Joseph Lister introduced antiseptic surgical technique, applying Louis Pasteur's germ theory to wound care using carbolic acid (phenol) to kill microorganisms in surgical wounds, dressings and instruments. His 1867 paper in The Lancet, On the Antiseptic Principle in the Practice of Surgery, reported sharply reduced mortality from wound infection and sepsis on his surgical wards at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, and his methods spread internationally within a generation, transforming surgery from a frequently fatal last resort into a survivable procedure.
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What did Joseph Lister change about surgery?
He introduced antiseptic technique using carbolic acid, sharply reducing deaths from wound infection.
Joseph Lister introduced antiseptic surgical technique. He applied Louis Pasteur's germ theory to wound care, using carbolic acid (phenol) to kill microorganisms in surgical wounds, dressings and instruments. His 1867 paper in The Lancet, On the Antiseptic Principle in the Practice of Surgery, reported sharply reduced mortality from wound infection and sepsis on his wards at Glasgow Royal Infirmary. His methods spread internationally within a generation, transforming surgery from a frequently fatal last resort into a survivable procedure.
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Lister is credited with introducing antisepsis as a systematic surgical practice; antecedent, less systematic uses of disinfectant agents by other practitioners are not disputed as a rival claim to his own.
Source The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of HumanityRoy Porter
Source Wikipedia: Joseph Lister
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Sources
1. The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity
Roy Porter, W. W. Norton and Company, 1997
Wikipedia: Joseph Lister
WikipediaAntisepsis section: Simpson's attack
the novelty, I may remark, being, not the surgical use of carbolic acid (which I never claimed), but the methods of its employment
- Discoveries: Discovery of Antisepsis
In Group: Founders of Antisepsis and Modern Operative Surgery, Introduction, sentence 1
Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister (5 April 1827-10 February 1912) was an English surgeon, medical scientist, experimental pathologist and pioneer of antiseptic surgery and preventive healthcare.
View the Source Essays About This Entity (1 essay)
Four Bacterial Discoveries, Four Fights Over Who Gets Credit
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