THE STORY OF DR. LISTER

your hair I like Luke it's the ladder bender mystery bruise in the leg and your eyes it's more than that man the bones broke we better shift you into that shop for by and get you a doctor no no I'll take it to Sir James sign of the Royal Infirmary Oh Sarah I can't afford him oh don't worry don't worry on a member of the infirmary board now and then Daniel win and put him back in the drain huh did you hear them say the bone had broken the skin he could either lose his leg or what usually happens when you have to have surgery or he gives me the shivers now if you'll kindly tell Sir James sign that we're here well I'm sorry your lordship sir james hasn't arrived yet but the chief will take care of the man immediately chief dr. Lister sir he sir James's assistant at his private operations and also here in the infirmary he's one of the best will you excuse me if I get ready for him no good well i hope this fella list the news what is about must be english by his name he was said to james by dr. william sharpie in london after completing his fellowship at the Royal College of Surgeons there I want earth do you know all this some egg doctor she says he's brilliant and she also said he's very attractive and just what effect you think his Luke's are going to have on a broken leg none whatever they've certainly had an effect upon Agnes I don't want to miss the chance of seeing him I'm Joseph Lister it was kind of leader wait so long is the patient one of your servants no we happened to be there when the accident occurred and thought the man should be attended to without delay that was most thoughtful and wise but he'll be all right won't he simple fractures are not serious but our patients fracture is compound the flesh is lacerated the skin broken I've set his leg and dressed it but often in such cases septic infection a poisoning of the blood develops in the wound when that happens there's fatal we can do but hope still there are treatments yes and not one of them is effective we keep trying but it's like groping in the dark there's so much we do not know under Lister's supervision the injured draymond received the best medical attention that the edinboro Royal Infirmary had to offer and even Sir James I'm the famous surgeon took an interest in the case no fever no inflammation how do you feel McTavish I'm telling you if you wasn't looking and that nurse was a wee bit Bernie ER she she'd have to run for her life haha so far good looks as if we might count on this one sir you said to let you know it once if i'll come up kill infections in fiction I hope you will understand Agnes why I must leave now but I have two lectures to prepare for my students and a very important letter to write my father I think we can find it in our hearts to forgive you this time cartridge Harvin of course a boy thank you for your hospitality sir lady glenmuir thorgrim yer such a tomorrow Joseph now run along and let the ladies have their coffee your vet seems a bit quiet tonight as something trouble turn the other day this was terrible everything I could possibly have done once the murderous infection starts there is nothing anyone can do to prevent it but what causes it James hey after all these years the medical profession should have some idea there are dozens of ideas poison in the air miasma vapor of some sort who knows but that's all they are ideas now Joseph doesn't hold with any of them Joseph is it he seems to be very highly regarded he rebels with chills with your daughter somewhat taken with him somewhat taken she's in love with them or I'm wide of the mark but isn't he a quicker quicker what of it just between us i'm back and young Joseph's application for a permanent post that's what is writing his father about tonight they're very close My dear father a permanent post the infirmary here in edinboro and he the rule with his spirit is better than he that taketh of City the honeymoon of Joseph er in the spring of 1856 would have seemed a strange one to most young brides because it consisted of a channel crossing and a tour of the principal medical schools of Europe upon the young couples return to their newly pushed home in edinboro Lister determined to identify and destroy septic infection his research was done after long hours at the infirmary and his investigation of inflammation proved to be of great value to surgery generally while he worked toward his goal he was unaware that just across the English Channel a 34 year old french chemist named Louie pastor was conducting a series of tests but with a different goal in view because what pastor sought to prove and did was that each different kind of fermentation was caused by a particular type of microbe which could be identified and with the right hand a sceptic destroyed many years had to pass before the torch of another man's genius was to prove pastors theories in the gray winter of eighteen sixty at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary Joseph Lister rose at dawn to make his early rounds he was now the head of the largest school of surgery in Britain appointed with the approval of the Queen before he was 33 each morning was a grim ordeal because many of the patients were victims of the new industrial revolution crushed and mangled by machines the death rate from blood poisoning in the wards was appalling and after each death due to septic poisoning he could only repeat again and again why mr. I see you weren't going to pass without a good morning with good morning Anderson are you off to early classes yes I uh good heavens man but you do look