration of doctors.
Related topics
