Joseph Lister, 'the father of antiseptics'

Long ago, doctors and nurses did not wash their hands at work.
They did not know about germs.
People got very sick after operations because of germs.
Lister learned germs did not live when things were clean.
Lister made doctors wear gloves.

Joseph Lister was born on 5 April 1827. His family were members of a religous group called the Quakers, who took their name from the saying 'tremble in the way of the Lord'.

As a child he went to Quaker schools and did excellently in his studies of German and French, which stood him well in later life as these were the main languages used in medical research.

Very few universities accepted Quakers at the time, so he went on to study at one of the few that did, the University of London, and he graduated with an honours degree in medicine at the age of 25.

He became the assistant of a surgeon, James Syme, at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. He married Syme's daughter, Anne, who later assisted him in his work. Six years later he became a professor of surgery at the University of Glasgow.

In those days, medical staff did not wash their hands, and wounds commonly became infected, often deteriorating into gangrene as the patient's flesh rotted. Many patients died as a result. Lister read a paper written by Louis Pasteur that claimed rotting and infection could not happen without micro-organisms. To get rid of them, Pasteur suggested filter, heat or chemicals. The first were not possible with wounds, so Lister started experimenting with chemicals.

Lister tested carbolic acid, or phenol, which was used to remove the smell from sewage. He sprayed it on surgical instruments , wounds and dressings, and found a big reduction of gangrene and infections. Wounds no longer became septic, so the carbolic acid was anti-septic. He made surgeons wear gloves and wash their hands before and after operations with carbolic acid diluted in water.

In 1869, Lister returned to the University of Edinburgh as Professor of Surgery. He continued to develop the use of antiseptics, and many people attended his lectures as his fame spread.

The germ theory of disease became more widely accepted and it was accepted that it was better to prevent the bacteria getting into wounds than to have to cure the infections they caused afterwards. Gradually, surgery became more sterile.

Lister went back to London to King's College Hospital, where he became only the second surgeon in England to do brain surgery. He made many surgical advances, was made a Baron in 1879. King Edward VII came down with acute appendicitis two days before his coronation, and his surgeons consulted Lister before attempting what was in those days risky surgery. Lister received further high honours from the King in gratitude.

Lister died in at home in Walmer, Kent in 1912. He was 84. There is a statue of him in Glasgow as well as a monument in London.

Go here to read more about Joseph Lister
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/b.gardner/Lister.html

If you use any part of this in your own work, acknowledge the source in your bibliography like this:
Sydenham, S. & Thomas, R. Joseph Lister [online] www.kidcyber.com.au 2009

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