Since 1894, when Dr. William S. Halsted became the first physician to pull on a pair of gloves (they were rubber) prior to performing a surgical procedure at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins Hospital, surgeons around the world have relied on medical gloves to protect patients from cross-contamination. According to accounts from that time, Dr. Halsted's gloves were sterilized by boiling and reused.
Similarly crude products were donned early on for examining patients.
Like most ...