Richard do you have time to sit with me a bit i'm still rather keyed up about something well yes of course love him what's happened well the crane at luckys ironworks failure he killed one poor man we got three of them and I've spent the night stitching up to her they're both in rather poor shape with the conditioning infirmaries in where you can guess their chances sepsis again the surgery was wrong with it with absolutely no way of fighting it we won't have until we find the answer Joseph have you heard of the work of Louis Pasteur to the french chemist is bamf me with his reputation of course well pastor has published two remarkable papers on his theory that microbes are the cause of fermentation they might it just might be your answer well that would be too much to hope for do you have any copies yes I dropped them off at your home on the way back tonight do that anything stimulated by pastors theories Lister began duplicating in meticulous detail all of the great Frenchman's tests he wanted to identify the microbes for himself and to devise an antiseptic which while destroying infection would have no injurious effect on sensitive flesh and at the same time be practical and effective in surgery he have just remembered something i read it was it yes an article about how the municipal authorities in in Carlisle I think destroyed the odor of sewage waste by using a carbolic acid compound called German creosote well if I kill the stench it must have killed what caused it I'm Missy Anderson perhaps he can find me some tonight but it's late here tomorrow will do no no at once the raw German creosote proved too powerful to use on the wounds but after several months under the expert supervision of his friend Anderson the chemistry professor and many exacting refinements the goal was reached carbolic acid and linseed oil in just the right proportions mr. I think we got it and just in time for a very special case I have special case a boy of 12 a fine young lad name of Jamie it was brought in with a badly smashed hip I did all I could but I'm afraid inflammation has already said in this boy's only hope we'll need more than this amount right when will you use it as soon as it's ready why don't you come along and watch oh thanks I was just about to ask and so in march of 1865 one of the greatest events in the history of healing took place the first successful application of antiseptic technique in surgery and now let us review the procedure so far first the reopening of the wound after the skin surrounding has been cleaned next the swabbing out with lint soaked in the carbolic acid solution to destroy the microbes already up there deadly work within the wound then the application of an acid silk dressing on the surface is that clear so far the wound is now covered by the tin foil sheeting to recall the evaporation of the antiseptic fluid rest of the procedure you're already familiar with from other cases that's all for now gentlemen and thank you and i know you will all hope with me that when our young patient wakes up it will be to a long healthy and a happy life dr. yes Jim dr. Lister with me I go home why Jamie don't you like us anymore or are you longing for your mother's banner cakes dr. Lister yes look no inflammation no trace of sepsis just healthy granulation they it's a miracle may God send us more such miracles and this was done by refining the solutions and simplifying his technique joseph has made his method available to any surgeon who wishes to use it I'd say that due to joseph blisters perseverance surgery is no longer a hazardous lottery but ass only beast science joseph be a dear and rescue poor Lord glenmuir from father what Joseph urinate him before this time well I thought I'd badger him into writing a bit more about his methods ah I was just talking about and you'd better stop for I'll let you read my article in The Lancet or tell you my news yeah we lie did prod you into writing an item or two for him what news I've been invited to prepare and read a paper before the British Medical Association at their Dublin meeting you'll never write it down it's written what's it called Joseph on the antiseptic principle in the practice of surgery it's rather a mouthful isn't it I do hope they're listen well perhaps i'll be there to make sure they do and I say to you gentlemen but although my antiseptic method of surgery was first used successfully in compound fractures you must not suppose it's used to be so restricted therefore it is with utmost confidence rubbish The Killers that I claim my method of surgery is applicable to the entire field of surgery I agree with you and I'll be glad to have every surgeon everywhere practice it without any obligation to meet whatsoever until you come back all of it yet listen these fools applauding that there was a charlatan what nunatak invited in here I'm gonna write a letter of protest I'll protest now just a moment you have you ever once seen a single case of antiseptic surgery well no I haven't yet to have the impudence to criticize dr. Lister as a surgeon a surgeon who has not had one case of sepsis in nine months how many cases have you had in that time doctor and how few of them were recovered despite his critics Lister felt he had gained some supporters at the Dublin meeting and daily after his many duties at the Glasgow infirmary he spent long hours devising other improvements in his technique but the opposition of the closed minds that his father had prophesied had begun to appear in various medical journals Oh Thomas what a pleasant surprise what brings you out so late well I