Benjamin Terry and his rapid razor section method for intraoperative diagnosis.

Benjamin Taylor Terry (1876-1955), a little-known pathologist, played a critical role in the popularization of intraoperative diagnostic techniques in the 1920s and 1930s. He developed both a stain and his own rapid razor section method. Intraoperative diagnostic techniques were ultimately responsible for the transition of the practice of pathology and laboratory medicine from private commercial laboratories to a hospital-based practice, forever changing the history of pathology and surgery in North America. Although the intraoperative diagnostic technique he personally developed was reportedly better, faster and more economical than frozen sections, the latter ultimately won the battle for intraoperative diagnostic supremacy.