Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister

Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister

Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister

Photograph 1902 Born 5 April 1827 Upton, Essex 10 February 1912 (aged84) Walmer, Kent United Kingdom Medicine University of Glasgow University of Edinburgh University of London

Died

Nationality Fields Institutions

Alma mater University of London Knownfor Surgical sterile techniques Signature

Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister OM, FRS, PC (5 April 1827 10 February 1912), known as Sir Joseph Lister, Bt., between 1883 and 1897, was a British surgeon and a pioneer of antiseptic surgery, who promoted the idea of sterile surgery while working at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary. Lister successfully introduced carbolic acid (now known as phenol) to sterilise surgical instruments and to clean wounds, which led to reducing post-operative infections and made surgery safer for patients.

Early life
Lister came from a prosperous Quaker home in Upton, Essex, a son of Joseph Jackson Lister, the pioneer of the compound microscope. At Quaker schools he became fluent in French and German, which were also the leading languages of medical research.[1] As a teenager Lister attended Grove House School Tottenham, studying mathematics, natural science, and languages. He attended the University of London, one of only a few institutions which were open to Quakers at that time. He initially studied the Arts, but graduated with honours as Bachelor of Medicine and entered the Royal College of Surgeons at the age of 26. In 1854, Lister became both first assistant to and friend of surgeon James Syme at the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh Royal Infirmary in Scotland. In 1867, Lister discovered the use of

Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister carbolic acid as an antiseptic, such that it became the first widely used antiseptic in surgery. He subsequently left the Quakers, joined the Scottish Episcopal Church and eventually married Syme's daughter Agnes.[2] On their honeymoon, they spent 3 months visiting leading medical institutes (hospitals and universities) in France and Germany. By this time Agnes was enamoured of medical research, and was Lister's partner in the laboratory for the rest of her life.

Career
Antiseptics
Until Lister's studies of surgery most people believed that chemical damage from exposure to bad air (see "miasma") was responsible for infections in wounds. Hospital wards were occasionally aired out at midday as a precaution against the spread of infection via miasma, but facilities for washing hands or a patient's wounds were not available. A surgeon was not required to wash his hands before seeing a patient because such practices were not considered necessary to avoid infection. In 1871 a guest wrote that Lister regularly wore an old blue frock-coat for operation, which he had previously worn in the dissecting room," and which was "stiff and glazed with blood." Dirty coats were seen as a sign of a surgeons knowledge and experience, and the smell was referred to as good old surgical stink. Despite the work of Ignaz Semmelweis and Oliver Wendell Holmes, hospitals practiced surgery under unsanitary conditions.
Joseph Lister

While he was a professor of surgery at the University of Glasgow, Lister became aware of a paper published by the French chemist Louis Pasteur, showing that rotting and fermentation could occur under anaerobic conditions if micro-organisms were present. Pasteur suggested three methods to eliminate the micro-organisms responsible for gangrene: filtration, exposure to heat, or exposure to chemical solutions. Lister confirmed Pasteur's conclusions with his own experiments and decided to use his findings to develop antiseptic techniques for wounds. As the first two methods suggested by Pasteur were inappropriate for the treatment of human tissue, Lister experimented with the third. Friedlieb Runge (1797-1867) discovered creosote, which later was processed into carbolic acid.[3] . Although Runge had no understanding of how decomposition occurred, the chemical he invented was widely used to prevent it. The chemical had been used to treat the wood used for railway ties and ships since it protected the wood from rotting. Later, it was used for treating sewage in England, Belgium and Holland. The same chemical was also used to fight parasites and reduce the odors during cholera and cattle plague. Therefore, Lister tested the results of spraying instruments, the surgical incisions, and dressings with a solution of it. Lister found that carbolic acid solution swabbed on wounds remarkably reduced the incidence of gangrene. In August 1865, Lister applied a piece of lint dipped in carbolic acid solution onto the wound of an eleven year old boy at Glasgow Infirmary, who had sustained a compound fracture after a cart wheel had passed over his leg. After four days, he renewed the pad and discovered that no infection had developed, and after a total of six weeks he was amazed to discover that the boy's bones had fused back together, without the danger of suppuration. He subsequently published his results in The Lancet in a series of 5 articles, running from March through July 1867, entitled: "On a new method of treating compound fracture, abscess, etc.: with observation on the conditions of suppuration". [4] Later, on August 9, 1867, he read a paper before the British Medical Association in Dublin, on the Antiseptic Principle of the Practice of Surgery, which was reprinted in The British Medical Journal.[5] [6] [7] Lister also noticed that midwife-delivered babies had a lower mortality rate than surgeon-delivered babies, correctly attributing this difference to the fact that midwives tended to wash their hands more often than surgeons, and that

Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister surgeons often would go directly from one surgery, such as draining an abscess, to delivering a baby. He instructed surgeons under his responsibility to wear clean gloves and wash their hands before and after operations with 5% carbolic acid solutions. Instruments were also washed in the same solution and assistants sprayed the solution in the operating theatre. One of his additional suggestions was to stop using porous natural materials in manufacturing the handles of medical instruments. Lister left Glasgow in 1869, returning to Edinburgh as successor to Syme as Professor of Surgery at the University of Edinburgh, and continued to develop improved methods of antisepsis and asepsis. His fame had spread by then, and audiences of 400 often came to hear him lecture. As the germ theory of disease became more widely accepted, it was realised that infection could be better avoided by preventing bacteria from getting into wounds in the first place. This led to the rise of sterile surgery. Some consider Lister "the father of modern antisepsis". In 1879 Listerine mouthwash was named after him for his work in antisepsis. Also named in his honour is the bacterial genus Listeria, typified by the food-borne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes.

Surgical technique
Lister moved from Scotland to King's College Hospital, in London, and became the second man in England to operate on a brain tumor. He also developed a method of repairing kneecaps with metal wire and improved the technique of mastectomy. His discoveries were greatly praised and in 1883 he was created a Baronet, of Park Crescent in the Parish of St Marylebone in the County of Middlesex.[8] In 1897 he was further honoured when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Lister, of Lyme Regis in the County of Dorset.[9] [10] He also became one of the twelve original members of the Order of Merit and a Privy Councillor in the Coronation Honours in 1902.[11] Among his students at King's College London was Robert Hamilton Russell, who later moved to Australia.

Later life
Lister retired from practice after his wife, who had long helped him in research, died in 1892 in Italy, during one of the few holidays they allowed themselves. Studying and writing lost appeal for him and he sank into religious melancholy. Despite suffering a stroke, he still came into the public light from time to time. Edward VII came down with appendicitis two days before his coronation. Like all internal surgery at the time, the appendectomy needed by the King still posed an extremely high risk of death by post-operational infection, and surgeons did not dare operate without consulting Britain's leading surgical authority. Lister obligingly advised them in the latest antiseptic surgical methods (which they followed to the letter), and the King survived, later telling Lister, "I know that if it had not been for you and your work, I wouldn't be sitting here today." Lister died on 10 February 1912 at his country home in Walmer, Kent at the age of 84. After a funeral service at Westminster Abbey, he was buried at Hampstead Cemetery, Fortune Green, London in a plot to the south-west of central chapel. Both the baronetcy and barony became extinct on his death.

Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister

Legacy and honours

Lister was president of the Royal Society between 1895 and 1900. Following his death, a Memorial Fund led to the founding of the Lister Medal, seen as the most prestigious prize that could be awarded to a surgeon. A British Institution of Preventive Medicine, previously named after Edward Jenner was renamed in 1899 in honour of Lister. Two postage stamps were issued in September 1965 to honour Lister for his contributions to antiseptic surgery. Lister is one of the two surgeons in the United Kingdom who have the honour of having a public monument in London. Lister's stands in Portland Place (the other surgeon is John Hunter). There is a statue of Lister in Kelvingrove Park, Glasgow, celebrating his links with the city.