uh I I thought you came here to show us this another of those look you've come exactly the right time I've got it at last and in perfect proportions for my dressing Joseph you must listen and this time you must do something about it all right who wrote it well no doubt one of your respected colleagues but without the courage to sign his name or what did he say to be blunt Joseph he says you proclaim that you are the discoverer of carbolic acid Oh what is that all you're going to do blah Maggie I'll answer them if you wish but fighting isn't going to change my ideas dear this is saying my father likes to quote I know he that is slow to anger no no no this is from Ecclesiastes to everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven we must be patient a key we must wait when Sir James I'm retired the man who would succeed him was of tremendous importance to his students who do you suppose what takes at james's place what about listed well why not it'd be a big feather in edinboro his cap he wouldn't he's already famous and he kind of Sundberg us for asking what about sending him a letter well let's get pen and paper will have everyone sign Lister was delighted by the students appeal and he and Agnes set out happily for Edinburgh which they had always thought of his home reestablished in his old infirmary lister remained what he had always been a dedicated surgeon to whom the saving of lives was more important than personal honors although he was gratified by the number of foreign surgeons who came to observe his work see it comes from the wound fresh and clean and always like this always the same fresh and clean doctor each of these men from other lands was a potential and important factor in spreading the news of Joseph Lister's antiseptic surgery throughout the world as far away as the city of st. Louis in the United States blisters work at aroused keen interest the story deeply impressed a pharmacist named Jordan Lambert now this is the best article you've ever published probably one of the most exciting stories in the history of Medicine neither what about Lister yes yes what he had to go through to come out on top why is it dr. Lawrence that American surgeons are so slow to adopt his technique well I suppose because so few have seen the demonstrations there's also some reluctance to use carbolic acid it does burn or irritate the tissues unless it's handled carefully what about mercury chloride yes 1 to 1,000 solutions proven ineffective German side but that also is corrosive and dangerously poisonous a great many have searched for his safer antiseptic it's a safe antiseptic with potent germ-killing power would be a boon to all positions that's why you've been staying up nights this new formula you were telling me about I have been working along those lines based directly on misters principles of course what a chance to help the cause of medicine one of the results doctor will you show me you come to my laboratory tomorrow night and so in the quiet little st. Louis laboratory experiments were carried on until the day the objective was attained a completely safe solution compounded from substances of natural derivation but which had the germ killing action of a two and a half percent solution of carbolic acid in alliance i still can't quite realize it but here it is scientifically tested and proven now that we got it offer to physicians on a prescription basis damn bird how good a sailor EU sailor what are you talking about I think we've agreed we should name our new antiseptic in honor of dr. Lister so one of us should go to London and get his permission and since he even a canoe and a river is too much for me I'm elected when we're ready you'll go to London so Jordan Lambert eventually traveled to London from a splendid equipage and in a gentleman's formal attire rented on the advice of English friends he was deposited at number 12 park crescent london home of lister blister still young looking for his years was now in a post created especially for him at King's College medical school and on queen victoria's New Year's Honours List he was named as Sir Joseph Lister always interested in new ideas the Lister's greeted their American visitor warmly we know our formula has the antiseptic power of all the solutions now being used but it's absolutely harmless even to the delicate membranes of the mouth now that is something and our product which has been developed directly on your principal sir joseph will be a benefit to medicine all over the world we're certain of that and that's why I'm here sir to thank you for your inspiration and ask your permission to let us name this safe antiseptic after you calling it Listerine but that's not necessary mr. Lambert if it's a benefit to mankind name you give it doesn't matter does it your name would honor us sir joseph you seem to mean that young man so i give my permission with all my heart in 1897 on the occasion of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee sir joseph lister now 70 years of age was made lord lister a peer of the realm and prepared to take his seat in the House of Lords Lord lister one of the great men of Medicine the man who inspired the product that so proudly bears his name whenever and wherever the need lister ism is there blister refused to accept needless suffering and death he fought the unknown destroyer with perseverance vision and an unshakable faith in his mission his victory was for all humanity what greater inspiration could there be than this courageous lover of the truth a shining source of inspiration for all mankind dr. Joseph Lister