The change of year provides an opportunity for Janus-like reflection on the matters that dominated health care in 2010 and challenges ahead for 2011. But how much really changes? To provide perspective, one might consider how 100 years ago, The Lancet , under the editorship of Squire Sprigge, welcomed the new decade in an editorial titled, “The promise of 1911”.

The editorial would be familiar in tone and content to Lancet readers today. It cited progress against rabies, diphtheria, and the plague, and praised advances in surgery that would have seemed miraculous to a previous generation. Sprigge anticipated that history would regard the previous decade's achievements of “wireless telegraphy,…the mechanically-propelled vehicle, and…aviation [as] among the most prominent feats of human ingenuity”. He lamented that advances in medicine moved more slowly, and that the “demon of tuberculosis” had not been exorcised in 1910, although he hoped that better understanding would one day result in mastery of the disease. There had been two general elections in the UK in 1910, so concern was expressed about the effect of political uncertainty on social issues, such as the health of disadvantaged people, the maintenance of charitable hospitals in a depressed economy, occupational health, and workers' compensation for industrial accidents. In addressing the profession, legislation was urged against the “grasping charlatan and dangerous quack” (echoing a letter about homoeopathy in the correspondence section). He argued that the public would be best protected by better-educated doctors, referring to the issue's lead Article, which attacked the contemporary curriculum in medical schools and absence of leadership for progress in education.

While the eloquent prose and emphasis on syphilis of the Jan 7, 1911 issue seems dated, there is more of relevance to practice in 2011 than one might comfortably admit. Case reports from regional medical associations in the UK would be familiar today, as would reports “from our own correspondent”, which describe cocaine addiction in Montreal, Canada, and identified tuberculosis, measles, diarrhoea, and respiratory infection as leading causes of death in South Africa. The behaviour of expert medical witnesses and the reporting of medicine by the lay press also came under discussion, as did jurisprudence and anaesthesia, and even medical tourism. There was also complaint about philanthropists whose charity is excessive, poorly coordinated, and indiscriminate.

In addition to medical education, which was the focus of The Lancet on Dec 4, 2010 , three other topics are particularly timely. A discussion about the origin of cancer is a reminder of how much remains to be understood about this disease. How welcome, therefore, is the study by Peter Rothwell and colleagues in today's issue of the potential protective benefit of aspirin against some cancers. A review of an 800-page textbook of paediatric surgery suggests a level of competency in 1911 that sits uncomfortably with the recent announcement by the Royal College of Surgeons that half of NHS district hospitals in England lack the facilities or staff to undertake emergency surgery on children. The correspondent from New York reported a crackdown on trade in rotten eggs. Food safety continues to threaten health, yet new food legislation in the USA seems uncertain because of cost.

When Thomas Wakley founded The Lancet in 1823, he set out to inform, reform, and entertain. Sprigge's Lancet was certainly an entertaining read that covered more than health. Writing a book review seems to have been a blood sport in 1911. In addition to medical books, the reviews included a book on Eastern religions and philosophies, diaries, medical journals, and literary and art magazines. Another section was devoted to The Lancet laboratory, in which new products were described. Peripheral articles included archaeology in Egypt, and the science of tea—in which the chemistry of Chateau Lafite is mentioned by way of comparison.

History renders some content poignant. The review of A handbook for medical officers in the field foreshadowed the world war that would soon destroy the world that readers knew in 1911. A provincial UK hospital announced plans to acquire an x-ray machine, citing among other reasons that it could be used to treat ringworm; years later those treated would have higher risks of cancer. From Vienna came news about superior health among the city's 180 000 Jewish people, whom a generation later would face lethal persecution.

Between 1911 and 2011 there is much for medicine to be proud of—and also to be humble about. New years bring new promise and new opportunities, but some old demons remain.