#antiseptic

On August 12th 1827 Joseph Lister, surgeon and scientist, performed his first antiseptic surgery.

Lister was born in West Ham, Essex and the majority of his education happened in the English Counties, but he moved to Glasgow in 1860 and became a Professor of Surgery.

It was at Glasgow Infirmary he did all his work on antiseptics, he read Louis Pasteur's work on micro-organisms and decided to experiment with using one of Pasteur's proposed techniques, that of exposing the wound to chemicals. He chose dressings soaked with carbolic acid to cover the wound and the rate of infection was vastly reduced. Lister then experimented with hand-washing, sterilising instruments and spraying carbolic in the theatre while operating, in order to limit infection. Carbolic acid, now called phenol, became the first widely used antiseptic in surgery and his principles were adopted throughout many countries by a number of surgeons. Lister is now known as the ‘father of antiseptic surgery’.

In 1869 Lister left Glasgow to become Professor of Clinical Surgery at the University of Edinburgh. Eight years later he was appointed Professor of Surgery at King's College, London.

A little closer. Almost there. Almost … THERE!  DIE! DIE! DIE!

BTW I was referring to germs.