Word: sputum
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...enchanted castle that surrounds them with images of their beloved. All the sisters find beauty in duty, fulfillment in filth. One nun, ministering to lepers, consumes flakes of a diseased man's skin as if it were the Eucharist. Later another nun tastes the dying Therese's tubercular sputum and makes of it a sacrament of ecstatic commitment. To Cavalier, these acts have a spiritual and physical grace, for they are outward signs of the sisters' bond. In the purest love -- worldly or divine -- nothing is impossible, nothing is impure...
...Annual chest X rays, recommended in the past for early detection of lung cancer in smokers and others at high risk, are no longer deemed necessary. Nor is sputum cytology, an analysis of lung cells contained in sputum. One reason: lung cancer is still so resistant to cure as to make early detection useless and a waste of money. Rather, prevention, especially by avoiding smoking, should be emphasized...