Lister Building at Glasgow Royal Infirmary

A building at Glasgow Royal Infirmary which houses cytopathology, microbiology and pathology departments was named in his honour to recognise his work at the hospital. The antiseptic mouthwash, Listerine, derives from his name. A genus of pathogenic bacteria, Listeria, was named in honour of him by J.H.H. Pirie in 1940. The Discovery Expedition of 190104 named the highest point in the Royal Society Range, Antarctica, Mount Lister.[12]

References
[1] Doctors The History of Medicine through Biography by Sherwin B. Nuland [2] Ann Lamont (March 1992). "Joseph Lister: father of modern surgery" (http:/ / www. answersingenesis. org/ creation/ v14/ i2/ scientists. asp). Creation 14 (2): 4851. . "Lister married Symes daughter Agnes and became a member of the Episcopal church" [3] Bynum, W. F. Science and the practice of Medicine in the Nineteenth Century, Cambridge:Cambridge, 1994. [4] The Lancet, "On a new method of treating compound fracture, abscess, etc.: with observation on the conditions of suppuration". 5 articles running from: Volume 89, Issue 2272, 16 March 1867, Pages 326-329 (Originally published as Volume 1, Issue 2272) to: Volume 90, Issue 2291, 27 July 1867, Pages 95-96 Originally published as Volume 2, Issue 2291 [5] "On the Antiseptic Principle in the Practice of Surgery". The British Medical Journal 2 (351): 245260. 21 September 1867. PMC2310614.. Reprinted in Lister, BJ (2010). "The classic: On the antiseptic principle in the practice of surgery. 1867". Clinical orthopaedics and related research 468 (8): 20126. doi:10.1007/s11999-010-1320-x. PMC2895849. PMID20361283. [6] Lister, Joseph. "Modern History Sourcebook: Joseph Lister (1827-1912): Antiseptic Principle Of The Practice Of Surgery, 1867" (http:/ / www. fordham. edu/ halsall/ mod/ 1867lister. asp). Fordham University. . Retrieved 2 September 2011.Modernized version of text [7] Lister, Joseph. "On the Antiseptic Principle of the Practice of Surgery by Baron Joseph Lister" (http:/ / www. gutenberg. org/ ebooks/ 23968). Project Gutenberg. . Retrieved 2 September 2011. E-text, audio at Project Gutenberg. [8] London Gazette: no. 25300. p. 6687 (http:/ / www. london-gazette. co. uk/ issues/ 25300/ pages/ 6687). 28 December 1883. [9] London Gazette: no. 26821. p. 758 (http:/ / www. london-gazette. co. uk/ issues/ 26821/ pages/ 758). 9 February 1897. [10] The Times, Friday, Jan 01, 1897; Issue 35089; p. 8; col A [11] Coronation Honours. The Times, Thursday, Jun 26, 1902; Issue 36804; p. 5; col B [12] "Mount Lister" (http:/ / geonames. usgs. gov/ pls/ gnispublic/ f?p=gnispq:5:::NO::P5_ANTAR_ID:8895). Geographic Names Information System, U.S. Geological Survey. . Retrieved 2010-02-09.

Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister

External links
The Lister Institute (http://www.lister-institute.org.uk) Collection of portraits of Lister at the National Portrait Gallery, London (http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/ person.asp?search=ss&sText=lister&LinkID=mp02756) Statue of Sir Joseph Lister by [[Louis Linck (http://himetop.wikidot.com/ international-museum-of-surgical-science)] at The International Museum of Surgical Science in Chicago] Commemorative plaque to Lord Lister at the Edinburgh Medical School (http://himetop.wikidot.com/ joseph-lister-memorial-tablet)

Article Sources and Contributors

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File:Joseph Lister 1902.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Joseph_Lister_1902.jpg License: unknown Contributors: Ambross07, Snowmanradio File:Joseph Lister signature.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Joseph_Lister_signature.png License: Public Domain Contributors: Lister-signature.jpg: derivative work: Quibik (talk) File:Joseph Lister2.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Joseph_Lister2.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: unknown Image:Listerbuilding.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Listerbuilding.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: Panthro (talk)

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